MacArthur Airport gains new pet airline service with RetrievAir move
Passengers deplane from a RetrievAir plane at Republic Airport last year. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
A pet-friendly airline is offering flights from MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma to destinations across the country.
The airline, RetrievAir, which previously operated out of East Farmingdale's Republic Airport, allows pet owners to fly alongside their cats or dogs of any size during the trip.
RetrievAir outgrew Republic and operated its last flights there during the final week of August, said the airline’s founder and CEO, Benton Miller.
“We felt, given where we’re at currently, that going out to ISP [MacArthur] worked out really well,” he said. Although RetrievAir operates an average of just two flights per week in or out of MacArthur, “we are always looking to expand our offerings and our routes,” Miller said.
RetrievAir offers flights from MacArthur to 11 metro areas, including nearby Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Southern cities include Fort Lauderdale (available to book beginning in October), Atlanta and Dallas. Farther west are Denver, Scottsdale, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Prices are not cheap: A round-trip for one adult and a pet from MacArthur to the Laurence G. Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts, can run more than $3,600.
RetrievAir, described as "a pet-first public charter operator," stirred concerns among residents living near Republic Airport who feared that it might usher in a new era of more commercial flights and larger planes in the skies, Newsday has reported.
