Photo: Lufthansa Technik
They use million-dollar police hypercars to show off in front of tourists, have the largest malls in the world and shine through opulence, but there is a lot more about the Middle East than extreme abundance and money spending. One of the things that are really big in their culture and Westerns still don’t seem to understand is falconry, an extremely popular sport in this part of the world.
So buying riffles and shooting up ducks in the Epping Forest is royal. Buying shotguns to kill wild pigs in the swamp is totally OK. Filling up you mountain cabana with dear heads you hunted the other weekend, yeah that’s totally normal. But training a falcon to hunt wild quarry in its natural state and habitat, that’s weird.
Hey, to be honest we’re car people here, we find killing animals quite stupid since as far as we can tell they exist for us to feed in a somewhat sustainable way. They are creatures part of nature, not some toy we play with, but that's just us.
Yet, who are we to judge, right? If that Arabic prince wants to enjoy a nice sunny weekend with his beloved Bluebird or Lester, who are you to tell him not to? Nobody. In fact, there’s an opportunity to make some cash here, so why not take advantage of it, right?
That’s what Lufthansa is thinking so instead of forbidding hunting birds on their airlines, like US does, they thought to find a way to safely and comfortably fly the falcon along with his owner. Called the “Falcon Master”, it’s a design for safe resting and transport platform for falcons and is an optional feature Lufthansa Technik’s VIP & Executive Jet Solutions Division is offering for its customers.
Cool, but how did they come up with this idea? Well, they looked at their fellow competitors from the Middle East, like Etihad and Qatar Airlines who already allow falcons to travel in the main cabin.
Falcon Master includes a perch and stainless steel surfaces to contain “dirt produced by the birds”. One unit is only going to cost about EUR 50,000 ($53,002), but hey flying like a star comes with a price.
Hey, to be honest we’re car people here, we find killing animals quite stupid since as far as we can tell they exist for us to feed in a somewhat sustainable way. They are creatures part of nature, not some toy we play with, but that's just us.
Yet, who are we to judge, right? If that Arabic prince wants to enjoy a nice sunny weekend with his beloved Bluebird or Lester, who are you to tell him not to? Nobody. In fact, there’s an opportunity to make some cash here, so why not take advantage of it, right?
That’s what Lufthansa is thinking so instead of forbidding hunting birds on their airlines, like US does, they thought to find a way to safely and comfortably fly the falcon along with his owner. Called the “Falcon Master”, it’s a design for safe resting and transport platform for falcons and is an optional feature Lufthansa Technik’s VIP & Executive Jet Solutions Division is offering for its customers.
Cool, but how did they come up with this idea? Well, they looked at their fellow competitors from the Middle East, like Etihad and Qatar Airlines who already allow falcons to travel in the main cabin.
Falcon Master includes a perch and stainless steel surfaces to contain “dirt produced by the birds”. One unit is only going to cost about EUR 50,000 ($53,002), but hey flying like a star comes with a price.
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