Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference Week: Catering Tips for Flight Departments
Schedulers and dispatchers conference week is one of the busiest moments of the year for flight department teams. Each year, the NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference brings together the people who plan trips, book FBOs, arrange crews and order catering, in a different American city. Global Diners supports flight departments with the Global Diners menu at airports such as Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL), Long Beach (KLGB / LGB), Houston Hobby (KHOU / HOU) and Teterboro (KTEB / TEB), with delivery coordinated with your FBO.
This guide is written for schedulers and dispatchers themselves. It offers practical catering tips for the conference week, when many trips must still run smoothly while key planners are away from the office, and ideas for using the event to refine the way your department orders inflight catering all year.
Why conference week needs a catering plan
When schedulers and dispatchers attend their annual conference, their aircraft keep flying. Trips planned weeks earlier still depart, last-minute requests still arrive, and the colleagues covering the desk need clear information. A simple catering plan prepared before the week makes all the difference: standing preferences, passenger profiles and a single contact for every order.
Write down standing preferences for each regular passenger: favourite breakfast, dietary needs and allergies.
Pre-order catering for trips that are already confirmed for the conference week.
Share one ordering address, order@globaldiners.com, with the colleagues covering the desk.
Agree a back-up contact within your department for questions on the day.
Keep a short menu shortlist so any colleague can order with confidence.
A standing catering profile for every principal
The single most useful tool for any flight department is a catering profile for each principal and frequent passenger. It records what they enjoy, what they avoid and how they like to be served. With a profile in hand, ordering becomes quick and consistent, whoever is at the desk.
Profile field | Example | How Global Diners uses it |
Dietary needs | Gluten-free, vegetarian, halal or kosher | Menus prepared accordingly, clearly labelled |
Allergies | Tree nuts, shellfish | Allergen label on every item and a clear note on the order |
Breakfast style | Light: fruit, yoghurt, granola | Selected from the Global Diners menu for early departures |
Lunch style | Salads and grilled fish | Prepared for reheating or cold service as needed |
Drinks | Sparkling water, green tea, no alcohol | Alcohol-free menus available; wine subject to local rules |
Service notes | Serve after take-off, no strong smells | Shared with the crew in the order details |
Catering tips for the conference week itself
Schedulers and dispatchers who fly to the conference on company aircraft, or position aircraft for colleagues, can enjoy the trip too. A relaxed breakfast on the way out and a light supper on the way home make the week easier. If several departments share flights or travel together, one combined order keeps things simple.
Send all confirmed trips for the week in a single message, with airports, FBOs, local times and passenger counts.
Confirm the crew contact for each tail, so our team can coordinate with the right person.
Choose simple, robust menus for short domestic legs, such as sandwiches, salads and fruit.
Plan full meals with reheating guidance for transcontinental and international legs.
Order 24 hours ahead where possible; our specialised team sends a dedicated quote for each trip.
The best flight departments make catering a habit rather than a task: clear profiles, one contact and a confirmation for every trip.
Using the conference to improve your catering process
Conference week is also a moment to step back and look at how catering works in your department. Sessions and conversations with peers often bring up the same themes: clearer documentation, consistent quality across airports and better communication with crews. A few questions are worth asking when you return to the office.
Do we have up-to-date catering profiles for every principal?
Do our crews receive dietary and allergy information with every order?
Are invoices and documents easy to match to each trip?
Do we work with a single catering contact across our main airports?
For deeper reading, see our articles on private jet catering procurement, the time saved by organised catering coordination and clear catering records and owner trust.
One menu, one contact, every airport
Global Diners works with one menu, the Global Diners menu, and every request receives a dedicated quote. For flight departments, this brings consistency: the same standard of presentation, labelling and allergen information whether the aircraft departs from Dallas, Long Beach, Houston, New York or Europe. In Paris (LFPB / LBG) and Nice (LFMN / NCE), our own kitchens deliver planeside; everywhere else, delivery is coordinated with your FBO or handler.
The Global Diners client portal is coming very soon. It is designed to bring the Global Diners menu, order requests, confirmations and documents into one space for crew, operations and finance. Until it opens, every request goes through order@globaldiners.com. For schedulers and dispatchers, it is designed to make menus, order requests, confirmations and documents easy to find in one place.
Whether your conference week is spent on the exhibition floor or at the desk covering for colleagues, a clear catering plan keeps every principal happy and every crew well prepared.
Major Dallas Events and Your Aircraft Catering at Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL)
Love Field is the closest airfield to downtown Dallas, Uptown, Highland Park and the corporate towers along the North Dallas Tollway, which makes it a favourite with executive and sports traffic. Its sharpest peaks come with the State Fair of Texas and the October college football rivalry, spring golf in the northern suburbs, and the bowl games and holidays at year end. On those days the airport is at its liveliest. Plan ahead of the usual 24-hour lead time, share firm passenger numbers early, agree delivery timing with the handler, and choose formats that travel easily, such as boxed individual meals and pre-plated platters.
Event | When | Where |
State Fair of Texas | Late September to October | Fair Park, Dallas |
Red River Rivalry | October | Cotton Bowl Stadium, Fair Park |
Byron Nelson PGA Tour tournament | May | TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney |
Dallas Cowboys home season | September to January | AT&T Stadium, Arlington |
Christmas and New Year holidays | Late December to early January | Dallas |
State Fair of Texas at Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL): Late September to October
The State Fair of Texas runs for about three and a half weeks at Fair Park, famous for its fried-food contests, livestock shows and car exhibits. It brings a steady flow of visitors and corporate groups, with Love Field the closest airport for many of them. For the return leg, think Texas-style comfort: chicken-fried steak bites, corn dogs reinvented as canapés, and pecan pie. Restaurant pick-up can be arranged on request. Place orders several days ahead on fair weekends.
Game days, golf weeks and fair dates change every year, so please confirm the current timings with our team when you order.
Things to do around Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL)
Love Field sits just a few kilometres from Uptown, where Klyde Warren Park spans a freeway and hosts food trucks and outdoor events. White Rock Lake offers a loop trail for walking, running and cycling, and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden overlooks it with seasonal displays. The Katy Trail connects Uptown neighbourhoods on a former rail line. Sports fans can catch the Mavericks, Stars, Cowboys or Rangers, and golfers have a choice of private clubs across the north of the city. Fort Worth's Stockyards are an easy day trip.
Culture and heritage near Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL)
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza documents the life and assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Dallas Arts District is one of the largest contiguous arts districts in the United States, home to the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center, the Crow Museum of Asian Art and the Winspear Opera House. Fair Park preserves a notable collection of 1930s Art Deco exhibition buildings.
Also nearby: Long Beach (KLGB / LGB)
Long Beach Airport, also known as Daugherty Field, combines scheduled airline service with one of the most active business aviation communities in Southern California. Private jets use it for Long Beach, Orange County, the South Bay and downtown Los Angeles, and for links to the Port of Long Beach, one of the busiest container ports in the United States. The airport also has a long aerospace history and a significant aircraft maintenance presence. Visitors come for the waterfront, the Queen Mary, yachting and ferries to Catalina Island, with traffic peaking at the April Grand Prix, in summer and over the holidays.
The waterfront is the centre of Long Beach, with Shoreline Village, the Aquarium of the Pacific and the historic Queen Mary ocean liner across the harbour. Ferries and charter boats run to Catalina Island for hiking, diving and the town of Avalon. Naples Island and Alamitos Bay offer gondola rides, kayaking and sailing, and the beach bike path stretches for kilometres. Golf, sport fishing, harbour cruises and whale-watching trips in season are easy to arrange, and Bluff Park offers sunset walks above the sand. Disneyland in Anaheim and the Orange County beaches are a short drive away.
FBOs at every airport in this guide
Here are the business aviation terminals (FBOs) at each airport mentioned above. Our team coordinates every catering delivery with the FBO or handler you choose, and our own kitchens deliver planeside at Paris (LFPB / LBG) and Nice (LFMN / NCE).
Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL): Business Jet, Atlantic Aviation, Jet Aviation, Signature Aviation Terminal 1, Signature Aviation Terminal 2, Signature Aviation Terminal 3 at Alpha 3 and Signature Aviation Terminal 4
Long Beach (KLGB / LGB): Atlantic Aviation and Signature Aviation
Houston Hobby (KHOU / HOU): Wilson Air Center HOU, Atlantic Aviation, Galaxy FBO, Jet Aviation Houston, Million Air Houston and Signature Aviation
Teterboro (KTEB / TEB): Atlantic Aviation, Jet Aviation and Signature Aviation
Frequently asked questions
How can a flight department prepare catering before the schedulers and dispatchers conference?
Pre-order catering for trips already confirmed, share standing passenger profiles, and give colleagues covering the desk a single ordering address, order@globaldiners.com.
What should a passenger catering profile include?
Dietary needs, allergies, breakfast and lunch preferences, drinks and service notes. Our team uses this information for every order, and every item carries an allergen label.
Can Global Diners handle several trips in one request?
Yes. Send all confirmed trips in one message with airports, FBOs, local times and passenger counts, and our specialised team prepares a dedicated quote for each.
Which American airports can Global Diners serve for flight departments?
Global Diners serves more than 2,500 airports, including Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL), Long Beach (KLGB / LGB), Houston Hobby (KHOU / HOU) and Teterboro (KTEB / TEB), with delivery coordinated with your FBO.
Can I get steakhouse dishes delivered to my jet at Dallas Love Field?
Yes, steakhouse dishes can be arranged for departures from Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL) as a restaurant pick-up on request. Steaks are typically cooked to the requested temperature and packed for reheating, or sliced cold for sandwiches and salads. Sides such as creamed spinach, potatoes and Caesar salad are packed separately. Share the restaurant name or the cuts you prefer when ordering.
Can Global Diners provide catering for a same-day return from Dallas Love Field?
Yes, catering for both legs of a same-day round trip through Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL) can be planned in a single order. Breakfast for the outbound flight and a lunch or dinner for the return are prepared and labelled separately, with the second set delivered at the agreed time. Send both schedules with your request and our team will organise the timings.
Explore more destinations and guides
Private jet catering in Dallas Love Field (KDAL / DAL)
Private jet catering in Long Beach (KLGB / LGB)
Private jet catering in Houston Hobby (KHOU / HOU)
Ready to simplify catering for your flight department?
Send your upcoming trips and passenger profiles to our specialised team, and we will prepare the Global Diners menu for every departure, with a dedicated quote and delivery coordinated with your FBO.
To request a quote, email order@globaldiners.com with your aircraft registration, airport, date, delivery time and passenger count. Our specialised team replies with a dedicated quote for your mission.
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