Update: Westchester County dropped its lawsuit against BARK Air on Monday.
Bark Air, the charter airline for pampered pooches, could be locked in the kennel just days after its first flight.
New York’s Westchester County has sued the company behind the charter service, alleging it violated airport-use restrictions. Officials are hoping to prohibit the carrier from operating in the private jet area and require it to operate out of the passenger terminal, where space is much more limited.
Commercial flights make up a small portion of Westchester’s airport’s traffic, where nearly 60% of flights are corporate aviation, according to its website.
The county also named Talon Air, the private jet service that’s working with Bark (whose main business is monthly treat-and-toy subscription boxes for dogs) on the flights.
Bark told Coins2Day it “doesn’t comment on litigation, but we don’t believe this will impact our operations.”
Bark Air plans to offers flights from New York City to Los Angeles and London with one-way flights costing roughly $6,000 to $8,000. The pricing will vary based on routes and time of year. Humans don’t pay anything for their ticket.
Bark Air has said it hopes to offer lower prices as demand increases and more flight routes are added. The Westchester County lawsuit could hamper that.
Once a flight is booked, Bark Air contacts the owner to collect information about their canine passengers, including size, temperament, and any preferences. There are typically 10 to 15 seats on each flight but the total number of passengers (human and otherwise) varies depending on the size of the dogs.
Westchester County says the carrier is violating county law by operating an aircraft with more than nine seats from the private jet terminal. The county, though, is facing legal action of its own, as three other airlines have sued it, saying the airport-use restrictions on charter flights violate federal law.
To date, there has been no ruling on those claims.