As per its upcoming pet policy, Akasa Air, India’s youngest airline, will allow domesticated dogs and cats to be carried along in cabin and cargo from November 1.
Feel guilty leaving your fur baby behind while flying away for a long-haul trip? Akasa Air has got your covered! For the India’s newest airline is soon to start its pet-friendly services. Starting this November, passengers of Akasa Air will be allowed to travel with their pets in cabin and cargo compartments, according to the airline’s co-founder and CMO Belson Coutinho.
Coutinho further confirmed that the services will be available for domesticated dogs and cats, and flight bookings shall begin from October 15. However, it needs to be kept in mind that only small pets, weighing up to 7kg, can be brought inside the passenger cabin, while the ones weighing 8kg to 32kg will need to be checked in as cargo as they will need bigger crates to be flown in.
What also needs to be kept in mind for a pet owner is that only one pet weighing up to 7kg will be allowed in the cabin and one in the cargo hold, which means one passenger will be allowed two pets on a flight. Pets will be carried at an additional charge and will not be included in the free baggage allowance. The levied charges will be disclosed in coming days.
However, Akasa Air is not the only airline to allow domestic pets on its flights. Tata’s Air India also allows domestic cats, dogs, and birds in cabin and cargo compartments of domestic flights with proper health and rabies vaccination certificates. Preparing for a re-launch soon, Jet Airways also allowed birds and rabbits in appropriate carriages inside cargo of its domestic flights. But since Jet Airways is yet to make a comeback, Akasa Air has become the second commercial Indian carrier to permit passengers to travel with their pets following its announcement.
Furthermore, Vinay Dube, the airline’s CEO and aviation veteran, has said that the performance of Akasa Air, that launched in August earlier this year, in the last 60 days since its operations began has been satisfying, and the airline is now capitalised. Currently with a fleet of six planes, it will get 18 brand-new aircrafts by the end of March next year, and is also planning to go international in the second half of 2023.
Read more.
Planning the ‘purrfect’ pet-friendly vacation this festive season!
Pet-friendly hotels in India you can book for the ‘pawfect’ vacation