Greek flag carrier Aegean Airlines has issued an unprecedented statement following the disappearance of a kitten on a flight from Chania Airport (CHQ) in Crete to Munich Airport (MUC) via Athens Airport (ATH).
According to the kitten’s owner, she arrived at CHQ on March 8, 2024, with Rodri and two other cats safely in their carriers and checked the items in with airport staff, but when she went to see her pets in Athens, Rodri’s carrier had been damaged.
Worse still, Rodri had managed to escape, due to a crack that had appeared at the top of the carrier, and was nowhere to be seen.
Staff explained that the carrier had arrived from Chania damaged, according to Rodri’s owner.
The search to find Rodri, who is blind in one eye, has gained momentum on social media and the owner has hit out at Aegean Airlines for its slow response in finding the kitten after four days without food or water.
On March 12, 2024, Aegean issued a statement explaining the steps it had taken to find Rodri and reunite him with his owner.
In the statement the airline said it was “deeply concerned” about the cat’s disappearance and is working with authorities and the airport staff to locate him.
“From the moment we realized that Rodri was missing, we swiftly launched extensive efforts, coordinating with airport authorities and deploying our dedicated airport personnel in search of the kitten. Despite our exhaustive attempts, we haven’t yet located Rodri, but we are fully committed to persisting in our search efforts,” a spokesperson for Aegean said.
— Aegean Airlines (@aegeanairlines) March 12, 2024
The company added that the safety and wellbeing of all animals that travel with the airline are of the “upmost importance”, and it is looking into how the carrier was damaged.
5 comments
How cruel, someone must be responsible for this. Greece unfortunately has a bad reputation when it comes to animal neglect. I hope there is a happy outcome.
I am heartbroken. That beautiful, special needs cat was going to a better life. What happened?!
That cat carrier was brand new. I can’t understand how the damage to it occurred. Those carriers are VERY sturdy! Nothing heavy should have been placed on the carrier in the cargo area or cargo hold on the aircraft. Dropping it shouldn’t have caused the damage UNLESS it was possibly dropped off the top of the conveyor belt while being loaded onto the plane. If so, the person(s) responsible does not want to fess up if they saw the cat escape. If the cat got loose in the hold, it might try and hide. But it still should be easily seen by cargo workers who unloaded the hold. There are not a lot of places to hide in the pressurized/heated cargo hold in which animals are placed. You would think/hope that the ramp staff unloading the carriers from the plane would notice how light the carrier was. Or would look inside each carrier to check on the animal before placing it on the conveyor belt to be unloaded. A little care and compassion goes a long way! The aircraft hold should have been searched as soon as the airline was notified the cat was missing!!! A search of the cargo hold could have been done before the airplane left on another flight. Was the staff in Athens notified to be ready to examine the cargo hold as it was opened in case the cat was still in there and jumped out when cargo door was opened?! Shame on Aegean Airlines!!! This cat was handicapped! I realize that – unfortunately – not everyone is an animal lover. But even hardened cargo/ramp workers must have a pet, or know someone who does. A little care and compassion goes a long way!!! Aegean Airlines, and their cargo handling company, deserve all the bad publicity they are surely receiving. No sympathy for them! Maybe a lesson will be learned.
But I so hope and pray that this lesson learned is not at the exoense of RODRI!!!!!
I hope that he is found safe and sound. Jutta Shelter, where Rodri was adopted from, is a wonderful organization and cares so much about each and every animal they help. And the wonderful couple from Germany going to Greece to help animals in need. The cost and red-tape are immense for these transports and they were taking THREE cats! Rodri was going to a better life. He was so close. He must get there!!
This is shameful and it could have been easily avoided just by caring for the living being inside the carrier, instead of treating them like an object (also, is it normal to throw luggages, cause I don’t think so).
This poor cat must be somewhere scared and the persons that were trying to give him a better life may also feel guilty for this horrible situation, this airline is causing a huge pain to lots of people, let’s boycott it!
I bet that poor cat is hiding in the plane and itvis still being flown all over. Aegean should be ashamed. I will NEVER fly their airline.
Someone had to have seen this happen or noticed. It makes me wonder what kind of accident happened… the cat should ha b e turned up if they were looking that hard for him