Horse transportation, livestock and specialist species
Horses, breeding livestock and zoo animals fly on freighter aircraft every week, in purpose-built stalls on the main deck, with grooms on board. Horse transportation by air is routine work, not an exception. Cargo Charter Network arranges those movements: aircraft sourcing, stall systems, veterinary coordination, airport handling and the road legs at both ends. Send the requirement here — for competition and bloodstock work we also draw on our equine specialist brand Cavalry Air.
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
Live animal charter, briefly
Live animal charter covers horses, breeding livestock, zoo animals and pets under IATA Live Animals Regulations. Stalls or crates, grooms on board, veterinary documentation, import permits and quarantine at destination are planned before the aircraft is fixed.
Scope of service
Single, pair or triple stalls on the main deck, matched to species, weight and welfare requirements.
Why animal moves are planned backwards
Single, pair or triple stalls on the main deck, matched to species, weight and welfare requirements.
Health certificates, import permits, testing windows and quarantine mapped before a date is fixed.
Origin stables, transport to the airport and destination facilities aligned into one plan.
Direct to operator
In air cargo charter it is common for a requirement to travel through several intermediaries before it reaches the aircraft operator. Each layer adds its own commission to the same flight. We work directly with operators, so the quote you see carries one commercial layer.
Typical chain
With Cargo Charter Network
The requirement is not passed sideways to other brokers who each need to earn on the same lift.
We are remunerated by the operator. Our involvement does not add a separate fee to your charter price.
Payload, dimensions, ready date and airport constraints reach the operator unchanged, instead of being relayed through several desks.
Because we source across operators ourselves, you see the realistic market for that routing rather than whatever one intermediary could reach.
Availability, pricing and acceptance always remain with the operating carrier. Where a requirement can only be served through a partner, we say so before you decide.
How we work
Cargo Charter Network does not operate aircraft and employs no flight crew. Every flight is performed by a licensed operator we source, compare and coordinate.
Operators are checked for AOC validity, insurance, aircraft configuration and route authority for the specific mission before a price is put in front of you.
The same person handles sourcing, contract, permits, handling and flight watch, so there is no handover gap between quote and arrival.
We do not quote capacity that has not been checked with an operator, and we do not confirm acceptance of restricted commodities before the operator has accepted them in writing.
What we need to quote
Operational detail
Container standards, ventilation, stocking density and documentation follow IATA Live Animals Regulations and the operator's own acceptance policy.
Groom seating, in-flight access, feeding and watering plans are agreed with the operator before the aircraft is confirmed.
Import permits, border inspection posts and quarantine capacity often set the date, not aircraft availability.
Live animal enquiry
Species, headcount and stall configuration drive the aircraft type, the grooms and the vet plan.
Planned to IATA Live Animals Regulations with stalls, grooms, feed, water and border vet checks.
How to submit a requirement
You send the requirement straight to the desk — no account needed. We work it against operators immediately and come back with compared options.
Route, ready date, weight, dimensions, commodity and handling notes — no account, a few minutes.
Availability, payload and route permissions are checked directly with operators.
Compared operator options with payload, slots, handling and timeline — one accountable contact.
For status tracking and document exchange in the portal. Account verification is usually the same business day.
No supplier identities, margins or internal sourcing data are shared. Requirement data is treated confidentially.
Aircraft
Availability is subject to route, payload, permits and operator acceptance.
Capacity structures
The same requirement can be bought as a whole aircraft, as a share of one, as reserved space on a running rotation or as leased capacity with crew. The structure decides the price far more than the aircraft type does.
01
One shipment fills a deck, or timing and commodity rule out sharing
You control the schedule, the loading plan and the routing.
02
Volume fills part of a deck and the ready date tolerates consolidation
Cost is shared across shippers inside one build-up window.
03
Recurring volume on a lane that already has a rotation
A fixed allocation per flight, committed for a defined period.
04
Capacity is needed for weeks or months, not for one flight
Aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance leased against guaranteed block hours.
Fuel, ATC, airport charges, handling and de-icing sit outside an ACMI rate. On charter they are inside the quoted price unless stated otherwise.
Around the flight
A charter is only as good as the ground scope attached to it. These items are quoted and coordinated as part of the mission, not left to the shipper.
Export and import entries, transit procedures, temporary export for repair, preferential origin papers and the broker interface at both ends.
Pallet and container build-up, load spreading, lashing plans and guidance where packaging would fail an operator acceptance check.
Pre-carriage, on-carriage, air-ride equipment where needed, low-loaders and permitted road routes for outsize crates.
Overflight, landing and cabotage permits, airport slots, night curfew handling and diplomatic clearances where they apply.
Cool storage, active or passive units, cool dollies, data loggers and shock or tilt indicators read at each handover.
Loading supervision, attendants for live cargo, security escorts and sealed handovers for high-value consignments.
Livestock movements
Live animal charters are built around welfare rules, grooms on board and veterinary clearance at both ends.
Regions handled most often
Species, count, crate type and groom numbers decide the aircraft — send them before any date is promised.
Live animal transport by air
Horses fly standing, in an air stall: a rigid container loaded on a standard main-deck pallet position, closed at chest and rear, with a padded head space and a groom aisle in front. The stall is loaded on the ramp with the horse already inside, lifted by high loader and locked into the cargo floor like any other unit. Nothing about the flight asks the animal to do something unfamiliar except stand still while the floor moves. That is the short answer to how horses in airplanes actually travel: in a box on a pallet, at ground level, walked in and walked out.
Stalls are configured as single, pair or triple. A triple gives each horse roughly the width of a trailer bay and is standard for younger stock and groups travelling together; singles are used for stallions, nervous horses and high-value competition animals. Grooms travel on the main deck with the horses, check them every sector, and hay and water are available throughout.
Cabin conditions on the main deck are pressurised and temperature controlled to the same standard as the flight deck; the usual planning range for horses is cooler than for people, because a rugged horse in a stall generates its own heat. Ventilation rate and stall position are agreed with the operator rather than assumed.
Horses do not lie down during a flight and are not expected to. They rest standing, as they do in a stall on the ground, and the stall is dimensioned to support them if they lean. Sedation is not routine and is a veterinary decision, not a logistics one — most horses travel calmly with a familiar groom present.
Health certification, an import permit for the destination, blood testing inside a defined window and, on many lanes, pre-export or post-arrival quarantine determine when a horse can actually leave. These windows are country specific and are the reason a shipping date is confirmed backwards from the veterinary calendar, not forwards from aircraft availability.
Send the destination country, the number and type of animals and any known test dates with the first enquiry. We check the requirement against the lane and tell you where the binding constraint sits before an aircraft is quoted.
Not every airport can take horses. What matters is an animal-capable handling agent, a quiet ramp position, a border veterinary post where import inspection is required, and enough space to work a stall on and off a loader without rushing. On some lanes the nearest usable airport is not the nearest airport.
The road legs at both ends belong in the same plan. Stable to airport and airport to destination yard are arranged with specialist horse transporters and timed against the flight, so animals are not left waiting in a trailer while paperwork is chased.
There is no per-head price list for equine transport, because a flight is priced as a mission: aircraft type, distance, positioning of the aircraft before and after the sector, ground time for loading stalls, handling and any veterinary or quarantine facility charges at either end. Stall hire, grooms and the road legs are quoted alongside it.
The practical lever is grouping. A single horse on a dedicated aircraft carries the whole mission cost; the same horse moving with others on a shared charter or in booked stall positions on a scheduled freighter carries a share of it. When you enquire, tell us whether the date is fixed or flexible — flexibility is usually what turns an expensive movement into a reasonable one.
Breeding cattle, sheep, goats and poultry move by air when genetics, restocking programmes or import windows justify it. These are container or pen movements under the IATA Live Animals Regulations, with stocking density, ventilation, feed and water schedules and attendant requirements set per species and flight time. Cargo Charter Network arranges these movements directly.
Zoo, wildlife and conservation transfers are handled case by case with the receiving institution, because container design and veterinary supervision are usually specified by them. Operator acceptance, container compliance and airport veterinary capability are confirmed before the mission is committed.
A cattle carrier in air cargo is not a dedicated ship-style vessel but a freighter fitted out for the flight: main-deck pens built on pallet positions, bedding, feed and water for the sector length, and attendants travelling with the animals. Fleet size per flight follows from pen area and average liveweight rather than from the aircraft payload figure, and on most widebody rotations the deck runs out of floor before it runs out of tonnes.
Livestock shipping by air is usually driven by genetics and by import windows: breeding cattle to new dairy programmes, sheep and goats for herd renewal, day-old chicks whose value collapses with every hour of delay. Ventilation rate, stocking density, journey time and rest requirements are set per species under the Live Animals Regulations, and the destination's veterinary authority normally inspects on arrival before the animals leave the airport.
Zoo animal transport is the most bespoke work in this category. The receiving institution usually specifies the crate, since a crate that suits a big cat is wrong for a giraffe, a rhinoceros or an aquatic species travelling in water. Crate dimensions then decide the aircraft: main-deck door height, not payload, is the constraint that most often rules out a type.
Transfers between institutions run to a schedule set by permits under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, by national import licences and by the keepers travelling with the animal. We arrange the aircraft, the ramp handling and the ground legs around that schedule; crate design, sedation decisions and veterinary supervision remain with the institutions and their vets.
Questions
Answers from daily desk work: payload, ready date, permits and cost drivers.
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.
Talk to the desk
AOG and time-critical requirements can be raised by phone or email at any time — no account required.
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Knowledge
Send the requirement and the desk will come back with sourced options, or call now if it is time-critical.
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