Live animals are Turkish delight

Having taken up the challenge to transport live animals internationally, Turkish Airlines and its local general sales agent, Aircross SA, is proving it has what it takes to deal with the unique challenges this presents. According to Carien Woolley of Aircross SA, the first consignment of live animals was moved earlier this year from South Africa to New York. The consignment of live rhinos, weighing in at 6 tons, was moved without any incident, with a group of well-trained Aircross staff on hand to deal with any issues that arose. Woolley told FTW that while the first transport was very successful, it had taken four years of negotiating with Turkish Airlines to convince the airline to accept live animals as cargo. In October Turkish Airlines took on yet another big challenge when they transported 6 tons of live sharks from Cape Town to Istanbul. “This was also very successful with very positive response from the shipper and the consignee about our smooth operation,” said Woolley.