Horse transportation, livestock and specialist species
Livestock and horse air transport by charter
Submit a requirement any time — no account needed · first response usually within 60 minutes · 24/7 for AOG and time-critical. Optional: business account for status tracking
Moving horses, breeding cattle or other animals by air is planned around welfare: container or stall type, space per animal, ventilation, flight time and an attendant on board where required. The IATA Live Animals Regulations (LAR) set the container standards; health certificates and, for protected species, CITES permits must be in place.
CCN coordinates operators experienced with live animals, handlers and the shipper's veterinary team.
Live animals desk
IATA LAR, grooms and vet paperwork planned before the stall is built.
CCN is an independent broker and operates no aircraft. Each mission is placed with a regulated operator after comparing several options. How independent brokerage works.
What CCN handles on a live animal charter
- Matching the number and size of animals to stalls, pens or crates
- Checking the operator's experience and approval for the species
- Planning flight time, stops and ventilation settings
- Coordinating grooms or attendants travelling with the animals
- Aligning loading times with veterinary checks and border inspection posts
- Arranging livestock trucks to and from the aircraft
Welfare and documents are explained in live animal air transport.
Breeding livestock programmes are covered under agriculture and livestock charter.
When an animal charter is the right choice — and when it is not
A good fit when
- — A group of horses or livestock must travel together
- — Scheduled flights do not accept the species or number
- — Direct routing avoids long transfers that stress the animals
Usually not the right choice when
- — One or two horses can join a scheduled horse flight
- — Domestic pets travel more simply as scheduled cargo
- — Documents or permits cannot be ready before the flight
General freighter charter is covered under cargo charter.
Import formalities overlap with air waybill and customs.
What the desk needs for a live animal offer
Full checklist: what a firm cargo charter quote needs.
- 01Species, number of animals and approximate weights
- 02Stall, pen or crate type, if already defined
- 03Origin and destination, including farm or stable locations
- 04Health certificates and import conditions of the destination
- 05CITES permit, if the species is protected
- 06Number of attendants travelling
Freighters for animal transport (indicative)
Main-deck freighters take horse stalls and livestock pens; the operator confirms ventilation and space per animal for the type.
- Boeing 767-300FPayload: 53,977–54,884 kg (by engine)Main deck door: 3.40 m × 2.54 m (side)
- Boeing 777FPayload: ≈ 102,000 kgMain deck door: 3.72 m × 3.05 m (side)
- Boeing 747-400FPayload: 112,900 kg (747-8F: ≈ 134,000 kg — indicative value, not manufacturer-verified)Main deck side door: 3.4 m wide × 3.1 m high (clear opening)
Indicative — depends on route, fuel, density and operator. CCN operates no aircraft; types shown are examples operators offer, not a fleet.
Limits to check for live animals
- Operator acceptance for the species
- Border inspection post and veterinary hours at destination
- Maximum journey time including ground transport
- Climate on the ramp during loading
From animal list to arrival
- 01You send species, number and destination.
- 02The desk checks operators, stalls or pens and the veterinary timeline.
- 03Documents are confirmed with your vet; trucks and loading time are fixed.
- 04Animals are loaded, flown with attendants and handed over at destination.
What a live animal charter offer contains
- Aircraft type, operator and registration where already allocated
- Routing, technical stops and planned timings (local times)
- Usable payload and volume for your cargo on this routing
- Price basis (per flight, per block hour or per rotation), currency and validity
- Inclusions and exclusions — handling, fuel, permits, insurance, positioning
- Subject-to conditions: availability at signature, permits, slots, operator acceptance
- Stall or pen configuration and space per animal as confirmed by the operator
Questions
Frequently asked questions
See all questionsEquine charter is priced per mission rather than per animal: aircraft type, distance, positioning, ground time, stall hire, grooms, handling and the road legs at both ends. Sharing a flight or booking stall positions on an existing rotation lowers the cost per horse considerably, so tell us whether your date is fixed or flexible.
Yes. Where an existing freighter rotation serves the lane and its handling agent is animal-capable, booked stall positions are often the sensible answer for one or two horses. A dedicated charter makes sense for groups, for tight competition schedules and for lanes without suitable scheduled service.
In air stalls loaded onto the main deck of a freighter. The horse is walked into the stall on the ramp, the stall is lifted by high loader and locked into the cargo floor, and grooms travel with the animals to check them each sector. Feed and water are available throughout and the deck is pressurised and temperature controlled.
It depends on aircraft type and stall configuration. A narrow-body freighter takes a handful, a main-deck wide-body can carry several dozen in pair or triple stalls, with grooms accommodated on board. Single stalls reduce the count and are used for stallions and high-value competition horses.
They do not, and they are not expected to. Horses rest standing and the stall is built to support them if they lean. A horse that goes down in a stall is a veterinary event, which is why grooms monitor each animal throughout the flight.
Almost any lane is technically flyable, but the destination's import rules decide whether it is possible on your timeline. Import permits, testing windows and quarantine requirements are the real constraint; aircraft availability rarely is.
Health certification, import permits, testing within defined windows and, on many lanes, a quarantine period. Requirements are country specific and set the timeline, so they are checked before a date is committed.
Yes, with specialist horse transporters at both ends, timed against the flight so animals are not standing in a trailer waiting for handling or paperwork.
Yes. Breeding cattle, sheep, goats and poultry move under the IATA Live Animals Regulations with species-specific stocking density, ventilation and attendant requirements. Those movements are arranged by Cargo Charter Network directly.
Yes. Horses, breeding livestock, zoo animals and pets are moved by charter under IATA Live Animals Regulations, with stalls or containers, attendants, veterinary documentation and health certificates. The planning covers loading equipment, ventilation, temperature, flight duration, rest requirements and quarantine arrangements at destination. Equestrian and specialist live-animal work is led by our specialist brand, Cavalry Air.
