Catering to your aircraft in Derby.
The Kimberley wet season runs the slot book at Derby, and we pack for it: barramundi, mango and prawns in boxes that wait on the apron as long as your crew does. Two of us are on the phone day or night for YCIN.
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.
{Region} here means the north-west tropics, where the Wet Season from roughly November to April changes what is available and how it travels. A private jet menu for Derby is written in two halves: dry-season produce like fresh fish and tropical fruit, and wet-season dishes that hold in humidity. Inflight menu choices lean on barramundi, prawns, beef from the Kimberley stations and a lot of mango. Private jet food packed for a galley with no oven stays chilled and plated cold; a galley with an oven gets hot dishes marked for it.
Local specialities in Derby are short on fuss and long on freshness. Barramundi caught in the King Sound system, prawns, Kimberley beef, bush tomato and native lime show up across the private jet platters we pack at YCIN. Gourmet inflight meals are built from those same ingredients, with the sauce apart and the garnish separate. Private jet snacks round it out: roasted macadamias, mango leather, a plain cheese board. Every item is written for the crew who plate it, not for a brochure, so the Western Australia kitchen comes through in the box, not in the description.
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.
RAAF Base Curtin sits on the flat tidal country at the southern edge of King Sound, and the wet season decides what a galley can carry out of Derby. Private jet catering here is built around that: Kimberley barramundi, Broome pearl-meat-free seafood platters, Derby-grown mango in season, packed for your galley and handed over at the FBO. For the same stop we also write inflight catering for the charter that lands for the Horizontal Falls, and aviation catering for the crew who wait on the apron. Business aviation catering at YCIN is a short brief: the type, the headcount, the slot. Executive jet catering for Kimberley lodge transfers, diplomatic flight catering when a delegation overflies Defence ground, and cabin crew meals for the long wait between sectors all go through the same order, by phone or email, day or night.
Business jet catering at YCIN is usually a short brief: a light or mid-size aircraft, four to eight guests, a Kimberley day trip. Corporate jet catering here favours a cold lunch on a board, and VIP flight catering for a lodge group adds barramundi or beef. For a charter flight catering order, luxury inflight catering means a private jet chef writes a bespoke menu around the galley you actually have, with the oven dishes marked.
For government flight catering at RAAF Base Curtin, the delegation's protocol list is read before any dish is planned. Head of state flight catering, VIP aviation catering and state visit aircraft catering all start with who is aboard and what the delegation will not eat, then a named team cooks, packs and hands over with traceability and discretion.
Special meals at a Kimberley stop are a matter of procedure: we ask where allergens hide in local cooking, and the answer here is usually shellfish, macadamia and mango, all common in the dishes above. Kosher, halal, vegan and gluten free plates are cooked and packed on a separate board and sealed in their own box, marked with the seat number. Allergen free orders are confirmed against the menu before anything is cooked, and kids meals are simple, plain and portioned for a small hand.
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.
The crew at RAAF Base Curtin often wait for a weather window, so crew meals are about staying power. Flight crew meals are cold and robust, pilot meals are hot or cold on request, and crew catering is a separate order from the passenger menu. Cockpit meals are boxed, labelled CREW and handled apart; crew meal boxes hold up in humidity. Different meals for pilots are packed in two boxes. Cabin crew meals are sized for the galley.
FBO catering at YCIN is delivered to the FBO or the general aviation terminal, and your handling agent takes it airside. Catering delivery to the FBO is arranged against your slot, with ground handling catering coordinated so the right door opens. Handling agent catering starts with the tail and the aircraft type.
Most traffic into YCIN is light and mid-size jets, so galley catering is carried in by hand, trolley or van to the aircraft door. When a larger aircraft calls, we confirm the door height and whether a high loader is needed for airside catering delivery. Aircraft provisioning on a seasonal military-and-charter field depends on the handling agent for airside access, so we coordinate that before the slot.
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.
YCIN sits on the edge of King Sound, a defence base first and a civil field second. For airport catering, that means access is arranged through your handling agent, and general aviation traffic is mostly charters bound for the Kimberley coast. FBO services and ground handling services here are small and personal, so the tail and the slot go to the handling agent before anything is cooked.
Business aviation catering at Derby follows the seasons. Inflight catering and in-flight catering orders peak in the Dry when lodge and cruise guests arrive; aviation catering for charters tapers in the Wet. Executive jet catering for a Horizontal Falls transfer and diplomatic flight catering for a delegation go through the same order, and cabin crew meals are added on request alongside other crew meals for the apron wait. FBO services and ground handling services on a field this size are arranged by the handling agent. The business aviation hub role here is small, but the traffic is real.
Customs in Western Australia means biosecurity first: mango, honey and raw meat are the questions on an incoming flight. We pack to the rules and deliver to the FBO; ground handling services and airside access at RAAF Base Curtin sit with the handling agent, and FBO services are confirmed on the same call.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Before our guests boarded at YCIN, we needed a charcuterie board and fresh bread divided into 5 portions suitable for different crew meal preferences. The order made private jet catering menu feel manageable because the portion planning had been considered beforehand. Instead of asking us to improvise, The Galley Girls explained how the fruit plates could be arranged during service. The starters stayed together in one group, so another crew member could follow the same plating sequence.”
“With different crew meal preferences to consider at DCN, we needed a practical way to serve a cold lunch with cheese and fruit to 12 passengers. The Galley Girls labelled the sandwiches in line with our brief, so the cabin team could identify the relevant portions quickly. Keeping the breakfast portions identifiable helped the colleague taking over service understand the order without another long explanation. My main takeaway from this private aviation catering order was the practical approach to crew briefing.”
“As the person coordinating roasted vegetable bowls with separate dressings for 6 passengers at RAAF Base Curtin, I needed an arrangement that considered a short ground stop. The canapés from The Galley Girls were organised around the cabin plan, with the later service items kept apart. We left the main courses stored until needed, which kept the first service manageable and reduced unnecessary handling. I would discuss business jet catering with them again, especially when packing arrangement needs careful coordination.”
Local product moves the figure: Kimberley beef is steady, barramundi is premium, mango swings with the harvest. We quote your Derby menu line by line and invoice it separately from the aircraft.
Lead time at YCIN is simple to manage: the wet season can close departures at short notice, so we plan around a flexible slot and handle last-minute orders and changes without fuss.
Australian biosecurity treats fresh produce and meat carefully. For an international arrival into Derby, the food has to match the rules, and your handling agent is the contact for airside access to the aircraft.
Bring food by all means for a domestic sector; for anything crossing a border, check biosecurity. When the passenger count moves late, we adjust the order and the plating plan rather than starting over.
A charter contract does not carry catering in this field or anywhere else. Order it separately, invoiced as its own order, and add crew meals on request if duty time will keep the crew on the ground.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
