Catering to your aircraft in Istres.
Istres-Le Tubé is an air base first, a business aviation stop second, and the mistral decides how the ramp feels. We pack for that: lidded, labelled, sized to the galley of whatever tail arrives.
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.
Istres-Le Tubé belongs to Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, and the private jet menu here starts at the market: tomatoes, aubergine, courgette flowers, Crau lamb, Camargue rice and bull, anchoïade, tapenade and olive oil from the Alpilles. An inflight menu built on local specialities has to survive a galley with one oven, so the stews and the daube travel hot and the raw vegetables cold. Private jet food from Provence works because it was always meant to be eaten at room temperature. Private jet platters of charcuterie, cheese and crudités, gourmet inflight meals such as lamb with thyme, and private jet snacks like calissons and navettes round out the Istres-Le Tubé table.
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.
Istres-Le Tubé sits on the Étang de Berre side of Provence, a military airfield with a dry mistral for neighbour, and private jet catering here is planned around that wind and a ramp shared with the Air Force. Inflight catering for a business aviation arrival is cooked in Provence terms: olive oil, tomato, herbs, sealed for the galley. Aviation catering and cabin crew meals follow the same brief, as does business aviation catering for crews on an Istres-Le Tubé turn. Executive jet catering and diplomatic flight catering are packed to the aircraft's own galley, and in-flight catering is handed over at the FBO.
When a corporate jet lands at LFMI, the cabin wants something local and light: tomato, olive, Crau lamb. Business jet catering and charter flight catering here are built around the galley. VIP flight catering and luxury inflight catering use the same kitchen, a private jet chef drafts the bespoke menu, and corporate jet catering is the label on the invoice.
LFMI sees official traffic that a civil airport does not. State visit aircraft catering and head of state flight catering start with who clears the order, not with the dish. Government flight catering and VIP aviation catering are handled by a named team, and nothing is left to chance on the ramp.
Provence cooking leans on olive oil and vegetables, which helps, but allergens hide in the pistou, the anchoïade and the pastry for the pissaladière. Special meals at Istres-Le Tubé are cooked on a separate board and boxed apart: kosher and halal sealed as received, vegan built from market vegetables and chickpea panisse, gluten free using rice and polenta in place of bread, allergen free with the sauces listed, and kids meals kept plain for the seat tray.
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.
On an Istres-Le Tubé turn, the crew meals are something you ask for, and they appear on the invoice beside the rest of the order. Flight crew meals are boxed and labelled CREW, pilot meals are built to eat with one hand, and crew catering is planned around a short turn on a windy ramp. Cockpit meals can be hot or cold, crew meal boxes stack in the drawer, and different meals for pilots are offered when the operator's policy requires it. Cabin crew meals carry the same CREW marking, so nobody mistakes them for a guest tray.
At LFMI the order reaches the aircraft through the FBO, and the handling agent opens the airside access. FBO catering here means we give the tail and the slot to the handling agent and the box is passed over at the aircraft. Catering delivery to the general aviation terminal is the fallback when the ramp is closed to vehicles, and ground handling catering and handling agent catering are invoiced as part of the order. Because this is a military field with civil visitors admitted, the general aviation side is small, and the FBO is the door we plan around.
Galley catering at LFMI follows the aircraft type: a light jet takes a hand-carried crate up the stairs, while a larger cabin needs a high loader at the door. Airside catering delivery to Istres-Le Tubé goes through the handling agent and the military gate procedure, so the tail and slot are fixed beforehand. Aircraft provisioning is matched to the galley you actually have: oven, chiller, drawers.
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.
Istres-Le Tubé is a French Air Force base on the edge of the Étang de Berre, at 82 feet above sea level, with civil and business traffic admitted alongside military operations. Airport catering here is therefore shaped by gate procedure, with general aviation visitors handled through the FBO and the handling agent.
LFMI is not a standard business aviation hub, and inflight catering here is planned around rare, specific visits. In-flight catering for a special mission, aviation catering for a diversion crew, business aviation catering for an owner who prefers a quiet field, executive jet catering for a delegation: each one starts from the same call to the handling agent. Diplomatic flight catering and cabin crew meals are ordered and invoiced separately from FBO services and ground handling services.
France applies EU rules on food of animal origin, and the base adds its own gate and airside procedure. For a flight leaving the EU, cheese, charcuterie and meat need compliant packing; for a flight inside the EU the rules are lighter. We label every box so customs can see what is in it.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Despite a small galley worktop, we wanted the 5 guests at LFMI to enjoy prawn salad and small fruit plates without a complicated cabin service. When comparing aviation catering companies, I would look closely at written menu details after this experience. The Galley Girls talked through the quantities of fruit plates with us before confirmation, rather than leaving us to guess the portions. There was enough information about the sauces to brief the crew without making assumptions about what had been ordered.”
“Clear quantities were essential at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base: we had 11 passengers expecting a cold lunch with cheese and fruit and were working around several individual meal preferences. The Galley Girls kept the crew provisions separate from the finishing elements, which gave us control over the final presentation. It made a difference to have the snack boxes ready without cluttering the galley work area during preparation. For flight catering, that attention to catering handover made the order noticeably easier to manage.”
“For 8 passengers departing from Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, the agreed menu was beef fillet with roasted potatoes; our main consideration was a revised passenger count. The main courses came from The Galley Girls in stackable containers, with a packing list that matched the contents. Separating the snack boxes from the first service items helped us avoid opening boxes we did not yet need. Our brief for flight catering services was met with a sensible plan for crew briefing.”
Winter mistral and summer heat both change what is worth ordering from Provence. A cold tapenade board travels in any weather, a daube suits a cold ramp. The total for private jet catering at LFMI comes from those choices and from who is flying.
We treat an outbound and a return as two deliveries. Customs on a return from outside the EU can change what may be packed, which is the only thing that makes it less simple; otherwise last-minute orders are handled and the galley is repacked.
Customs is mostly about destination, not time of day. A night departure to a non-EU country means cheese, charcuterie and meat are packed and documented to cross; within the EU there is less to check. The harder part at LFMI is airside access, which the handling agent arranges.
Food brought by the crew is usually fine to carry aboard, subject to customs rules for the next destination. Delivery by a third party to the aircraft at Istres-Le Tubé needs the handling agent to arrange airside access, and that is where we do the work for you.
Not part of it. A private jet charter quote does not include food; you request it and we invoice it. Empty repositioning flights are the clearest case: just the pilots eating, so a pilot meal and nothing for the cabin.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
