Catering to your aircraft in Çiğli.
Çiğli is a military field on the İzmir plain, so a visit here is usually a state, government or special movement. We cook Aegean food for the galley and hand it over through your handling agent.
We know the galley, the diet card and the 5 a.m. re-plate — because we lived them. So we built the caterer we always wished we could call.
Fourteen years on VIP and head-of-state cabins. Can plate for twelve in a G650 galley and still land it hot.
The one who reads every diet card twice. If it says no cross-contact, it means no cross-contact.
Answers at 5 a.m. when the leg moved overnight. Same-day swaps are her love language.
Çiğli is in İzmir Province, and the table is Aegean through and through. Local specialities for a private jet menu: stuffed vine leaves, courgette fritters, grilled octopus, and thick yoghurt with honey and walnuts. This is private jet food that holds its shape in a drawer.
For the inflight menu we write around what the delta and the coast produce: figs, peaches, tomatoes, peppers and goat cheese in summer, citrus and leafy greens in winter. Private jet platters are cut and arranged for the seat plan, not for a buffet.
Hot dishes finish in the aircraft oven or arrive sealed: lamb with eggplant purée, sea bream with fennel, and slow-cooked vegetables with the sauce apart. Gourmet inflight meals of this kind suit a return sector from Çiğli.
Private jet snacks from İzmir Province are simple and local: roasted chickpeas, dried figs, pistachios, boyoz and simit. These local specialities pack flat, and they are the first thing a crew reaches for between legs.
Tail, pax, diets, timing. One message — no portal, no quote form. Answered at any hour, by a flight attendant.
Leak-proof boxes, marked by guest and restriction, with reheating times written on the lid.
Two minutes out of the drawer. Whatever you ordered for the crew comes in the same delivery, and one clean invoice follows.
Çiğli sits on the flat Gediz delta plain beside İzmir, a military field whose civil and state movements are arranged through the handling agent. Private jet catering here follows the Aegean calendar: figs and tomatoes in summer, wild greens and citrus in winter. For inflight catering and in-flight catering on this field we cook and pack for the galley you actually have. Business aviation catering and executive jet catering are handed over at the FBO or at the aircraft, and diplomatic flight catering is agreed through your handling agent. Aviation catering for the cabin crew meals runs alongside it, on request.
A typical business flight at Çiğli is a small cabin on a tight timetable: business jet catering and corporate jet catering built around the galley, with VIP flight catering for the principal and charter flight catering when a broker books the leg. Luxury inflight catering here means olive oil, fish and mezze done properly, and our private jet chef writes a bespoke menu around the seat plan rather than a fixed list.
A delegation arriving at IGL changes how the order is placed: government flight catering is agreed with the protocol office, head of state flight catering is kept confidential, and state visit aircraft catering and VIP aviation catering are labelled and traced to the aircraft.
Kosher, halal, vegan and gluten free requests are handled as a procedure, not a label. The Aegean kitchen is olive-oil based and plant heavy, so vegan and vegetarian special meals are natural here, but nuts in pastries and wheat in boyoz, bulgur and simit are where allergens hide. Allergen free and kids meals are cooked and boxed separately, marked by seat number.
A sheet per guest. Separate boards, separate boxes.
Sealed, certificate in the same box.
Their own menu, nothing to cut at altitude.
Vegan, low-carb, light — composed, never compromised.
For the flight deck, pilot meals and cockpit meals come boxed and labelled for easy handling; flight crew meals suit a longer sector, and crew meal boxes fit a short stop. Crew catering at IGL provides different meals for pilots, and crew meals are ordered on request and invoiced as part of the order. Cabin crew meals are packed in a separate box.
Handover at Çiğli is a question of access. Ground handling catering, FBO catering and catering delivery to the apron are arranged through your handling agent, who clears the gate and the general aviation terminal. Handling agent catering is confirmed against the slot before we cook.
Çiğli is a military apron, and the aircraft type decides how food reaches the cabin: door height, a high loader or not, and the galley fitted. Galley catering for a larger government aircraft is staged for airside catering delivery through the handling agent, while a light jet is provisioned by hand. Aircraft provisioning at IGL is agreed beforehand with the type and the access in mind.
Mention it when you orderCertified, inspected, with cold-chain records filed against your trip.
Whichever terminal you park at, handover is at the aircraft, on your slot.
Allergen sheet per guest, halal and kosher on request, sealed and labelled.
Itemised and trip-report ready, sent after the leg.
Çiğli Airbase serves İzmir, and the way airport catering reaches an aircraft here follows from its military setting: access is controlled, civil movements are by arrangement, and the handling agent is the single contact for the field. FBO services and ground handling services are organised through that one channel, so the food travels the same path as the crew.
As a business aviation hub Çiğli is unusual: general aviation is not its main role, yet visiting aircraft still need executive jet catering and business aviation catering. FBO services and ground handling services are arranged by your handling agent, and the order follows from there. Inflight catering, in-flight catering and aviation catering are built for the galley you have, diplomatic flight catering is cleared through protocol, and cabin crew meals and crew meals are ordered on request.
Turkish customs rules apply to food entering or leaving on an aircraft, with fresh meat, dairy and produce the usual points of attention. We source in İzmir Province, so most orders stay on the Turkish side, and ground handling services on the field confirm what may be carried on departure, with FBO services available for the paperwork at the terminal.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Getting avocado toast components and breakfast fruit ready for 2 guests at Çiğli Airbase required an order that accounted for two separate meal services. The Galley Girls used a readable packing list for the canapés, which helped when two colleagues checked the order together. For crew meals, that attention to portion planning made the order noticeably easier to manage. We could distinguish the main courses at a glance instead of lifting lids just to establish what belonged to each service.”
“Despite a revised passenger count, we wanted the 8 guests at Çiğli Airbase to enjoy poached fish with steamed rice without a complicated cabin service. Our brief for FBO catering was met with a sensible plan for galley preparation. After a final adjustment to the salads, The Galley Girls gave us one revised order summary to work from. There was no need to reconstruct the crew provisions quantities from several messages during the final departure checks.”
“One detail shaped our order at IGL: a changing departure schedule, alongside a request for a selection of petits fours and sandwiches for 7 passengers. The order made airport catering feel manageable because the portion planning had been considered beforehand. The sauces came from The Galley Girls in clearly marked packs, with a packing list that matched the contents. The starters were easy to locate, leaving the crew free to focus on the remaining cabin preparation.”
Cost follows the aircraft more than the airport. Çiğli handles everything from light jets to larger state aircraft, and the galley of each decides what we can cook for it. Figs and fresh fish in summer cost differently from winter greens. Tell us the type and we quote that menu.
On a short turnaround the menu does the work: chilled mezze, platters and sealed hot dishes that need only the oven. On a longer ground stop we can serve fuller courses. Last-minute orders for IGL are handled, and we coordinate the handover with your handling agent.
A government flight into IGL involves clearances that a civilian charter does not. Menus are agreed first, who delivers and who receives is cleared by your handling agent, and customs rules on animal products decide what may leave or enter with the aircraft. Local sourcing keeps that simple.
Your own food is permitted on most flights, but the arrival customs rules decide what survives. On a short empty-cabin hop out of Çiğli we suggest crew meal boxes and simple snacks rather than a full galley load, which keeps the aircraft clean for its next task.
No, a charter does not cover catering, and a return leg does not change that. At Çiğli we take the return order like any other, prepare it for the aircraft and hand it over at the FBO or at the aircraft, invoiced separately.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
