What is IATA pet crate?
Updated By PetymFacts checked against official sources on
Quick answer
An IATA pet crate is a travel kennel built to the International Air Transport Association's Live Animals Regulations, Container Requirement 1, for pets flying in the hold. It must let the pet stand, turn and lie naturally, and be rigid, ventilated on all four sides, bolted together, with a water bowl filled from outside and the right labels.
Also called IATA approved crate, IATA kennel, airline pet crate, IATA CR1, flight crate for dog.
Key facts
- IATA sizing uses four measurements: A, nose to root of tail; B, ground to elbow; C, width across the shoulders; D, standing height to the top of the head or ear tip. IATA
- The crate is A + ½ B long, 2 × C wide, and D plus bedding high. IATA
- Ventilation openings on all four sides must together make up at least 16% of their surface. IATA
- For a snub-nosed dog, IATA asks for a crate 10% larger than usual, stowed with as much air around it as practical. IATA
- SpiceJet takes dogs only in an IATA-standard fibre cage no larger than 48 × 45 × 30 inches. SpiceJet
How do you size an IATA crate for your dog?
Measure your dog standing, then apply IATA's formula. When in doubt, go up a size; the pet must stand, turn and lie down naturally.
What must an IATA crate have?
From IATA's Container Requirement 1. Check every point before the airport: check-in staff can refuse a crate that falls short.
- A rigid shell, with room for the pet to turn around standing, stand, sit and lie down naturally. SpiceJet
- Air holes on all four sides, together at least 16% of their surface. IATA
- Metal nuts and bolts in every hole, not plastic clips alone, and door pins that go at least 1.6 cm into the frame. IATA
- Spacers along both long sides and the back, so air can reach the crate when it is stowed. IATA
- A water bowl fixed inside that can be filled from outside without opening the door. IATA
- Absorbent bedding. IATA
- A green "Live Animals" label, and "This Way Up" labels on at least two opposite sides. IATA
- No wheels, or wheels removed or made unusable, and never a crate made entirely of wire mesh. IATA
How do you prepare your pet and the crate for the flight?
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Questions owners ask
Do I need an IATA crate for a pet flying in the cabin?
- Not a rigid one. Under IATA's rules a cabin carrier need not be rigid and needs no spacers or bowls, but it must carry a Live Animal label. Each airline sets its own cabin size: Air India's largest soft carrier is 17 × 10 × 9 inches, for a pet of up to 10 kg with it.
How big should my dog's flight crate be?
- IATA's formula: length is nose to root of tail plus half the ground-to-elbow height; width is twice the shoulder width; height is standing height to the top of the head or ear tip, plus bedding. Snub-nosed breeds need a crate 10% larger. Check your airline's maximum too.
Which Indian airlines need an IATA crate?
- Any airline carrying your pet in the hold. SpiceJet takes dogs only in an IATA-standard fibre cage of at most 48 × 45 × 30 inches. Air India carries pets of 10 to 32 kg with their container as checked baggage in an IATA-standard hard case, depending on the aircraft.
Can I use a wire crate for a flight?
- Not one made entirely of wire mesh: IATA's Container Requirement 1 rules that out for air travel. The crate needs a rigid shell, ventilation on all four sides, metal bolts, spacers, a water bowl filled from outside and the right labels.
Keep reading
Related terms
More in travel and paperwork
- Advance NOCThe Advance NOC (No Objection Certificate) is the clearance a passenger must hold before a pet dog or cat can board a flight to India. You apply on CBIC's ATITHI 2.0 portal at least 7 days before travel, and AQCS issues it within 1 working day of checking your documents. Airlines will not board the pet without it.
- AQCSAQCS, Animal Quarantine and Certification Services, is the Government of India service under the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying that examines pets and issues the health certificate a pet needs to leave India, and clears pets arriving. It has six stations: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Its fees are paid online through Bharatkosh.
- Dog boxA dog box is the compartment in a train's brake van, where a dog travels as luggage when its owner does not hold a whole First AC or First Class coupe or cabin. It is booked at the station's luggage office at least 3 hours before departure and charged at the Scale L rate on a fixed 30 kg.
- Export health certificateThe export health certificate, formally the Certificate of Health for Export (Pet Animals), is the document AQCS issues after examining a pet in person, without which a pet cannot leave India. AQCS calls it "the NOC". It costs Rs 500, paid online through Bharatkosh, is normally issued the same day and is valid for 10 days.
- Fit-to-fly certificateA fit-to-fly certificate is a registered vet's signed and stamped statement that a pet has been examined and is healthy enough to fly. Every Indian airline that carries pets asks for one, with the rabies vaccination record. How recent it must be differs: within 7 days on Air India, 15 days on Akasa Air, 48 hours on SpiceJet.
- Health certificateA pet health certificate is a vet's signed and stamped statement that your pet has been examined and is healthy, usually free of infectious disease and fit to travel. In India, Indian Railways, airlines and AQCS ask for one. The catch is timing: each wants a certificate issued within its own window, from 24 hours to 10 days.
- Pet passportIndia does not issue a pet passport; the EU pet passport is issued only by authorised vets to owners living in the EU. When people in India say pet passport, they usually mean the travel papers: microchip and vaccination records, a vet's health certificate, the AQCS export certificate, and the destination's own certificate or permit.
- Scale LScale L is Indian Railways' luggage rate: its Scale P parcel rate plus 80%. A dog on a train is charged at Scale L on a fixed weight, whatever it weighs: 30 kg in the brake-van dog box, 60 kg if it rides with you in a First AC or First Class coupe or cabin. Distance does the rest.
- Transfer of residenceTransfer of residence is the customs category for a passenger moving to India after living abroad for two years or more. Under it, the passenger may bring up to two pet dogs or cats as baggage, with an Advance NOC from the ATITHI 2.0 portal. Anyone abroad for less than two years needs a different route, usually a DGFT licence.
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Sources
Each source was opened and read on the date shown. How Petym checks its sources
- IATA: Live Animals Regulations, Container Requirement 1 (Edition 52, January 2026) (opens in a new tab)
- SpiceJet: Terms and conditions of carriage: carriage of live animals (AVI) (opens in a new tab)
- IATA: Traveler's Pet Corner (opens in a new tab)
- IATA: Guidance for Passengers Traveling with their Dog or Cat in the Cabin (opens in a new tab)
- Air India: Travelling with pets (opens in a new tab)