Dog flight: Virgin Australia will allow pets in the cabin

Virgin Australia will allow pets on board planes, stowed under the seat in front of its owner.

The Australian-first service — limited to cats and small dogs — is subject to regulatory approval, and is expected to launch within 12 months.

There’ll be a charge for the animals which can’t be on their owners’ laps.

One Australian airport is working on providing ‘’relief areas’' for pets before they take a flight.

Because of quarantine rules, the plans don’t extend to the airline’s international services. The airline flies to Queenstown, at present its only transtasman flights.

The Virgin Australia move follows a social media survey of Facebook followers in 2021, in which 85 per cent of respondents voted in favour of the airline allowing pets in cabin flights.

In more recent research conducted by Virgin Australia with Australian pet owners, nearly 70 per cent of respondents advised they would travel with their pet in the cabin, with 57 per cent saying they would fly more regularly if the service was a reality.

Almost all major carriers in North America offer a pets onboard service for domestic flights, including United Airlines and Air Canada, the airline says.

Air New Zealand doesn’tpan to follow Virgin’s move. Air NZ allows cats, dogs and small caged birds to travel as checked-in baggage on all domestic flights provided they fly in suitable pet carriers.

Virgin Australia says pets will be limited to a small number of designated rows on eligible routes and animals won’t be able to roam freely or sit on laps.

Animals must also be carried in a Virgin Australia-approved pet carrier under the seat in front of the owner for the duration of the flight.

Virgin Australia will charge a fee for passengers who are eligible to bring their pet onboard.

Departing Virgin Australia group chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka said Virgin Australia was excited at the prospect of taking off with Australia’s first-ever pets in cabin flights.

Hrdlicka — whose abrupt exit was announced a fortnight ago — said overwhelmingly, passengers told the airline they wanted to travel with their pets.

“Almost 70 per cent of Australian households have a pet, so this announcement is really significant for a large proportion of the country. It’s also a great thing for pet-friendly accommodation providers who will benefit greatly from increased connectivity and the ease for travellers to fly with their pets. It really will be a whole new economy for pet travel in Australia,’' she said.

Melbourne Airport CEO, Lorie Argus said the airport was looking forward to helping Virgin Australia deliver the Australian-first.

“We’ve been investing significant effort into providing relief areas for assistance animals and these facilities have ample capacity to serve Virgin Australia’s new guests,” she said.

The airline said more details on pets in cabin flights, including available routes, and the cost for bringing a pet onboard, will be announced in “due course”.

The proposed pets in cabin flights will not result in any change to approved assistance animals being able to travel in the cabin of Virgin Australia aircraft at no additional cost.

The existing procedure for assessing the eligibility of these assistance animals to travel onboard will not change.

Virgin Australia will continue to offer pets to be transported as cargo through approved pet carrier services.

Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.