Why it matters:
- Polaris Market Research estimates the global pet travel services market at $2 billion, with projections to exceed $4.6 billion by 2032 as more people choose to travel with their pets.
- Against that backdrop, Bark, the 2011-founded pet brand that’s now a $102.9 million business, is using its canine expertise to forge into new areas with Bark Air, a dog-friendly air travel and concierge service for pet owners on the go.
- Bark Air, which debuted in 2024, brought in revenue north of $6 million during its first 10 months, tapping viral videos and in-person events to drive business.
Over the last 11 years, pet products brand Bark has delivered customized toy and treat subscription boxes to pets, created personalized nutrition and meal plans, and landed its toys and treats in more than 33,000 stores, including Target.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Matt Meeker, who built Bark into a $102.9 million business in 13 years, however, saw a lingering gap in pet care that was also personal: He wanted to travel long distances with his Great Dane Hugo, but he wouldn’t subject his best friend to a cold, noisy cargo hold in the belly of an airplane.
Long-distance travel with pets is uncomfortable and complicated, with varied fees, rules, and policies across airlines and destinations. It was a problem Bark kept hearing over and over again from its customers.
So last year, the company expanded as it launched a solution: Bark Air. The airline for dogs (with pets like cats and birds welcome, too) and their owners aim to make air travel with pets less of a hassle and more of a VIP experience.
Since its May launch with service from the New York area to Los Angeles and London, Bark Air has expanded to flights to Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Seattle, Florida, and San Francisco, carrying over 1,000 dogs and their owners. The startup also coordinates one-off charter private flights.
The first 10 months brought in revenue north of $6 million, said Bark Air President Mike Novotny, with second-year revenue trending well above that. “Our motto is to make all dogs happy,” Novotny said. “And we can’t do that only through products, we have to do it through services as well.”
The move comes as people increasingly want to travel with their pets.
The global pet travel services market was valued at $2 billion in 2023, according to Polaris Market Research, and it’s expected to more than double to $4.6 billion by 2032.
Viral videos and in-person events helped Bark Air build brand awareness
One early challenge Bark Air leaders anticipated was overcoming customer doubt about whether or not the service was real, since it seemed almost too good to be true.
The startup launched a multipronged marketing campaign that leaned on social media. Meeker starred in a video that went viral: He locked himself in a large dog carrier and flew four hours from South Florida to New York in the plane’s hold.
“It’s very loud, and it’s very disorienting,” he said in the video, which amassed some 8.8 million views on Instagram. “So I bet a dog has no idea what’s going on as they get loaded in.” The video struck a chord with pet owners.
There are so many people that want to travel with their dogs, and the world isn’t quite set up for it. The way to reach as many consumers as fast as possible really is through partners, hotels, other airlines.Mike Novotny, President of Bark Air
“Word of mouth really built,” said Novotny. “People gravitated to the fact that we were trying to solve a really challenging problem. We had a great set of early adopters who believed in what we were doing and needed this service. That helped us to get going.”
In-person events helped build excitement, too. Bark Air partnered with its parent company to host a New York City event in Brooklyn’s Domino Park on the Williamsburg waterfront. New Yorkers waited in long lines to get a free dog toy and learn about Bark Air.
[Read more: Inside the Viral Growth Strategies That Are Driving 3 Brands' Sales Success]
Building equity as a hospitality business
Part of the startup’s initial work was to secure partnerships with airline operators since Bark Air doesn’t own its own planes.
“Operators had to take a bet, because this seemed like a little bit of an out-there idea,” Novotny said. What helped to get operators on board was Bark’s track record of serving millions of dogs.
“We had that in our corner, and we knew that if we got service right on the airline, we would be able to take care of the hospitality of dogs at a high level,” said Novotny.
From the start, Bark Air positioned itself as a hospitality service. With each customer, it gathers detailed information on how their dog interacts with people and other dogs, special dietary needs, health issues, and other preferences.
On board, dogs are free to roam, and they get customized goody bags and in-flight snacks, and Doggy Chompagne. A concierge team, which includes vet techs on board, supports dogs and their owners, who also get help with USDA paperwork.
“This is a big moment in dogs’ lives, getting on a plane and going somewhere,” Novotny said. “So it can’t be one-size-fits-all; it really has to be personalized to each dog.”
Listening to customer pain points helped spark the brand’s new white-glove concierge service
Bark Air’s social-media-post-worthy personal touches and details, which also include flight wings for each dog and pilot hats to pose in, have sparked celebrities, influencers, and micro-influencers to gush about the business online.
Most recently on Instagram, Canadian-American celebrity fashion stylist and television personality Brad Goreski chronicled his flight from Los Angeles to New York with his dog Theo. Luxury beauty and fragrance influencer Erin Nicole TV also posted to her 38,000 followers about her Bark Air trip with Jazzy the poodle.
Bark Air makes a point of listening to customers’ in-flight experiences so it can understand ongoing challenges.
Success in business, Novotny said, really starts with identifying a pressing customer problem. “Make sure it’s a real problem,” he said. “That comes from listening and watching customers’ behavior.”
This time, Bark Air heard that fliers wanted the same level of care, service, and personalization they’d had on board Bark Air at their destination.
“People kept commenting that, ‘we’re never getting this type of service anywhere else we go,’” said Novotny. “So, we got the idea that maybe we should follow people where they’re going.”
In what felt like a natural evolution, in July, Bark Air launched its white-glove concierge service for anyone traveling with a pup.
[Read more: 3 Scaling Startups Unpack Customer Acquisition and Retention Strategies Driving Growth]
B2B partnerships will be the key to expansion for Bark Air’s airline and concierge service
The standalone concierge service, Companion Concierge, helps pet owners during relocation or extended stay travel and caters to their travel needs.
For example, the service offers vetted recommendations for dog-friendly hotels (narrowed down by size or breed), local vet recommendations, dog chaperone services, and city guides, with dog-welcoming restaurants tailored to customers’ tastes. The service, which starts at $500 for a one-hour consultation, also helps with the often cumbersome paperwork needed to travel internationally with pets, and it’s available to anyone — not just customers who fly Bark Air.
With one-way tickets for a single dog and its human averaging around $8,900 on routes from New York to London, “A Bark Air flight is too expensive for some people,” acknowledges Novotny. “But we can still provide great service for people. Our concierge service has big market appeal, and it allows us to serve customers outside of Bark Air. Interest in the service has been strong.”
Bark Air is pursuing partnerships for its concierge service, too. It’s partnering with New York City-based Fora Travel, with the travel agency providing trip planning services, and Bark Air’s concierge team completing travel documents. The travel agency’s reach — with over $1.5 billion in bookings and 2.5 million room nights sold to date — is a chance to expand Bark Air’s customer base. Novotny said Bark Air is close to securing partnership deals with hotels, too.
“There are so many people that want to travel with their dogs, and the world isn’t quite set up for it,” said Novotny. To meet the demand and reach a wide swath of consumers will require a number of great partnerships, he added. “The way to reach as many consumers as fast as possible really is through partners, hotels, other airlines.”
The company could structure partnerships as revenue-sharing opportunities, he added, but the exact details of arrangements depend on the partner and what’s important to them. “It’s really about building it out brick by brick, figuring out what’s important to the partner, then adjusting as needed,” Novotny said.
Over the next three years, he’s hopeful the concierge service will become so popular that it grows to around 40% of Bark Air’s business, with the airline at 60%. “People just want to travel with their dogs,” said Novotny, “because leaving them home or boarding them can be really costly, both emotionally and financially.”
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