Catering to your aircraft in Donegal.
Most arrivals at CFN are small jets for a short stay in County Donegal, and the crew often waits. We pack for that wait: food that holds, trays marked by seat, delivered to the aircraft through the FBO or 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.
Donegal means Atlantic seafood first, and the private jet menu for County Donegal starts at the harbour. Killybegs is Ireland's largest fishing port, so the inflight menu at Donegal Airport leans on Atlantic salmon, haddock, hake, langoustines and smoked fish, with brown crab picked and packed cold. These local specialities travel well in a galley when the fish is chilled and the sauce stays in its own pot.
For private jet food at EIDL, the land side adds Donegal lamb, Irish beef and Irish farmhouse cheeses, with soda bread and potato farls for breakfast or a crew tray. Private jet platters for County Donegal are built cold: smoked salmon, cured meats, cheese and brown bread, sliced for the seat count. Gourmet inflight meals are finished in the oven or re-plated cold, and private jet snacks stay simple, with oatcakes, shortbread and fruit.
A seafood chowder or a fish pie is the Donegal dish that survives a galley oven best, since both reheat without losing texture. Local specialities are decided by season, so a January brief and a July brief look different here.
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.
County Donegal is a long drive of bog, sea loughs and mountain, and CFN is the field that gets a small jet into it. For private jet catering here we cook and pack for the aircraft in front of you, not for a menu in the abstract. Inflight catering and in-flight catering at Donegal Airport are remitted to the aircraft through the FBO or your handling agent. Aviation catering and business aviation catering for a light or midsize jet stay simple, executive jet catering and diplomatic flight catering are cleared before anything is cooked, and cabin crew meals go on the same order.
Who flies into CFN? Golfers, families and executives heading for the Atlantic coast. Business jet catering and corporate jet catering reflect that: a private jet chef plans around what the aircraft holds. VIP flight catering and charter flight catering are a bespoke menu, and luxury inflight catering means a few plates done well.
Government flight catering at Donegal means a small field and a short notice. Head of state flight catering and VIP aviation catering are cleared with protocol before anything is cooked, with a named team and no names on the trays. State visit aircraft catering is traced item by item from kitchen to cabin.
Kosher, halal, vegan and gluten free meals are special meals arranged as a procedure, since Donegal's seafood and bread kitchens carry allergen risk. We keep allergen free meals and kids meals on separate boards and sealed trays, marked 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.
Waiting on weather at CFN is common, so crew meals matter. Flight crew meals and crew catering at Donegal are a line you add when the crew wants them, commanded and billed like the rest of the order. Pilot meals and cockpit meals are different dishes for captain and first officer, packed as crew meal boxes and marked with a role, never a name. Different meals for pilots are standard. Cabin crew meals come with the cabin order.
FBO catering at Donegal means a handover at the aircraft, not at a counter. Catering delivery to the FBO is arranged with the general aviation terminal, and ground handling catering is coordinated with your handling agent. Handling agent catering at EIDL is agreed on the slot.
Most aircraft at CFN are small, so catering is carried up by hand. For a larger type, galley catering needs a plan: door height, a high loader if one is available, and airside catering delivery agreed in advance. Aircraft provisioning follows the aircraft.
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.
EIDL is the airport for the north-west of County Donegal, a regional field by the sea. Airport catering here supports general aviation and the occasional private jet, with FBO services and ground handling services kept simple.
Private jet traffic into CFN follows the season: summer golf and holiday visitors, a quieter winter. Business aviation hub status is not the point; it is a small field. Inflight catering, in-flight catering and aviation catering here are small and exact. Business aviation catering and executive jet catering rely on local fish, and diplomatic flight catering is cleared before anything is cooked. For the cabin, cabin crew meals simply sit on the same sheet as the guest trays.
Ireland is in the EU and the Common Travel Area, but food import rules still apply to meat and dairy from outside the EU. Locally bought food at Donegal avoids the question. Tell us where the aircraft is coming from.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“What impressed me at EIDL was how a request for a seafood starter and warm vegetable sides was handled despite two separate meal services. With several people involved, The Galley Girls kept the sandwiches and delivery arrangements together in a concise order update. We could account for the snack boxes before passing the boxes to the cabin team, without a lengthy unpacking exercise. I want a private jet chef to understand final order confirmation, and this order gave us a useful starting point.”
“Menu approval at CFN covered smoked salmon bagels and sliced fruit for 11 guests, leaving us to organise the service around an evening cabin service. The Galley Girls grouped the snack boxes by service, which was more useful to us than simply receiving a list of dishes. Our colleague could take over the starters without asking where every component had been placed during preparation. Our brief for in flight catering was met with a sensible plan for crew briefing.”
“My order at Donegal Airport covered fresh fruit and breakfast pastries for 2 guests, with a practical service plan needed because of a small galley worktop. I needed the canapés checked against the revised brief; The Galley Girls answered without sending us through another lengthy exchange. I appreciated the emphasis on final order confirmation throughout the inflight catering services arrangements. We checked the crew provisions against the same summary, keeping the cabin team and the handling contact aligned.”
Ask what changes the total here: a longer wait, a heavier seafood menu, a second crew. Crew meals and guest trays are separate lines, so a delay at EIDL adds only what you add. Tell us the plan and the passenger count and we answer with a figure.
What makes an order easy at EIDL is a clear slot. If the turnaround is long, we can plate carefully; if it is short, we choose food that is ready to go. Late requests are handled either way.
Customs at an Irish airport are simple for locally bought food. A Donegal menu of salmon, haddock and lamb is sourced inside the country, and we keep the paperwork consistent for the handling agent.
Yes, guests can bring something small, but anything crossing a border into Ireland meets customs rules. For a full trip we suggest ordering at Donegal, so the galley gets food that has already cleared.
No, catering sits outside a private jet charter and is a separate order. A light jet at CFN may have no oven at all, so we cook everything to be served cold or re-plated, and we ask for the aircraft type first.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
