Pet Airways Takes Off from Republic Airport

[Matt Molnar]

NYCAviation.com:

Pet Airways Takes Off from Republic Airport

July 14th, 2009

With a full cabin of “pawsengers” on-board, Pet Airways launched its maiden flight today, taking off from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, Long Island en route for Los Angeles. [Full Article]

[hiss srq]

Honestly, I cannot see this doing well. Travel demand for humans is down right now let alone taking their pets anyplace. Not to mention no one flys out of FRG like that. If your going to fly out of FRG to any of these cities your obviously bring your dog into the cabin with you. I am calling flop.

[h2opunk1822]

so which fbo did they leave out of?.. please tell me atlantic!!

[moose135]

I don't know about that, Ryan. Obviously, this service isn't targeted to people flying out of FRG on a private aircraft, they are using FRG as it is easier (and less expensive) to operate there as compared to JFK or LGA. Take a look at the pet policies of the major airlines - some don't allow pets at all - notably Southwest - so if you're flying out of ISP with Rover, he gets left at the gate. Those that do carry pets have various restrictions, whether that be number carried on an individual flight, weather (too hot or cold) or carrier size (some only allow small carriers as cabin baggage, and do not transport larger pets in carriers as checked baggage).

And as to cost, how about United, one way costs $125 for carry-on or $250 for checked baggage, AA charges $100 in cabin, and $150 checked, Delta is $150 carry-on and $275 checked. At $300 for Pet Aiways, they are competitively priced. And having been a dog owner, let me tell you, most pet lovers will not hesitate to spend that kind of money to insure their pet is handled with extra care.

[moose135]

They are working out of Nassau Flyers on New Highway...



The first return flight arrived at FRG this afternoon. I missed the arrival, but the aircraft is parked behind SheltAir:



I stopped in to the NFI office, and spoke with one of the Pet Airways folks - well as best we could in between people picking up dogs. When I got there, a family was picking up their Schnauzer. The dog looked happy, the people looked happy, the PA guy looked happy, everyone was having a good time. I don't know if this operation will ultimately be successful, but the handful of people I saw picking up their pets seemed satisfied.

[NIKV69]

Nice update Moose. I hope they do well. I think Pets get a raw deal with the majors and this is a great way to transport animals so everyone can have peace of mind.

[Matt Molnar]

Nice shots, Moose.

Interesting that several new pet relief areas opened at JFK the same day Pet Airways started service.

[hiss srq]

I saw them in action today and to my suprise with the cargo door open it appeared pretty full in their as they were unloading.

[moose135]

I saw them in action today and to my suprise with the cargo door open it appeared pretty full in their as they were unloading.

They are completely booked for the first 2 months.

[Vidiot]

I gotta hand it to them, since I never thought they'd get off the ground. Odd that they had been claiming they'd fly out of EWR (which got my attention, as most other airports they're using are smaller executive-type fields), and then quietly switched that to Republic.

(They had originally claimed that their fleet would consist "of a 20 plane fleet of Falcon 20, Convair 580 and 5800 and B- 727-100 aircraft", but then changed that to the Beech 1900 we've seen.)

[Fighting_falcon_51]

I managed to get a crappy shot:

[hiss srq]

It will be interesting to see how this "scheduled service" which is if I am not mistaken being flown under part 135 rules is going to do with the rockies in BE1900's over the winter. I know people fly them all over the place out there but owners in LA arew probably going ot be a bit angry when pets are stuck east of the rockies due to weather.

[Gerard]

>(They had originally claimed that their fleet would consist "of a 20 plane fleet of Falcon 20, Convair 580 and 5800 and B- 727-100 aircraft", but then changed that to the Beech 1900 we've seen.)[/quote]<

Wishful thinking for possible expansion if the venture takes of?.
BTW do they have an actual schedule?

[h2opunk1822]

sounds like a awesome operation, esp due to the fact that they are booked for 2 months straight... i really hope this takes off and becomes more routine!!



and transfers to atlantic

[moose135]

BTW do they have an actual schedule?

Yes they do - it's a weekly flight. They depart FRG Tuesday afternoon, stop in BWI and spend the night in MDW. Wednesday they stop in Omaha and Denver (BJC) then on to LA (Hawthorne). They depart LA on Thursday and reverse the routing, returning to FRG on Friday afternoon. You can track them on FlightAware - outbound is SUB1101, return is SUB1102.

Today's FRG departure:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SUB1 ... /KFRG/KBWI