By: Xavier E. Martinez, xmartinez@onlyforpetlovers.com

Relief is finally here for the more than one million Americans who fly with their pets every year. Pet Airways, a pet only flight services, has taken to the sky.

“We are an airlines dedicated solely to pets for their safety, comfort and care,” said Alyse Tognotti, spokesperson for Pet Airways. “The reason we created this airlines was so they have a safer and more comfortable way of traveling. They go in the main cabin of the aircraft versus down in the cargo hold like in commercial flights.”

Each one of Pet Airways Beech 1900 aircrafts is specially designed to fit up to 50 animals, each flying in its own separate pet carrier. Currently, the airline is accepting dogs and cats and plans on adding other domesticated household pets like rabbits, guinea pigs and birds in the near future.

The airline, which began taking reservations in April, is currently flying between New York, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. They pilot 10 flights a week, and plan on expanding to 25 cities over the next two years.

“A pet attendant is always with them at all times. All of our employees are trained in animal handling. Most are past veterinarian technicians or veterinarians themselves. We have a true love and passion for pets,” Tognotti said.

According to the company spokesperson, an attendant checks on Pawsengers every 15 minutes. They talk to the animals and consul them if necessary. But she has found once in the air most of the pets fall asleep and relax. There has yet to be any problems with any of the pets.

Travel costs begin at around $149 each way, averaging $250 each way depending on size of the animal and distance traveled.

“We compare to commercial flights in price and their animals are down in the cargo hold. This is a win, win for our animals,” Tognotti added.

The idea of a pet only air service came about when founders Alyse Binder and Dan Wiesel took a cross-country trip with their Jack Russell Terrier, Zoe. The anxiety of having their loved one trapped below in a dark, damp cargo hold was enough to make them find something different.

They decided there had to be a better way to travel with pets, and now, five years later, Pet Airways is blossoming.

“We wanted [our dogs] to be able to get through the trip quickly, handled by people who understand that pets are not luggage. Pet Airways treated our dogs well, and they arrived in good shape,” said first time customer Morris R.

“Ellie in particular seemed to take a liking to the captain/owner, and she made a special gesture of running up to him to say goodbye when she landed. It was comforting to see she liked the people who took care of her on the flight.”

When pet parents arrive to drop off their loved ones, a Pet Airways employee greets them in a pet lounge. At the pet lounge, pawsangers are given water, walked, and played with until the flight is due to take off. Pet Airways attempts to fly mostly out of smaller regional airports to avoid the hustle, bustle of major airports.

According to Tognotti, everything about the airline is strictly for pets. In the smaller airports, the animals seem to undergo less stress.

Pet attendants are happy to distribute any medication an animal may need during flight. But the airline refuses to accept any animal that seems to be sedated.

“We want to make sure that they are safe and alert. If we find that they’ve been sedated, we will kindly ask the pet parent to bring them back the following week,” Tognotti said.

According to Tognotti, local animal rescue organizations are starting to understand the potential of an all-animal pet airline. Pet Airways opens up a plethora of new opportunities for pet owners to rescue dogs and cats from rescues all over the United States. In their first week, the airline already saved a few privileged rescue dogs by relocating them to their new homes cross-country.

After conquering the U.S., Pet Airways plans on opening up international flights in the coming years.

For more information visit http://petairways.com/