29/04/2026
On March 18, 2026, Athens International Airport became the scene of what the Associated Press described as an animal airlift, as a special Aegean Airlines charter flight from Abu Dhabi landed carrying 101 Greek evacuees and 45 of their cats and dogs — people who had been trapped by the escalating US-Israeli conflict with Iran and couldn't find a single commercial flight that would accept their animals in cabin or cargo, forcing them to choose between leaving their home and leaving their pets.
The Greek government organized the flight after the interior and foreign ministries spent days working through the logistics, with the Interior Ministry's Special Secretary for the Protection of Companion Animals stating plainly that pets are part of families and that the goal was for animals and people to return home safely together.
When the plane landed, the scene on the tarmac was described as unfiltered delight: small dogs burst from their travel crates and scrambled into their owners' arms, cats stunned by the Greek sunlight let nervous hands stroke them before beginning to purr, and passengers who had spent days under explosions and airspace closures broke into applause the moment the wheels touched down.
One passenger, who had rescued a 12-year-old terrier mix from a shelter in Abu Dhabi, said every other evacuation flight had treated pets as excess cargo — this one refused to leave anyone behind.
