Hong Kongers leaving the increasingly isolated city are chartering private jets for their pets — the only way many can take their animals with them as pandemic restrictions squeeze freight space on commercial flights.
With the city’s zero-Covid regime leading to soaring cargo rates and flight cancellations, people are grouping together to use private jets at a cost of about HK$200,000 ($25,665) for each owner with their pet, companies and individuals say.
“There’s a huge demand,” said Chris Phillips, pet and medical charter manager at Air Charter Service, a private jet broker. “People want to get their pets back [to their home countries], their cats and their dogs and their rabbits, and they just can’t get them back via commercial routes.”