A labrador will this evening be the first animal to travel on an Air Malta flight without having to spend the trip in the hold.
The airline is adopting a new policy to allow guide dogs on its flights.
The issue was brought to light by Cátia Lima, a blind 30-year-old Portuguese who, initially, was not allowed to have her guide dog Lee with her during the flight today.
But yesterday Air Malta decided to allow the five-year-old labrador to travel on the plane. The dog will be curled under his owner's feet during the two-hour flight from Milan Malpensa.
Speaking to The Times just before the decision to allow Lee on the plane was taken, Ms Lima said she would not travel if her dog were to be put in the hold.
"Lee has been my guide dog for two-and-a-half years and in this time we have never been separated. I cannot imagine the anxiety Lee would go through if he is put in a dark hold without knowing if I would pick him up," she said.
Moreover, Ms Lima - who is flying here to study English - feared that putting Lee in the hold would have affected the dog to the point of rendering it unable to carry out its duties, thus putting her safety at risk. "A guide dog is not a pet. It works hard to ensure the safety of its owner. And his job depends a lot on his psychological and emotional condition.
"I cannot risk putting Lee in an unknown and hostile environment, away from me, because this could have adverse effects on my safety," she said, adding that she has travelled with a guide dog before without any problems.
While the Malta Guide Dogs Foundation argued that an EU regulation regarding the carriage of assistance-animals travelling by air came into force last month, Air Malta general marketing manager Brian Bartolo said the directive was subject to national law, which did not say anything about guide dogs. Therefore, the regulation was not binding on Malta, he said.
However, he continued, the airline realised that this was a new reality and would be reviewing its operations manual to become compliant with the directive next week, while making an exception for Ms Lima. He said workers would have to be trained, adding that training was usually carried out in winter.
Mr Bartolo also pointed out that the directive stated that the airline had to be informed reasonably beforehand that a guide dog was travelling with a passenger, adding that Ms Lima had only booked her ticket on Wednesday.
Ms Lima expressed her appreciation for Air Malta's decision, saying the most important thing was to be able to adapt to meet the requirements of the new situation.