• Cathay Cargo specialises in high-value live animal transport: From giant pandas to 70 elite racehorses, Cathay Cargo leverages its Hong Kong hub, advanced facilities, and IATA CEIV-certified staff to deliver specialised airfreight services, prioritizing animal welfare and operational precision.
• Comprehensive planning and regulatory compliance: Each shipment involves detailed risk assessment, contingency plans, and adherence to international quarantine and welfare regulations, ensuring safe transport of diverse species including horses, alpacas, pigs, lobsters, and pandas.
• Strategic growth in a niche market: While relatively small in volume, the live animal sector is high-yield and brand-enhancing. Cathay Cargo is expanding awareness through targeted campaigns, sales outreach, and innovation like VR training, positioning itself as a leader in expert-driven, regulation-compliant live animal logistics.

It isn’t every day that an air cargo carrier transports a giant panda, or charters an entire freighter for 70 elite racehorses. Yet for Cathay Cargo, such missions are becoming routine, even as they push the operational and regulatory boundaries of airfreight. In a sector where precision matters and reputational stakes are high, Cathay is betting on its specialised know-how, facilities, and people to win a greater share of the live animal logistics market.

“We did carry over 70 horses to the International Horse Show,” recalls Tom Owen, Director Cargo at Cathay Cargo. “This is an event that Hong Kong has, and it’s building up every year. So we’re excited to do that. We actually carry more than just less than 1,000 horses a year overall.”

Operational precision and animal welfare

The racehorse flight was more than symbolic. It was a logistical trial of strength for the carrier. “It’s made particularly challenging because they’re all at the same time,” Owen explains. “So our freighter was full of horses, and that sort of volume was difficult in the sense that we had to make sure we planned properly for the accommodation for horses on board.”

Scheduling, aircraft routing, ventilation, and grooming staff all had to be orchestrated. “We flew a freighter across New York to Hong Kong to pick up the horses. It was the very first time we’d had a freighter into that airport as well. So that’s a big, big deal for us,” he says. “The ground handling opportunity was new for us, so that was a challenge.”

Once in flight, care was paramount. “We had, I think, four or five grooms on board who would look after the horses in flight,” Owen notes. “There were many potential problems they could address.”

Such planning is not limited to equine passengers. Cathay has carried alpacas, pigs, lobsters, and even pandas. “One of the more interesting recent ones I remember is the giant panda, which we transported from Chengdu to Hong Kong on behalf of the Hong Kong people,” Owen says. “Obviously, pandas are hugely symbolic… we had to ensure that they had the right conditions to be transported.”

The panda mission required fresh bamboo, onboard water, customised containment, and post-arrival coordination with Ocean Park. “We treated them like first-class VIPs,” says Owen.

Every species brings unique regulatory and welfare considerations. “Some of the challenges are around regulations and rules, and there’s plenty of red tape you have to get through regarding quarantine, regarding the well-being of the animals, and the international standards you have to adhere to,” Owen explains.

Cathay’s answer is a detailed planning protocol. “Before any shipment happens for live animals, we have a proper planning session with our teams who look at all the risks… We assess all the risks, and then also, we have a bunch of contingency plans. What if this aircraft is delayed? What is the replacement aircraft going to be? What if there’s a diversion to a port that the animals are not meant to be at?”

Iconic payloads and niche expertise

Cathay’s Hong Kong hub has proven key to enabling these specialised missions. “Hong Kong harbours over 200 destinations. Cathay Cargo flies to, or through, 100 of those. So it provides a great network. We can carry animals from pretty much anywhere in the world to anywhere else in the world,” Owen says.

It’s not just geography, but infrastructure. “The Cathay Cargo Terminal, in particular, and the airport as well, have facilities around the ground handling which make it very, very easy, very straightforward, very safe, and efficient for the animals,” he says.

Then comes the human factor. “The expertise that’s been developed around live animal handling by Cathay Cargo in Hong Kong, regarding the types of packaging and ventilation on the aircraft, the temperature that’s needed, and indeed, the overall well-being of the animals that we try and support.”

Cathay’s live animal programme is underpinned by its IATA CEIV certification, and staff undergo training online and in person. “We do regular training in Hong Kong, but also online and refresher training. We’ve also just opened a virtual reality CAVE where unloading and loading general cargo is now being demonstrated, and hopefully that will be extended in the future, potentially to help improve our live animal handling capabilities as well.”

Owen acknowledges the challenges in working with partners. “We make sure that it’s very important we have people on the aircraft who are professionals and understand animal welfare needs. So, for instance, the horses we brought to Hong Kong for the International Horse Show, there were four grooms on board.”

He continues: “Those grooms were accommodated in the deck of the freighter… and they were then able to go and check on their particular horses during the course of that operation.”

Commercial value and future outlook

While the live animal vertical is relatively small in volume, it carries strategic and financial weight. “It’s not a huge part. It’s a relatively small, but high-yielding part, and a part that really requires expertise — the expertise that Cathay Cargo has,” Owen says.

Cathay recently launched a campaign to raise awareness of this capability. “We’ve just launched a brand-new campaign to explain to our customers that we know how to carry all sorts of animals,” says Owen. “It’s a very catchy short-term digital video… particularly for the target markets in the live animal community.”

Regulatory diligence is a key selling point. “We are only carrying live animals that are permitted under the various regulations around the world,” Owen states. “So we have very close monitoring to ensure we’re not carrying anything illegal or endangered.”

Looking ahead, Cathay plans to grow this niche through targeted sales. “We continue with our sales efforts and our sales teams to focus on new customers — maybe you haven’t heard of Cathay Cargo — to see if we can convince them to use us in their future planning for carrying animals around the world.”

It’s a competitive space, but Owen says Cathay stands apart. “We differentiate ourselves primarily around the quality of the training we have in our people, the infrastructure that we have at Hong Kong International Airport in our terminal to handle animals, and also the connectivity and reach we can bring.”

If air cargo is to evolve beyond commoditised goods and low-margin freight, then live animal transport could become a model: expertise-driven, regulation-bound, brand-reinforcing. And in Cathay’s hands, flown with first-class care.