Aircraft Disinsection in Palo Alto, CA: Palo Alto Airport (PAO)

About Palo Alto Airport

The 2,441-ft runway keeps Palo Alto a light-aircraft field, but the money and mileage behind its hangars are anything but light. Stanford, the venture firms of Sand Hill Road, and the headquarters of much of the tech industry sit within a short drive. When those owners and flight departments plan international legs, the jets typically stage from San Jose, San Francisco, or Oakland, and we meet them there. The paperwork and the treatment are handled before the cabin fills.

On the field at PAO

Palo Alto Airport (PAO) sits in Palo Alto, California, at an elevation of 7 feet. The main runway, 13/31, is 2,441 feet of asphalt. The field has an FAA control tower. Rossi Aircraft operate FBOs here, and we come to the aircraft at any of them. A pre-embarkation treatment here is timed to your boarding and finished before anyone steps aboard.

Where the aircraft disinsection requirement comes from

PAO is where the requirement is satisfied for a non-stop flight, because pre-embarkation treatment belongs at the last port before the destination country. The arriving authority requires the aircraft to have been disinsected; treating it empty here, before boarding, meets that requirement for the countries that accept the method.

From PAO the requirement is mostly a Pacific one: Australia and New Zealand require disinsection on every arriving international aircraft, and the Cook Islands, Fiji and the Solomon Islands require it too. Many itineraries from Palo Alto stop in Hawaii, which then becomes the last US port and the place for pre-embarkation treatment; non-stop departures are treated here at PAO. Australia, New Zealand, Chile, French Polynesia appear on the list as well.

The aircraft disinsection process on the PAO ramp

We treat the aircraft where it is parked at PAO, whether that is a hangar or the FBO ramp, and we build the timing backward from your boarding. Empty cabin, WHO method through cabin, flight deck and holds, rest and ventilation, release. Your crew receives the certificate before the door closes and your passengers never see the process.

PAO at a glance

Countries that require disinsection, served from PAO

From PAO: Cook Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, French Polynesia, and the rest of the destinations we serve. The full table of aircraft disinsection requirements by country covers every destination we have verified for PAO departures. Australia and New Zealand carry operator paperwork we help with; if either is on a Palo Alto itinerary, start early.