Pet Airways offers jet-set pets travel with furry frills, from boarding lounge and pre-flight walks to onboard lunch and loo breaks
One trip for their Jack Russell terrier in a plane’s cargo hold was enough to convince Alysa Binder and Dan Wiesel that pet owners needed a better solution for transporting their animals from one location to another.
Yesterday, the first flight of Pet Airways, the service devised by the married couple, and the first-ever all-pet airline, took off from Republic airport, in Farmingdale, New York.
Binder and Wiesel used their background in consulting and their business know-how to found Pet Airways in 2005 and have spent the last four years designing their fleet of five planes to suit the animal travellers, as well as dealing with Federal Aviation Administration regulations and setting up the airport schedules.
The couple say they have been “overwhelmed” with the response to the new service with flights on the airline already booked up for the next two months.
Pet Airways serves New York, Washington, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles, and charges from $149 (£91) for a one-way fare, which is comparable to pet fees charged by the largest US airlines.
Some commercial airlines allow a limited number of small pets to fly in the cabin, but some animals are required to travel in the cargo hold.
Pet Airways says it offers a quite different service. Dogs and cats will fly in the main cabin of a freight plane that has been re-arranged and lined with carriers in place of seats. The animals, up to 50 a time, will be escorted to the plane by attendants who will check them every 15 minutes during the flight.
The pets get pre-boarding walks and “bathroom breaks”. And at each of the five airports it serves, the company offers a pet lounge for animals waiting to board.
The company will operate out of smaller, regional airports in the five cities, which will mean an extra trip for most people due to fly themselves. And stops in cities along the way mean the pets will take longer to reach the destination than their owners. A trip from New York to Los Angeles, will take about 24 hours, said Pet Airways. On that route, pets will stop in Chicago for a loo break, playtime and dinner, before bunking down for the night and arrival the next day.
Amanda Hickey, of Portland, Oregon, is one of the new airline’s first customers. Her seven-year-old terrier-pinscher mix, Mardi, and Penny, a two-year-old puggle (a pug crossed with a beagle) were soon to take their first flight. Hickey said the service would be a welcome alternative to flying her dogs in cargo from Denver to Chicago to stay with her family while she and her fiance go to Aruba to get married. “For a little bit more money, I have peace of mind,” she said.
It was the stressful experience of transporting their Jack Russell, Zoe, in a cargo hold, that spurred Binder and Wiesel to start their airline. Binder said it was worrying not being able to check on the dog at all. “One time in cargo was enough for us,” she said, walking through an airplane hangar as Zoe trotted in front of her. “We wanted to do something better.”
The company, which will begin with one flight in each of its five cities, might add more flights and cities. In the next three years, Binder hopes the schedule will expand to 25 destinations.
