JOIN US"We're sorry for the delay", the captain of the Adelaide bound flight told passengers who were getting restive, "but we're having some problems loading the cheetah," he said.
The pilot made the announcement as the flight QF675 sat on the tarmac, as ground staff sweated to load the pallet carrying the animal on its journey to Adelaide's Monarto Zoo.
The flight was delayed for 50 minutes and an Airline spokeswoman said, "it had nothing to do with the cheetah throwing tantrums".
"It was purely the ground staff finding it difficult to load the pallet," she said. But in the end the cheetah had to miss the flight.It had to ultimately take the next flight to new home.
The Qantas which has been in the news recently after an engine blow out on its Superjumbo A380, which led to temporary grounding of the fleet for three weeks, said it was not new to ferrying animals.
The Airlines also known as "flying kangaroo", is regularly relied upon to transport zoo attractions and moves thousands of animals each year.
"We are well trained", the spokeswoman said and claimed the Airlines had ferried animals ranging from gorillas, Tasmania devils, hippos, crocodiles to fairy penguins".