(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — BARK Air, a new airline offering luxury travel for dogs and their owners, is set to launch service from Chicago later this year.
Matt Meeker, the company’s CEO and co-founder, joined the WBBM Noon Business Hour to discuss BARK Air’s aim to bring a kennel-free and boarding-free experience to flying with dogs.
“The best service that we offer is that your dog gets to travel with you in the cabin — not in a bag, not in a kennel or anything like that, but in your lap or at your feet,” said Meeker.
Meeker said Chicago was the city with the most requests for an airline offering luxury travel for dogs and their owners.
BARK Air is the latest venture from BARK, a company that may be best known for its subscription-based BarkBox, which delivers treats and toys right to a pet owner’s door.
“We’ve had 12 years of getting to know dogs,” Meeker said. “We were able to craft a great experience for them in the terminal, on the plane, and they seem to be loving it.”
According to the BARK Air website, tickets for one dog and one human to ride on the start at about $6,000, round-trip. The company’s planes are designed to fit 14 dogs and their accompanying humans, but officials said they will never sell more than nine tickets.
A limited number of additional human tickets will be available for purchase.
Chicagoans and their dogs can currently fly their dogs to San Francisco, New York, Phoenix and Miami.
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