Catering to your aircraft in Souda.
Chania's single runway at Souda Bay fills with light jets and mid-size cabins from late spring, and the summer apron rarely has room to spare. We cook for the galley you actually have, pack by seat number, and hand over at the aircraft on your slot.
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.
Crete eats from its own hills. Souda sits at the edge of the Chania plain, where oranges, olives and herbs shape what a private jet menu can honestly offer, and Crete is the first thing a guest tastes when the seal comes off.
For the inflight menu we start with dakos: barley rusk, chopped tomato, anthotyro, olive oil. It travels as parts and is assembled at the seat, which keeps the rusk crisp. Graviera and kefalotyri slice well chilled and suit a private jet food board, with thyme honey in a sealed pot.
Hot dishes are more delicate. Lamb with stamnagathi greens and Chania-style baked rice reheat cleanly if the sauce rides apart. Kalitsounia, small cheese pastries, make a good hand-held snack. These are the local specialities that cross a galley without apology.
Seasonality matters on the island: spring brings wild artichokes and broad beans, summer brings tomatoes and figs, winter brings citrus. We tell you what is genuinely in season at Souda rather than promise a menu out of its month.
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.
Souda Bay gives Chania its calm morning approaches and its busy July afternoons, and that rhythm shapes every order we take here. Private jet catering at LGSA leans on what Crete grows: graviera, thyme honey, wild greens, oranges from the Chania plain. Executive jet catering for owners, inflight catering for guests and cabin crew meals for the people serving them are all built in the same kitchen logic, then packed for your tail. Diplomatic flight catering follows protocol; business aviation catering and plain aviation catering follow your slot. In-flight catering stays labelled, boxed and ready for the drawer.
Chania's business jet catering follows the season: spring owners' trips, summer charters, autumn corporate retreats. Corporate jet catering here usually means a cold lunch that waits in the drawer plus one hot course. VIP flight catering, charter flight catering and luxury inflight catering all start with a bespoke menu, written by a private jet chef who knows which oven your cabin has.
Government flight catering at Chania often connects to the naval base at Souda Bay. Head of state flight catering and state visit aircraft catering follow protocol: named team, traceable ingredients, a menu cleared before cooking. VIP aviation catering is delivered discreetly through the handling agent.
A child on the manifest changes the galley before the headcount does. At Souda we plan kids meals as a separate box with plain portions: pasta, grilled chicken, fruit, nothing hidden in the sauce. Kosher, halal, vegan and gluten free meals are sealed separately with a card per guest, and allergen free orders are prepared apart from the Cretan nut and sesame-heavy dishes. Tell us the special meals before the tail number and we label by seat.
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.
Crew meals at Chania are ordered with the trip and invoiced like any other line; they are on request, never assumed. Flight crew meals and crew catering come in boxes marked CREW, kept apart from guest trays so nobody opens the wrong one. For pilot meals we can pack different meals for pilots, a grilled fish for one, a lamb pie for the other, when the operator's policy asks for it. Cockpit meals are built to be eaten one-handed between frequency changes: wraps, cut fruit, kalitsounia. Crew meal boxes can be held for a late return from the island.
At LGSA, the general aviation terminal is small, and FBO catering is a matter of who opens which door. We arrange catering delivery to the FBO with your handling agent, and ground handling catering follows the apron's rules. Handling agent catering stays simple: one name, one slot, one signature.
Galley catering at Chania depends on the type: a light jet takes a hand-carried delivery, a larger cabin may need a high loader to reach the door. Airside catering delivery here is coordinated with the handling agent so the vehicle reaches the stand on your slot. Aircraft provisioning starts with the galley layout: how many drawers, whether the oven is a convection or a steam unit, whether the door sill needs a ramp. Give us the tail and we match packaging to the cabin.
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.
LGSA, also known as CHQ, is the island's second busiest airport. General aviation uses a dedicated apron, and airport catering for private flights is arranged through the handling agent. FBO services and ground handling services are limited but efficient.
Chania is a seasonal business aviation hub: summer brings charter traffic, winter brings quiet. Inflight catering and in-flight catering for these flights are planned around heat and crowds. Aviation catering and business aviation catering are tuned to the apron; executive jet catering and diplomatic flight catering follow protocol. Cabin crew meals travel in separate boxes.
Greece applies EU rules to food entering and leaving the country. Dairy and meat leaving the EU on a private flight may be restricted, so we pack and document with the next destination in mind.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“My order at Chania International Airport covered a cold lunch with cheese and fruit for 4 guests, with a practical service plan needed because of a changing departure schedule. The Galley Girls gave us an update on the starters before the handover, which helped us organise the cabin checks. Knowing where the side dishes were packed meant the crew could begin the relevant checks as soon as the order arrived. With charter flight catering, careful attention to catering handover matters as much to our crew as the menu itself.”
“Nothing about the 12 guest order at LGSA called for excess complexity: just grilled salmon with a lemon dressing and sensible planning for a changing departure schedule. The Galley Girls labelled the side dishes in line with our brief, so the cabin team could identify the relevant portions quickly. I would discuss private jet food with them again, especially when packing arrangement needs careful coordination. Keeping the breakfast portions identifiable helped the colleague taking over service understand the order without another long explanation.”
“Clear quantities were essential at CHQ: we had 5 passengers expecting fresh fruit and breakfast pastries and were working around a tight boarding window. For private jet meals, that attention to meal organisation made the order noticeably easier to manage. We discussed the dimensions before confirming; The Galley Girls grouped the snack boxes into compact food boxes that were easy to handle. Separating the sandwiches from the first service items helped us avoid opening boxes we did not yet need.”
Customs rules decide part of the cost at LGSA. Fresh lamb and dairy are subject to EU origin and veterinary checks, so we keep packaging labelled and invoices itemised. A fish-led menu usually costs more than a vegetable-led one, and we give you the numbers per menu, not a flat headline.
For a delegation, the order is handled with the protocol office before the kitchen begins, and last-minute orders are handled where the programme allows. What matters most is a confirmed passenger list and a menu cleared by the delegation's staff, not a countdown.
At night, the key customs question is where the aircraft goes next. EU destinations need little paperwork; others may require documentation for dairy or meat. We pack to the strictest case and note it on the invoice.
Yes, within customs rules for the next destination. What we add is packaging, seat labels and allergen separation, which a bag of home food rarely has. Cretan honey and olives are the easiest local additions.
Catering stays outside the charter contract. That is useful when numbers move: we re-cut boards, add a kids box, drop a seat, and the invoice follows the actual count, not a quote built around the original.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
