When big cats travel by private jet

Our customer Klasjet dedicated himself to a very special project this year. A battered lion and a leopard that had been cast out by its mother were supposed to be brought from Russia to Tanzania so that they could live there in their natural habitat. As an active commitment to animal welfare, Klasjet has taken on this task and organized the flight of wild animals.

The lion Simba’s legs were broken by animal tortures in Russia. He should also be killed so that his organs can be sold on the black market. The leopard Eva was cast out by her mother shortly after she was born. Both animals were rescued by a Russian doctor, nursed back to health for over a year and prepared for release. With the help of several organizations and the Tanzanian government, the wild animals were brought to a nature reserve in Tanzania. The Lithuanian airline Klasjet, which actually specializes in private business flights with a very high level of comfort, had provided a Boing 737-500 including personnel for the transport, although this was associated with numerous organizational difficulties.

Among other things, the jet had to be extensively rebuilt by experts so that the cages with the wild animals could be placed where the passengers normally sit. For safety reasons in particular, numerous permits had to be obtained from various authorities, because according to Achim von Michel, who is the press spokesman for Klasjet, everything initially violates the usual aviation rules when transporting a lion and a leopard. In addition to the flight crew, the team that looked after the wild animals was also on board. So that there was no danger to any of the people, the lion and the female leop were anesthetized for the entire flight.

Thanks to around one year of planning, the transport could be carried out smoothly at the end of October. A total of around 100 people were involved in the organization. The aircraft has now been converted again and is used as a business private jet for normal air traffic. WORDUP has meanwhile permanently taken over the communication between Klasjet and journalists in the German-speaking area for Klasjet. Swiss aerospace magazines Cockpit and aeroTELEGRAPH reported on the transport of wild animals.