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Aug 25, 2022
, Bloomberg News
BC-Private-Plane-Shortage-Hits-English-Football’s-Pre-Match-Prep , David Hellier, Siddharth Philip and Eamon Akil Farhat
(Bloomberg) —
England’s elite football clubs wanting to travel to games by private plane are having to do something unfamiliar: get in line.
Rising demand for chartered air travel in the UK means many English Premier League clubs are seeing their plans for getting to and from away matches disrupted, an issue that some coaches have already blamed for disappointing performances on the pitch.
After Chelsea FC lost 3-0 at Leeds United FC earlier this month, the London club’s manager Thomas Tuchel said his preparations for the game had been affected by changes to travel plans. Chelsea had been unable to find a plane big enough to fly all its players and trainers to the match, so Tuchel and members of his staff had to take a bus.
Leeds United, based in Yorkshire in the north of England, had its own difficulties ahead of a 2-2 tie against Southampton FC on the south coast this month, according to a person familiar with the matter. Leeds ended up having to charter three smaller planes for the roughly 230-mile (370-kilometer) journey and has made similar arrangements for its upcoming game against Brighton & Hove Albion FC on Saturday, the person said.
Newcastle United FC, based in the northeast of England, was forced to change its usual plane travel arrangements for the 0-0 tie against Brighton, about 340 miles away on the south coast, another person said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.
“One of the issues for football clubs is they all want to hire private planes, mostly large ones, that may be less readily available for a team and support staff at the same time, Saturdays and Sundays,” said Sasha Ryazantsev, former board member and chief financial officer at Everton FC, an EPL club in the northwest of England.
Chartering a 62-seater plane to fly from London to Newcastle and back would typically cost over £80,000 ($95,000), with 100-seat planes costing close to £200,000, according to private jet provider Victor.
Representatives for Chelsea, Leeds and Newcastle declined to comment.
Demand for large private planes has increased as many businesses that switched to the mode of travel during the Covid-19 pandemic have now become comfortable with it. Frustrations with the ongoing disruptions in the broader commercial jet industry has seen others happy to pay more to private plane operators to be rid of the hassle.
Supply has been further crimped by the collapse of UK-based charter airline Jota Aviation, which operated the 95-seat Avro aircraft, earlier this year.
Private plane departures from airports have jumped dramatically from pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the European Business Aviation Association, making it harder for football clubs to book journeys at short notice.
Games come thick and fast in English football, and clubs do all they can to ensure their players have as much time for rest and recovery in between matches and training sessions. Flying to games is much quicker and easier for rich clubs than spending hours in a coach or on a train, risking traffic and delays to services. To be sure, EPL clubs do regularly use luxury buses and trains for shorter journeys.
Cleaner Skies
The use of planes to travel to games does not sit well with many people from an environmental standpoint and clubs are wary of complaining about their problems chartering aircraft because of this.
“Public scrutiny is forcing a number of teams to carefully consider whether taking the train, or a coach, is a more sustainable way to travel, and for the time pressured team manager, this may not always be ideal,” said Clive Jackson, Victor’s founder and chairman.
Jackson said the “more enlightened” clubs were already starting to enquire about how to reduce their travel emissions. One way they can do this is by purchasing sustainable aviation fuel, a pricier alternative to traditional jet fuel, Jackson said.
“It’s early days, we will have to wait and see how many teams start to fly more responsibly,” he said.
(Added sixth paragraph on the cost of a jet)
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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