Catering to your aircraft in David.
MPDA has a quiet apron and a working rhythm of regional and executive traffic. We cook Chiriquí food for it, packed by former VIP flight attendants who know what a galley can take.
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.
For {Region}-style cooking, David is a good place to build a private jet menu. Chiriquí Province is where Panama grows its coffee, its highland vegetables and much of its beef, and the Pacific side lands snapper, corvina and prawns. An inflight menu out of DAV can therefore be genuinely local rather than imported: ceviche on ice, grilled corvina with patacones, a Boquete coffee sealed for service.
Private jet food from MPDA follows the galley. Hot dishes such as sancocho, arroz con pollo or carimañolas are packed to finish in the oven; fruit, ceviche and tamal-style plates ship chilled and are re-plated cold. Private jet platters and gourmet inflight meals are cut by seat, and private jet snacks, plantain chips, cassava crisps, fresh pineapple and papaya, ride in the cockpit drawer. These are the local specialities our team returns to for Chiriquí Province flights.
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.
Enrique Malek International sits at 89 ft in the Chiriquí lowlands, with the highlands of Boquete rising behind the field, and that is where the produce on your tray comes from. Private jet catering at MPDA is cooked for the galley you actually fly, packed by former VIP flight attendants and handed to your FBO or handling agent. Inflight catering for David leans on Chiriquí coffee, fresh fish and tropical fruit; in-flight catering for a long leg south or north is packed in two services. Aviation catering and business aviation catering here cover executive jet catering and diplomatic flight catering alike, and cabin crew meals are ordered alongside, on request and invoiced with the rest.
For a corporate or charter flight from DAV, the menu is written around the cabin and the passengers, not the other way round. A private jet chef builds a bespoke menu: business jet catering with Boquete coffee, corporate jet catering with Pacific fish, VIP flight catering with local fruit, charter flight catering for groups, and luxury inflight catering where the brief calls for it.
When a delegation lands in David, state visit aircraft catering means a menu agreed with protocol, a named team and a sealed handover. Government flight catering, head of state flight catering and VIP aviation catering all follow the same discreet path from kitchen to door.
Special meals at David are a procedure built for the local kitchen: Panamanian cooking uses wheat flour, shellfish and peanut oil in places a menu will not show, so allergen free orders get a separate board, separate pans and a labelled box. Kosher, halal, vegan and gluten free meals are prepared from the order sheet and marked by seat; kids meals follow the same labelling. Tell us the restriction and the seat, and the rest is our problem.
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.
At MPDA the flight deck eats on request: the order is added to the trip and billed with the rest. Flight crew meals are packed in boxes marked CREW, with pilot meals that can be eaten one-handed on the flight deck. Crew catering covers a turnaround or a long leg, cockpit meals are labelled apart from guest trays, crew meal boxes stack in a jumpseat drawer, and different meals for pilots are available when your operator's policy asks for them. Cabin crew meals ride in the same drawer, labelled apart from the guest trays.
FBO catering at David is delivered to the FBO or the general aviation terminal, where your handling agent receives it and carries it to the aircraft. Catering delivery to the FBO is coordinated on your slot, with ground handling catering planned around the apron and handling agent catering confirmed before departure.
Aircraft type decides how the galley is loaded at MPDA: a light jet is served by hand at the stairs, while a larger cabin needs galley catering lifted to the door by high loader through your handling agent. Airside catering delivery to the apron is coordinated for the type, with aircraft provisioning planned around the door height and the carts the galley can take. Give us the tail and we confirm what fits.
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.
Enrique Malek International is the second-ranked airport in Panama and the working airport for Chiriquí Province, serving David and the western highlands. As a business aviation hub for the west of the country, it is a small general aviation field with a quiet apron, and airport catering here is shaped by agriculture, regional traffic and the few operators based on the field. FBO services and ground handling services are limited and personal: one counter, one handling agent, and a crew that knows the apron.
Business aviation at David follows the dry season: visitors to Boquete and the highlands, owners heading for the Pacific coast, and charter groups with golf or fishing on the schedule. Inflight catering and in-flight catering reflect that mix, with coffee, fish and fruit leading the orders. Aviation catering covers business aviation catering, executive jet catering and diplomatic flight catering through one handling agent, and cabin crew meals ride along on the same order. Crew meals are added on request and invoiced with the rest.
Panama checks food at the border for agricultural reasons; fresh meat, dairy and produce are the usual flags. At DAV, FBO services and ground handling services answer those checks at the apron, and we keep ingredient lists with every order so the handling agent has them to hand. Dishes travel sealed and labelled, and customs questions are settled before the door opens.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Keeping the galley organised at MPDA meant planning mini sandwiches and individual desserts for 3 guests with an evening cabin service in mind. My main takeaway from this airline catering order was the practical approach to portion planning. The confirmation from The Galley Girls showed the sandwiches clearly enough for us to check the planned service quantities. The quantities of salads matched our service plan, leaving us comfortable with the order before the final briefing.”
“One detail shaped our order at DAV: a revised passenger count, alongside a request for vegetarian wraps and colourful salads for 9 passengers. The order made crew meals feel manageable because the final order confirmation had been considered beforehand. With several people involved, The Galley Girls kept the snack boxes and delivery arrangements together in a concise order update. The cabin team could match the starters to the request before moving on to the remaining departure tasks.”
“I wanted a selection of petits fours and sandwiches for 9 guests at Enrique Malek International Airport, packed sensibly for a cabin team dealing with a short ground stop. The side dishes came from The Galley Girls in clearly marked packs, with a packing list that matched the contents. We placed the sauces in their planned storage area without first having to reorganise all the catering boxes. With FBO catering, careful attention to crew briefing matters as much to our crew as the menu itself.”
Where the flight lands changes the price. A destination with strict agricultural rules pushes the menu towards cooked, sealed dishes, which costs differently from a cold corvina and fruit service. We quote the finished menu and invoice it like any other order.
The galley sets the lead time, not the distance flown. A two-service menu with a hot course needs the oven plan agreed with your crew; cold platters and fruit are simpler to arrange. Last-minute orders are handled at David.
Customs on the arrival side decide whether the pineapple, avocado and cheese on a board are let through. We tell you which Chiriquí items usually travel and which are better finished before the next leg, and we keep the ingredient list with the order.
You can bring your own food on board, and some crews do. On a long leg with two services the difference is in the packing: sealed, labelled, oven-ready dishes survive the galley better than supermarket bags, and customs paperwork follows the order.
No. Catering is not part of a charter: it is ordered separately and invoiced separately, like any other service. For flights into DAV we also check that nothing on the menu will be held at customs when the aircraft lands.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
