The English Premier League (EPL) is undoubtedly the most profitable soccer league in the world with a majority of its 20 teams earning revenue in the hundreds of millions of pounds every season. This level of income affords the teams a certain degree of convenience and access including but not limited to world-class training facilities, state-of-the-art nutrition and physiotherapy services, and luxurious travel options such as buses and flights to and from the venues where they play. With the busyness of their schedules and the recurring travel demands, many soccer fans often wonder whether their favorite EPL team owns one or more planes to ease their movements.
Do Premier League teams have their own planes? Premier League teams do not traditionally have their own planes for several reasons. The two main ones are that most Premier League teams are within close proximity to each other making travel by bus or train a viable option. Private planes are also quite costly to procure and maintain making them an impractical purchase for cash-demanding environments like soccer clubs. Most EPL teams usually charter flights for players whenever necessary as it is a more sustainable option for them.
How Premier League Teams Travel
As was previously mentioned, the choice of mode of transport for Premier League teams boils down to a number of key factors: the distance they need to travel, their schedule (which dictates the amount of time they have to travel), and the number of people scheduled to travel (players often travel with their club’s technical (coaching) and support staff (physios, team chefs, security, etc.).
Since every Premier League team has its own home ground where they host around half of their matches every season, travel only becomes necessary when attending away league matches. The same principle applies to other domestic competitions that EPL clubs participate in such as the FA Cup and League Cup.
Coach/bus is often an acceptable mode of transportation because a majority of Premier League teams are often situated in or around the greater London and Manchester areas and their environs and are thus mostly within four hours or less of each other with the exception of a few depending on which clubs join or exit the league in a given season as a result of promotion or relegation.
In order to ensure that players get enough time to rest and acclimate before matches, clubs often travel a day before the match and acquire accommodation near the venue in order to minimize travel on the day of the match. Traveling a day earlier also allows clubs to get in a training and/or strategy session or two before a match in order to put them in a better position to register a positive result.
Charters vs Owning Planes
Though Premier League teams traditionally use bus/coach or train to travel to away matches, there have been instances where clubs have traveled distances of 100 miles or less via plane since it is a more convenient option.
Top clubs like Manchester United and Manchester City are known to be in the habit of hiring charters over short distances so that their players have more time to rest and prepare for matches. Charters are however the preferred mode of transportation for Premier League teams for away international matches like UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League fixtures.
While EPL clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea have been rumored to own planes, the details are often difficult to come by due to the secrecy with which teams treat their finances. Chelsea was said to own a plane during former owner Roman Abramovich’s tenure.
Abramovich is alleged to have purchased a Boeing 767-300 aircraft which was valued at around £60 million after acquiring the club in order to help ease Chelsea’s movements within Europe. Some sources however suggest that the plane was actually Abramovich’s personal investment which he would routinely lend to his club and not expressly owned by the five-time EPL champions.
Fans are also known to be in the habit of misconstruing partnerships between EPL clubs and airlines as them owning the planes since their club colors, logos, and even images of their players are often displayed on them. Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Leicester City have had such partnerships in the past with major airlines like Etihad, HLM, and Garuda Indonesia.
“Plane Pooling”
Premier League teams are known to charter planes from specific flight operators such as Jota Aviation. Clubs often find such luxury private planes convenient since they operate out of private terminals in select airports which alleviates the security concerns and long check-in and check-out times associated with commercial flights.
EPL clubs particularly find charter providers like Jota to be ideal since clubs can only use British-registered planes for domestic flights. The charter company was heavily used by the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Leicester City, and Manchester United. They however entered administration in the first quarter of 2022 leaving the clubs stranded since such travel arrangements are often made months in advance.
Clubs have also been known to pull their resources and hire private jets for their players, especially when going to or coming back from international duty. A good example of such an instance is when Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Liverpool collaborated in October 2021 to hire a private plane in order to fly their South American players back from World Cup qualifiers.
Among the players who were ferried on the charter were Manchester United duo Edinson Cavani and Fred, Liverpool aces Fabinho and Allison, Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson Moraes and former forward Gabriel Jesus, and Chelsea’s Thiago Silva.
Footballers Who Own Private Planes
A number of top footballers including former Premier League players own private planes that they use for both business and leisure. A good example is ex-United midfielder Paul Pogba who owns a Gulfstream G280 jet believed to cost upwards of £14 million.
Former Tottenham and Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale is another good example as he owns a Cessna Citation XLS+ valued at anywhere from £5 million to £8 million. Former Red Devils midfielder David Beckham, who currently owns MLS side Inter Miami, maintains a Bombardier Challenger 350 jet to facilitate travel between England and the United States.
Other notable players who own private jets include former United forward Zlatan Ibrahimović (Cessna Citation Longitude), Paris Saint Germain marksman Neymar (Cessna Citation Foreign+), seven-time Ballon d’Or winner teammate Lionel Messi (Embraer Legacy 650P) and former Real Madrid and United star Cristiano Ronaldo (Gulfstream G650).