Virgin Australia flies into history books with inaugural ‘pets in the cabin’ flight from Melbourne
Virgin Australia has made history as the first Australian airline to allow pets in passenger cabins, with four tiny dogs set to take their inaugural flight.
For the first time in Australian aviation history, cats and dogs have been welcomed on-board a commercial passenger flight on Thursday, operated by Virgin Australia from Melbourne.
It follows a change to civil aviation safety regulations made in late 2021, allowing pets to travel in the cabin as well as in the cargo hold.
Virgin Australia chief executive Dave Emerson said it had been a “multi-year journey” to get to this point, but he was confident it would be worth it.
“Anytime you’re doing something new you don’t know all the things in front of you until you start down that path, and even though this has been done overseas, this is the first flight in Australia and just getting everybody aligned from a regulatory, health and security perspective has been quite a job,” said Mr Emerson.
“We’ve put the work in now and we’re quite comfortable we’re going to have a very successful launch.”
Four tiny dogs encased in approved carriers will make the trip to the Gold Coast with their owners, who have paid an additional $149 for the privilege.
As well as Melbourne-Gold Coast, Virgin Australia is trialling the new initiative on Melbourne-Sunshine Coast flights and plans to roll it out across the airline’s domestic network from January 30.
Melbourne dietitian Ali Guy is taking her 2kg Pomeranian Bambi on the inaugural trip, which she expects will be the first of many flights.
“Bambi has been on one flight before from Sydney to Melbourne but down in the bottom of the plane which was quite stressful, given he’s so small,” said Ms Guy.
“Usually we just drive him everywhere, but now being able to travel all over Australia, it’s going to be so much easier knowing he can be next to me as well.”
All pets carried on board must be fully vaccinated and weigh no more than 8kg, including carrier case.
Four seats in rows 18 and 20 have been assigned to pet owners, and Mr Emerson would not rule out adding more in the future.
“I think if you look at the way this has worked internationally in the US and Europe where it’s quite well established, there are some carriers that have slightly higher numbers than this,” he said.
“We want to see that it works well in the Australian context and get feedback before making any decisions about whether we’d go any further.”
He also indicated larger dogs and cats may yet get the chance to fly in the cabin, based on the success of the small pets’ initiative.
“These are all things that we’re open to looking at down the track, but we can’t make any commitments at this point,” Mr Emerson said.
To date, bookings for the service have exceeded expectation, coming in at a “fast clip” from many of the 70 per cent of Australians who own pets.
Mr Emerson said the Christmas holiday period was particularly popular for pets on the trial routes.
“I think people are looking forward to having the option of bringing their pets in the cabin and bringing them on vacation with them for the first time,” he said.
“You would appreciate that compared to the cost of putting a pet in the kennel it’s quite good value so we’re seeing a lot of demand and we’re very pleased with that.”
Thursday’s inaugural “pet flight” would feature a special message from Virgin founder Richard Branson, a renowned animal lover and wildlife conservationist.
He congratulated the Australian airline for the initiative and “once again rewriting the rule book of aviation”.
“Allowing pets to travel in the cabin speaks to Virgin Australia’s spirit of doing things differently and I can’t wait to see the joy this new service brings to travellers and their four-legged companions.”
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Originally published as Virgin Australia flies into history books with inaugural ‘pets in the cabin’ flight from Melbourne
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