VistaJet enhances pet travel with additional training

Global private jet charter operator VistaJet is providing pet first aid training to its over 200 cabin hostesses

What happens if your pet becomes ill on your private jet flight? VistaJet is taking steps to ensure your best friend gets the best care. The global private jet charter operator is now training its over 200 flight attendants on all segments of pet first aid.

“It’s important to continually evolve our services to offer best-in-class travel solutions to all our passengers, making them feel safe and cared for at all times. With one in four Members flying with pets, VistaJet is dedicated to ensuring dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, and any other guests benefit from the same unparalleled service their owners expect from us,” says Matteo Atti, EVP Marketing & Innovation at VistaJet.

VistaJet for pets

VistaJet’s training includes:

• Pet CPR procedures from checking circulation, identifying location of the heart and optimum ratio of compressions to breath;
• Recognizing warning signs of chocking and the best maneuvers for the situation;
• Vital signs such as heart rate, varying pulse locations, body temperature, and mucous membrane and capillary refill time to check for circulation and levels of oxygen in the bloodstream;
• Understanding indications of poisoning from ingested or topical, spider or insect bites, and the best treatment for each;
• And to better understand behaviors, crew members also learn how to read body language. That could be a friendly dog holding its ears up and a loosely wagging tail; a fearful dog with ears back and tail tucked; recognizing the difference between a rapidly twitching tail and a friendly wag; or the unpredictability of cats, gaining clues from their eyes, ears and whiskers.

How many pets are flying on private jets?

Flyers are turning to private jets to fly their pets. A report from Honest Paws revealed over 250 pet deaths related to flying with the airlines.

More than a quarter (28%) of paid subscribers to Private Jet Card Comparisons using our Jet Card Decider service say they travel with pets.

According to the VistaJet release, rabbits are a recent new breed of pet it is seeing. Dogs continue to make up the majority of animal passengers, however, the number of cats spiked 357% from 2019 to 2020.

Prior to the pandemic, in April 2019 VistaJet had rolled out a series of pet amenities.

VistaJet said new membership sales increased 53% in the first half of 2021. Pets will have more options to fly the private airline. Earlier this year it revealed an order for 22 Bombardier Global 7500s and Challenger 350s.