A Luxury Terminal for Pets to Open at JFK Airport

New York Kennedy Airport is soon scheduled to open the ARK, a luxury airport terminal that will allow your pet to travel the world in unparalleled comfort. Whether it is for your high-flying hound or your jet setting kitty, this world-first airport terminal, for the exclusive use of animals, is expected to support the transportation needs of more than 70,000 hair balls each year.

With its name paying homage to Noah’s biblical ark, this vessel is expected to cost around $48 million and take up 54,000 square meters where it will shelter and provide a quarantine facility to an endless variety of animal species. Installed with climate controlled stalls, hay filled holding pens, an aviary, showers, flat screen tvs and even a doggy pool shaped into a bone, the terminal will house anything from horses to aardvarks, sloths, penguins and parakeets.

For some animals the quarantine process can take time, up to 3 days in fact for horses, to ensure that they are not carrying any contagious diseases. In cases where quarantine is not required, owners may select to use the terminal as a means of holding their animal when they are too big to fit into a cabin and have to fly by cargo. In the meantime owners can check in on them through a webcam as their cats climb trees, dogs take a paddle in a bath, enjoy a massage therapy session or "pawdicures with colored nail pawlish”.

With the aim of making the stay as comfortable as possible, owners can expect to pay up to $100 per night for the high-end pooch "suite". That whilst includes supervision by a 24-hour veterinary clinic run by Cornell University, it does not include all the other expenses of transporting your pet such as the crate, airport fees and vet certifications. A New York to London commute for your pooch may cost around $1,000 and $10,000 if wanting to transport a horse.

Still, there are many strong benefits for those who interact daily in their work or lifestyle with members of the animal kingdom. According to Dr. Richard Goldstein, the chief medical officer at New York's Animal Medical Center, having an in-house airport animal terminal cuts out many of the dangers and risks associated with commuting animals around the globe.