US: A $65m bet on pampered pet travel

Airline travel for pets is highly regulated, just as it is for humans. The biggest difference is that the rules for pets are intended to make air travel more comfortable, not less. One recent mandate requires that airports have indoor pet “relief areas.” Yet, at a time when 80% of pet owners refer to their animals as children, there’s still vast room for improvement, both in-flight and on the ground. The Ark at JFK, a new, $65m facility in a 178,000-square-foot warehouse, is one step toward improving the latter experience. It will have a splash pool, overnight kennels, and pre-flight micro-chipping services to track your animals. Eventually, this first-of-its-kind service in the US will feature an in-house pet spa, too. In an important respect, the Ark is streamlining the process of pet travel, rather than revolutionizing it. Its two main services for dogs—shepherding the animals through customs and boarding and caring for them during layovers, when necessary—already exist, just in a less-efficient form. “It can be one of those close calls, where a pet owner can get off a flight, get to the cargo facility, go to customs and border control, and do it all themselves,” said Elizabeth A. Schuette, the managing director of the Ark. (Her husband, John J. Cuticelli Jr., is the project’s developer.) “It’s a big hassle.” The Ark, on the other hand, positions itself as a one-stop shop: “We can clear customs on behalf of the owners, or use a custom broker,” Schuette said. “It’s changing the process and advocating for a better one.” <br/>