The US’s newest start-up airline doesn’t serve free peanuts, and there’s no restroom — or seats — for the passengers. But flight attendants do escort passengers personally to the nearest patch of grass before and after the flight, and the airline’s president and chief executive himself walks up the aisle every 15 minutes with a stash of biscuits and some words of comfort.

“You’re going to see your mommy soon,” Dan Wiesel cooed to one Labrador retriever shortly after Pet Airways Flight 1101 rolled to a stop on the tarmac at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, about 15 miles northwest of Denver.

The pet-only airline launched its inaugural flights last week to much fanfare among animal lovers who share Wiesel’s distaste for sending a cherished pet into the underbelly of a jetliner. “The cargo hold is scary, dark, unattended,” Wiesel said. He conceived of the pet-centric business after placing his Jack Russell terrier on a cross-country flight several years ago: “I was so stressed out.”

Pet Airways touts itself as the antidote to standard air travel: cats and dogs ride in the air-conditioned main cabin of a Beech 1900 turboprop, a 19-passenger plane refitted with kennels to carry up to 50 animals, under the care of a veterinary technician ready to dole out reassurances or treats.

This may not be the best time for a start-up business. But Wiesel and his wife and partner, Alysa Binder — both of whom previously did consulting and recruiting work for high-tech companies in the Silicon Valley — think they have found their niche.

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