We at Airsupply Pet Travel are ideally situated at London's Heathrow Airport to be able to assist you in your pet's relocation to GB (and of course when flying pets from Heathrow). We are able to offer very competitive rates as a pet clearing agent at Heathrow and delivery to your home in Great Britain. Please do not hesitate to contact us for advice and information regarding pricing, and we hope you choose us as your nominated clearing agent for your pet's arrival into GB!

We are near both the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre (HARC) and Animal Aircare ARC.

 
We provide the information below to explain what happens to pets when they are shipped to Heathrow by air.

The City of London runs the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre (HARC) to carry out its main statutory responsibilities under the Animal Health Act, 1981, this legislation incorporates Rabies controls and the Welfare of Animals During Transport Order 1997.  The City of London also has responsibilities for other UK animal related legislation.  The City of London also administers a Rabies Contingency plan in which 21 London boroughs participate.

The second Animal Reception Centre (ARC) at Heathrow is run by Animal Aircare, adhering to all the same regulations as the HARC.

Once the flight lands, the pets are collected from the flight as the passengers disembark.   Pets are then delivered to either of the two Animal Reception Centres at Heathrow, depending on which airline they arrived on, where they are looked after by trained animal handlers. Each animal is released from their flight kennel into their own run.   They are offered food (normally dry food) and water while they wait to be given the all clear by the vet.  

Animal Health (APHA)- the authority here in GB- check the pet's microchip and compare it against the paperwork for the animal.   Once they give the all clear, the paperwork is cleared through customs and then is free to be collected.   The process from arrival to clearance can take up to 6-8 hours for pets arriving into GB.  

Live Animal Border Inspection Post (BIP)

Both Animal Reception Centres at Heathrow operate as Border Inspection Posts for live animals at Heathrow.
All animals entering GB have to pass through a Border Inspection Post so they can be inspected and have a specific type of entry certificate issued.  This is issued by part of DEFRA, namely APHA, personnel of which are based within the airport area, with easy access to either BIP.

Since November 1999 dogs and cats from Europe (the EU) have been allowed to enter GB without doing the statutory six months quarantine, provided they can fulfil the requirements under the PETS Scheme.  In the meantime, other countries have been added to the list, with the USA and Canada joining in 2002.

The scheme allows airlines who wish to participate to become approved by DEFRA.  The approval process ensures DEFRA that the airline has the processes in place to meet the requirements of the scheme.  DEFRA also have to approve the routes that the airlines wish to fly in from.  Thus, potential users must check the list of approved routes and airlines, which can be found on the DEFRA website.

The scheme consists of preparing your animal. For cats and dogs, it is necessary to have the animal micro-chipped first.  Then, the animal must be vaccinated against rabies (21 days or more prior to export for GB).  After a period of about four weeks, if required, the animal can then have a blood test to make sure that the vaccination has worked.  The vet who takes the blood test will send the sample to one of the approved laboratories so they can carry out this test.

The PETS (Pet Travel Scheme) allows pet dogs, cats and ferrets from certain countries to enter GB without quarantine as long as they meet the rules.   All the necessary import checks are undertaken at either ARC.  Once we have established that everything is in order and cleared your animal with GB border control, owners of pets compliant with the Pet Travel Scheme can then take them home.  If a problem is found then we endeavour to sort out any issue as quickly as possible.  However, it is sometimes necessary for animals to be moved to a quarantine premises if a problem cannot be resolved within a day or so.

PETS information can be found on DEFRA PETS website