On the ground in Liège

As Cathay Cargo hasn’t flown to Liége previously, the local Cargo team worked fast to form relationships with new suppliers and handlers. The team was impressed with the airport facilities, and its cargo-first approach. Due to the extra size of the 747-8F, and to give the horses more space, the aircraft would occupy two bays close to the terminal. 

Of course, the horses came first. Area Cargo Manager France and Benelux, Jean Luc Py, describes Liège Airport’s Horse Inn facility as “a five-star retreat with expert staff completely focused on animal wellbeing.”

Flight day

Finally, the inventory and timing was confirmed. The Liège flight, carrying 46 horses in 23 stalls with four grooms, would leave a couple of hours ahead of the Heathrow flight with eight stalls and 19 horses and a further four grooms, so as not to create an unloading bottleneck at Hong Kong. 

But poor weather in New York led to delayed departure and arrival in Liège. But as soon as the aircraft arrived, loading started. The horses were led onto the loading platform and into their travel stalls, which were in turn moved onto dollies and transported to the aircraft. The stalls were loaded on board, secured and the aircraft took off. 

The flight – and a mystery

Captain Baker says that the flight was smooth, with minimal turbulence. There was, however, an inflight mystery. On one of their inspections on the main deck, the travelling grooms found that the two Spanish performing horses were not wearing their halters. No problem: they put them back on. When they came by again, the halters were missing once more. Unbeknown to the grooms, this a trick that the horses have learned – perhaps they were getting in one more rehearsal before the show!

On the ground in Hong Kong

There had been rehearsals in Hong Kong too in the Cathay Cargo Terminal. The COC’s Christy Au had coordinated alongside COC Manager Operation Cindy Shi and ground handling agent HAS, to ensure the right number of of tugs and dollies were available. They booked two parking bays as close to the Cathay Cargo Terminal as the unloading process allows to minimise the waiting and journey time for the horses in the noisy environment of the ramp. 

“We worked out that each tug should pull two dollies at a time, rather than the six used for normal cargo, and at low speed with a groom walking alongside to the horse loading platform, where they could be directly loaded on to Hong Kong Jockey Club horseboxes,” says Shi. The horseboxes would then make the journey to AsiaWorld-Expo, where the horses would both stay and compete. 

But given the weather delay in New York, the aircraft from London and Liège arrived at almost the same time. Rather than sequentially unload, the team had to summon up extra dollies and tugs to handle both aircraft simultaneously. “We took the horses from the Heathrow flight into the Large Animal Reception Room in the Cathay Cargo Terminal to wait,” says Au. The room offers air conditioning and a quiet space, but they weren’t there long. The unloading and transfer process was over in just over two hours. 

At the show

As the Official Airline Partner of the event, Cathay Cargo sponsored Saturday evening’s highlight, the Cathay Cargo Reach for the Skies Stakes competition. And a Cathay Cargo stand in the exhibition area, allowed visitors to learn about how the horses had arrived in Hong Kong. 

“Cathay Cargo is very proud to have carried the horses to this fantastic event,” says Head of Cargo Global Partnerships Siddhant Iyer. “Part of the Cathay Live Animal solution is that elements can be customised to ensure that welfare is the top priority for our animal passengers, and this is backed up by our caring and knowledgeable teams across the network. The entire team really proved that We Know How.”