The schedules of the top football teams are becoming more and more complex. Some teams even have away games on several continents in the preseason. In the past, an airplane charter was a luxury, today it is essential.
Preseason private flights have been organized for several years now, but it gets bigger every year. This time there were several top European teams that played up to six games abroad each in July and early August – in the USA, Africa, Asia and Australia.
The crews can choose from a whole range of machines. Private jets such as the Boeing 737 VIP, the Airbus A319 VIP or the B767-300 VIP are particularly popular on long flights because they are fully equipped with business class seats. For shorter flights – for example in away games in the regular season – a smaller aircraft like an Embraer 145 would often be preferred.
Better preparation for the game
Charter a plane means that travel time is minimized and the team can better prepare for the game. In addition, the catering on board can be adapted to the players’ special diet plans – and of course that doesn’t just apply to the richest teams.
Since the schedule for the 2020/2021 season was announced, there were already precise plans for many teams. Some of them have even booked airplanes until the coming April. What used to be the team bus is now often the team plane.
Indeed, private jet hiring presents many advantages for soccer teams. Just think that the best ones play an average 2 games per week all year long: national championships, national cups, Champions League, Europe League friendly matches and so on. Most games away require quite a long trip. Hiring a private jet allows to skip lengthy embark and disembark procedures, sparing about 3 hours per flight. On a private jet players are not bothered by other ^passengers, often soccer fans addressing them with all sorts of request.
Private jet hiring is not expensive if you are numerous
Private jet hiring can be cheaper than buying many tickets for one flight. A single aisle jet like an Airbus A319 can be hired for roughly €15.000 per flight hour. Soccer teams transferts include, beside at least 20 players, medical staff, training staff, team owners and directors, journalists. Oftentimes more than 40 people, who can share the cost of the hire, instead of buying a single plane ticket for each one of them.