Globe Air Cargo introduces animal transportation service

Oct 17, 2019: Globe Air Cargo (GAC) UK, a subsidiary of GSSA giant ECS Group, has launched ‘PetCare by ECS Group’, a service that transports pets by air to and from the UK.

Under the new service, GAC UK manages the whole transportation chain from arrival at the airport to collection at the reception centres.

GAC UK allows pets to travel on the same flight* as their owners, in a heat-controlled environment.

In addition, they advise customers of the documentation required for the country they are travelling to as per the IATA Live Animal Regulations.

“PetCare by ECS Group means that we look after the pet as though it were part of our family too – with care,” says Michelle HOUSE, managing director at GAC UK.

Michelle HOUSE, managing director at GAC UK said: “As the GSA for the airlines we represent**, we have preferential access to capacity, and we have a closer relationship with the airlines and the appointed handling agents. The ECS Group in-house tracking system, PATHFINDER, shows us live flight departure times and we can also check where the pet is in real time.

“It also means that when an airline changes the aircraft (to one without hold heat), we can move the booking to an aircraft that does.”

To put this service in place, GAC UK called on the services of an expert with 11 years’ experience managing the export & import of live animals, who helped set up the GSSA’s own in-house operations department in order to train their staff and ensure that their team complies with all IATA rules and regulations for the carriage of live animals by air.

In the recent years, animal transportation services are being launched by many airlines and GSSAs.

This June, IATA signed MoU with the Animal Transportation Association (ATA) to encourage the industry to adopt IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators for Live Animals Logistics (CEIV Live Animals) programme. Under the terms of the MoU, ATA will encourage adoption of CEIV Live Animals among its members.

* Aircraft limitations & route permitting.

** The airlines for which GAC UK offers this service are: Gulf Air, Aero Mexico, TUI, Air Transat, Royal Brunei and Vietnam Airlines.