Air Charter Service helps in transporting 58 rescue cats to their new home in northern Idaho

At the end of December, leading aircraft charter specialist, Air Charter Service, chartered a Metroliner III aircraft to fly 58 cats, all rescued by one woman, to a cat sanctuary more than 1,700 miles away.

Richard Thompson, President of ACS Americas, said: “She contacted us after speaking to the organisation Pilots to the Rescue, who were unable to accommodate so many animals on one flight, and referred her to us. She was personally relocating from the Houston area to Idaho and wished to relocate 58 cats that she had rescued to their new home there.

“We sourced the best and most suitable aircraft for the job which we deemed a Metroliner III. The customer then needed to purchase USDA approved crates and obtain health certificates for each cat. Once this was achieved we set a date for the charter – the Metroliner III was perfect as we could place all the cat carriers safely, and could strap and secure them in place. The cats are all now happy in their new home.

“We have a vast amount of experience in flights with both pets and rescue animals. Probably the largest was in 2018, following hurricane season in Texas, which had caused severe damage to many animal rescue centres in the state, and we were asked to transport 240 homeless cats and dogs to their new home in California. And, post-COVID, a new trend briefly developed, which was ride-sharing with pets on private jets. A couple of long-distance examples came in 2021 where we had a flight from Hong Kong to the UK with 10 dogs and their owners, and a couple of weeks later a charter from New York to the UK with seven dogs and two cats, along with their owners.”