Pets in to the UK

[stickandrudderman]

I have learnt that it is actually possible to bring your pet into the UK on your own 'plane. What's needed is the co-operation of an AOC that is approved for the carriage of pets and then a simple agreement called an RMOP.
Now, can anyone help with finding such an AOC at either Oxford or Biggin?
Thanks


Stick.

[Chris Tansley]

Here you go - the official list:
https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...air-routes.pdf

[stickandrudderman]

Originally Posted by Chris Tansley

Here you go - the official list:
https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...air-routes.pdf

That's very useful, thanks.
The list is rather longer than I had anticipated but I shall work through it and see if I can't find someone willing to cooperate.

[Sepp]

The list needs updating. At least one AOC mentioned - AD Aviation - has shut up shop.

[victormikecharlie]

Victormikecharlie

Try Zephyr Aviation based at Chalgrove or Spirejet at Oxford

[latedownwind]

If you contact [email protected] they will provide you with a list of the approved AOC operators regularly bringing pets into OXF

[stickandrudderman]

Thanks. I did that and they sent me a list of companies I could charter from. I guess it's something to work with though.

[Miles Magister]

It is not only the AOC company that you have to check it is also the airport which needs approval. I was the first Exec Jet AOC holder to gain PETS approval in the UK and we always had to stage through Biggin Hill as they, Gatwick and Manchester were the only airports approved for inbound PETS at the time.

Check your airports as well as your carriers.

MM

[stickandrudderman]

Thanks Miles but the list Chris linked above contains lots and lots of AOC holders at many airfields so in the absence of an introduction I'm going to have to sift through all of them to see if I can get someone to co-operate.
At the moment I am struggling to convince anyone that it is achievable and legal!

[Miles Magister]

The link posted was from this web site https://www.gov.uk/take-pet-abroad
On the documented list you are viewing the right hand column is the important one. This lists the airports which are authorised for import under the PETS scheme. See which airport you would like to enter via then look into the left column to see which company you would like to use.
Basically as far as the UK are concerned you can leave from any airport overseas but must enter the UK via an approved airport where they check your pet's microchip and passport. You can land at the entry airport then take off again and fly to another destination in the UK. So for example fly from the south of France in to Biggin Hill then fly onwards to another airport in the UK.
It is perfectly achievable and legal. It is even easy if you know what you are doing. If any charter operators are not being helpful it is probably because they do not know what they are doing or are not approved under the PETS scheme. Just put the phone down and move on to your next contact.
I am afraid I am out of the business now so can not offer any personal recommendation.

MM

[stickandrudderman]

Thanks MM.
I know for a fact that I can do it at one of the other airports but I'm trying not to have to add 60 mins flying time to my journey.

[boxmover]

Unless you have a good business or personal relationship with an AOC holder I think your main problem will be getting one to put thire neck on rhe line by working with you.

[stickandrudderman]

I hear you. It's the notion that there's any necks being put on the line that I am trying to contest but without that personal relationship and little financial reward for the AOC holder I accept that it's a long shot. Still, you don't ask you don't get.

[stickandrudderman]

Looks like I'm not getting (at Oxford at least)...........

[Booglebox]

SkyPets | London Biggin Hill Airport

[nickety]

When I first learned of the SkyPets service at London Biggin Hill airport a few years ago, I immediately wondered why commercial airlines insist that animals must be imported in their holds. Clearly, if there was a legislative impediment, then it must have been one that distinguished between different types of air transport—but my research only found section 4 of The Rabies (Importation of Dogs, Cats and Other Mammals) Order 1974, which states (edited for brevity):

Prohibition on landing of animals in Great Britain

1. Subject to the provisions of this order, the landing in Great Britain of an animal brought from a place outside Great Britain is hereby prohibited.
2. ...
3. The prohibition on landing contained in paragraph (1) above shall not apply when the landing is under the authority of a licence previously granted by the Minister, and in accordance with the terms and conditions subject to which it was granted.
4. ...

I therefore wondered exactly what these importation licences said about the matter, whether they stipulated (for commercial airlines) that non-service animals must be carried in the hold—and if so, why. These questions seemed especially pertinent given that:

• commercial airlines will carry service animals (e.g. guide dogs) into the UK in their passenger cabins;
• some commercial airlines (I think at the time KLM) were prepared to carry small animals out of the UK in their passenger cabins;
• many commercial airlines were prepared to carry small animals in their passenger cabins on non-UK routes;
• some GA aircraft were able to carry all animals, even non-service ones, in their passenger cabins.

I tried speaking to the airlines, and was mostly told that "it's UK law, there's nothing that we can do about it". I therefore wrote to the imports team at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA, the division of Defra who run the Pet Travel Scheme) to enquire into the situation, and received the following very helpful reply:

Article 11 of the Non-Commercial Movement of Pet Animals Order 2011 requires the approval of carriers that carry pet animals into Great Britain. The procedures for doing this are set out in each airline’s required method of operation (RMOP) to ensure that all pets entering UK airports are able to be transported safely and securely to the pets checking facility. However, operations at airports are both sensitive and complex, and other vital border controls need to be taken into account when these procedures are agreed. In practice, this means that pets currently travel to the UK by air as 'manifest cargo'. This not only enables the pets to be transferred efficiently to the pets checking facility, but also means that a documentary record of the pet’s arrival is available to customs and other border control officials.

Please note, once an RMOP has been agreed, the details cannot be changed without the transport company re applying for approval. Thus, if the RMOP states that pets will travel as manifest cargo – this is how pets will have to travel.

Defra officials are working with APHA, HMRC, Border Force and other operational partners to explore whether it would be practical to transport pets by air into the UK in ways other than as manifest cargo. We did offer a pilot scheme where airlines could apply for approval to transport pets in the cabin on a flight entering Great Britain into London Heathrow airport. This pilot remains available, however to date we have not received any requests from airlines for approval to transport pets into Great Britain in the cabin. Should an airline wish to amend their RMOP to enable them to transport pets in the cabin, they would need to agree procedures with the airport(s) into which they wish to fly and the APHA office responsible for that/those airport(s).

So, going back to the opening post in this thread:

Originally Posted by stickandrudderman

I have learnt that it is actually possible to bring your pet into the UK on your own 'plane. What's needed is the co-operation of an AOC that is approved for the carriage of pets and then a simple agreement called an RMOP.

An "RMOP" is not a "simple agreement"—it is a formal part of the operator's licence. Regarding the importation of animals into the UK, an AOC's RMOP apparently sets out (in some detail) exactly how they will handle such imports: I would imagine that the RMOP involves, at very least, so much detail that they can only ensure its adherence on flights that they actually operate (if indeed their certificate/licence can even apply to other flights, which I find somewhat dubious). So, obtaining the "co-operation" of an AOC in order to import an animal on your own aircraft/flight, would almost certainly be a violation of their operating licence—and I very much doubt anyone will be willing to take that risk!

Hopefully this info may prove useful to others in the future. I also hope that it might prompt people within the industry to seriously consider participating in the Heathrow pilot (if it's still in place).

[stickandrudderman]

I would imagine that the RMOP involves, at very least, so much detail that they can only ensure its adherence on flights that they actually operate (if indeed their certificate/licence can even apply to other flights, which I find somewhat dubious).

That's the problem.


So many people are "imagining" and "finding it dubious" yet few are prepared to establish actual facts.

[nickety]

Originally Posted by stickandrudderman

That's the problem.


So many people are "imagining" and "finding it dubious" yet few are prepared to establish actual facts.

With respect, I went to great lengths to establish a number of facts—only the very final paragraph of my post above was (clearly indicated) supposition, and even in that rather narrow sense it was heavily guided by the facts I had already established. Feel free to contact APHA if you want more detail, they were terribly helpful when I wrote to them.

[Kelly Hopper]

There is another way.....
Many airlines will let you travel around Europe particularly, with your "small" pet in the cabin but not into the UK. So...you can fly to say Paris, and then get someone to meet you there with a car (you cannot travel with animals through the chunnel unless they are in a car), and drive to Calais to hop on the Eurotunnel. In fact there is a company that will meet you in Paris but I enquired some time ago and it was £1000! So, get a mate to drive down? You can also do this from other ports, Amsterdam/Rotterdam-Harwich ferry but it takes 6 hours with the animal locked in the car. Calais is the way if you can chance running the gauntlett past illegal violent criminal immigrants. But it is all in all another fine example of how the UK make something so simple so complicated?

[stickandrudderman]

The whole point of the discussion is so that we small aircraft flying dog lovers can do what the rich bizjet passengers do; take our dogs with us when we travel.


There's no practical reason why it shouldn't be possible. Yachties do it all of the time but few realise that they are in fact breaking the law.