Catering to your aircraft in Tanna Island.
At NVVW the apron is small and the island is remote, so the order matters more than the menu. We build trays from Tafea produce, mark them by seat, and hand them to your FBO or handling agent at Whitegrass.
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.
Start from the soil: Tanna's volcanic ground gives sweet taro, yam, kumara and fat bananas, and its slopes give coffee that Vanuatu is known for. For a private jet menu at Whitegrass, we pick from this list and add reef fish when the weather lets the boats out, so local specialities of Tafea arrive on your tray.
The inflight menu for Tanna is short on imports and long on island produce. Grilled reef fish, coconut cream, island cabbage, lap lap and ripe papaya make up private jet food that tastes of the place. Gourmet inflight meals are plated for re-service; private jet platters and private jet snacks, such as fruit and roasted coconut, work for a cabin that wants something light after a long Pacific leg.
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.
Volcano tourists and Vanuatu government visitors are the two groups who land at NVVW, and neither finds a supermarket on the way. That is where private jet catering earns its place: produce from Tafea province, cooked and packed ahead, delivered plane-side. We write inflight catering and in-flight catering around the aircraft, aviation catering around the stay, business aviation catering and executive jet catering around the passengers, diplomatic flight catering around protocol, and cabin crew meals around the rotation.
Charter flight catering to Tanna is rarely large. The group is often four to eight people, the aircraft a turboprop or light jet, and the stay brief. We write a bespoke menu with a private jet chef who plans for one oven and a small drawer, and we describe corporate jet catering, business jet catering, VIP flight catering and luxury inflight catering the same way: by what the galley can finish.
Government flight catering at Whitegrass often means Vanuatu officials, regional delegations or visiting dignitaries. Head of state flight catering needs a menu cleared by protocol before anything is cooked, a named team, and traceable ingredients; VIP aviation catering and state visit aircraft catering follow the same discreet route.
Island cooking on Tanna is gentler on allergens than you might expect: root vegetables and fruit carry the plate. The hidden points are peanuts and tree nuts, used in snacks and sauces, and fish stock behind a vegetable dish. Special meals are cooked on a separate board and packed in a separate box, so kosher, halal, vegan, gluten free, allergen free and kids meals are marked by seat number and handled by procedure, not by a label alone.
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.
Tanna is a long way from anywhere, so crew meals matter more than usual. We make flight crew meals and pilot meals as boxed or plated dishes, crew catering is on request and invoiced, cockpit meals are packed to eat in the seat, crew meal boxes are marked CREW, and we write different meals for pilots when the operator asks. For the cabin crew meals, the cabin team gets a lighter tray of fruit and fish, boxed apart from the guest trays.
On Tanna, the apron is small and the terminal simple. We arrange FBO catering and catering delivery to the FBO through your handling agent, who opens the gate. Ground handling catering and handling agent catering are coordinated for the general aviation terminal, with handover at the foot of the stairs.
Whitegrass sees turboprops and light and midsize jets, not wide-bodies, so galley catering usually travels in a van to the foot of the stairs. Airside catering delivery is agreed with your handling agent; if your aircraft needs a high loader for aircraft provisioning, tell us the type and we plan the lift 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.
Tanna's Whitegrass strip is an airport catering challenge in the best sense: remote, seasonal, and dependent on local produce. General aviation and FBO services are modest, and ground handling services are arranged around each visit.
Whitegrass is not a typical business aviation hub, but it sees visitors to Mount Yasur, regional charters and government flights. Inflight catering and in-flight catering are written around the trip, aviation catering and business aviation catering around the stay, executive jet catering around the aircraft, diplomatic flight catering around protocol, and cabin crew meals around the rotation.
Vanuatu's biosecurity rules restrict fresh fruit, meat, dairy and plant material arriving from abroad, and customs inspects the galley on international arrivals. Declare what is on board; for the next leg, local ordering at Whitegrass avoids the issue.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“An order of grilled salmon with a lemon dressing for 11 people at NVVW had to be organised around limited fridge space. The side dishes supplied by The Galley Girls were straightforward to check against the written menu before the cabin handover. The crew provisions were also listed clearly, which made it easier to pass instructions between crew members during preparation. My main takeaway from this private jet catering order was the practical approach to crew briefing.”
“The cabin briefing at TAH included 5 passenger meals, a request for a light pasta dish with grilled vegetables, and instructions addressing two separate meal services. We described our serving sequence to The Galley Girls and asked for the snack boxes to be packed accordingly. The desserts were reserved for the next stage, so the worktop stayed clear while we prepared the initial dishes. The order made private jet catering services feel manageable because the crew briefing had been considered beforehand.”
“It was the packing plan I cared about at Whitegrass Airport, with 6 servings of roasted chicken and seasonal vegetables and different crew meal preferences to consider. The Galley Girls suggested sealed meal containers for the canapés, and that choice worked well with our storage arrangement. I want a private jet catering company to understand packing arrangement, and this order gave us a useful starting point. We placed the sauces in their planned storage area without first having to reorganise all the catering boxes.”
The customs rules shape the menu, and the menu shapes the price at NVVW. Local fruit and root vegetables stay modest, imported specialities cost more. We cost each order by dish, so you can swap an expensive item for a Tafea one.
A return leg is a separate galley load, so we write it as one: fresh fruit, cooked dishes marked by seat, and anything the outbound passengers asked for. Last-minute orders are handled by phone or email, day or night.
Short flight, same rules: Vanuatu's customs apply to the galley as written. Empty-cabin legs often arrive with leftovers, and we advise clearing them before landing at Tanna.
Yes, with declarations. Biosecurity at Tanna decides what stays, so delegations tend to order locally and keep personal items sealed. Our diplomatic team handles discretion and traceability.
No: catering stays outside the charter and is billed on its own. Whitegrass turnarounds are short, so a pre-agreed menu and handover point matters more than anything else.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
