“My captain friend sent me this photo… Saudi prince bought ticket for his 80 hawks.” Ahmet Yasar posted the picture from an A330 plane that was headed to Jeddah, a city in Saudi Arabia.
It turns out, the birds were actually falcons. It is not uncommon to see wealthy people from Arab countries transporting their birds on a plane. Falcons are used for hunting or for competitive sports. Abu Dhabi even has its own hospital dedicated to falcons.
Airlines such as Etihad, Qatar and others allow falcons to board the plane for the additional cost of up to $630 per bird depending on the destination (Qatar Airlines pricing). Lufthansa even offers a custom-designed bird tray for the birds. And the falcons even have their own passports. Between 2002 and 2013, the UAE government issued more than 28,000 falcon passports, costing around $130 each. That’s not very pricey considering a falcon can cost upwards of $250,000.
“My captain friend sent me this photo… Saudi prince bought ticket for his 80 hawks.”
Watch a similar video from 2014:
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