West Coast Airways

[Masto]

The AFL's surprise decision to abandon Qantas and sign with Virgin Blue as its preferred carrier has added more urgency to a radical plan being considered by the West Coast Eagles: charter their own planes to ferry players, and supporters, to 'away' matches in the eastern states.

http://www.backpagelead.com.au/afl/3267-west-coast-airways-up-up-and-away

A good idea, hopefully they go through with it.

 

[Eagle87]

The AFL's surprise decision to abandon Qantas and sign with Virgin Blue as its preferred carrier has added more urgency to a radical plan being considered by the West Coast Eagles: charter their own planes to ferry players, and supporters, to 'away' matches in the eastern states.

http://www.backpagelead.com.au/afl/3267-west-coast-airways-up-up-and-away

A good idea, hopefully they go through with it.

TBH, I wouldn't have thought the $80k per return trip was that big a deal. Thats only $880k per season .... Its a lot but not unmanageable I would have thought ....

Certainly getting 100 supporters on board per trip would seem pretty easy.

 

[EaglesFlyingHigh]

Must have a lot of spare money...

 

[mad_eagle]

Do it...and stick the bill square up Vlad's arse!!!

 

[The Falcon Strike]

The AFL's surprise decision to abandon Qantas and sign with Virgin Blue as its preferred carrier has added more urgency to a radical plan being considered by the West Coast Eagles: charter their own planes to ferry players, and supporters, to 'away' matches in the eastern states.

http://www.backpagelead.com.au/afl/3267-west-coast-airways-up-up-and-away

A good idea, hopefully they go through with it.

$750 return (roughly) per person is what it costs on our good friend Qantas.

Not sure what size planes they'd be targetting - but you'd think that they could sell packages to the games with accomodation etc for a bit. Would be great getting the same flight over as the boys - especially if they were amenable to a yarn on the way back.

TBH, I wouldn't have thought the $80k per return trip was that big a deal. Thats only $880k per season .... Its a lot but not unmanageable I would have thought ....

Certainly getting 100 supporters on board per trip would seem pretty easy.

Backing us for an away final this year?

 

[Eagle87]

Must have a lot of spare money...

Not sure what you mean?

Until the last couple of years we were making $4 million+ per annum ... we could defray the costs with sponsorship and supporters ....

If we can't find 100 punters a week who would pay $800 return to fly with the team to and from a home game I'd be surprised ....

 

[Eagle87]

Backing us for an away final this year?

I was thinking ahead to the 24 game season

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Don't know how much it costs to fly 23/24 players, coaching staff, trainers and other assorted hangers-on via commercial flights, but chartering a plane may work out to be not much more expensive. Particularly if they sell spare seats to supporters.

Biggest issue would be whether the AFL allows us to do so or whether they require us to fly Virgin under the sponsorship deal.

 

[bodazoka]

Do it!

Would you find 100 supporters every week? If it was at least as expensive as a regluation flight you might be able too. I have met a handful of supporters over the years who travel to every home and away game all ready, from that lot im sure you could find 25-30 straight up...

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Biggest issue would be whether the AFL allows us to do so or whether they require us to fly Virgin under the sponsorship deal.

Didn't stop the AFL funding other clubs this year when we had a deal with Qantas.

Not knowing how the charter works - but if you have to hire the plane for say 3 days (Thurs-Sat) - you could probably sell a flight to an incoming team who was playing the Shockers.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Do it!

Would you find 100 supporters every week? If it was at least as expensive as a regluation flight you might be able too. I have met a handful of supporters over the years who travel to every home and away game all ready, from that lot im sure you could find 25-30 straight up...

The other issue of course is the size of the plane.

What the article doesn't cover is if we need a bigger plane to accomodate 100 supporters - do we now need to pay more for a bigger plane?

Would also be good to fly at low altitude as well.

I can just see GO EAGLES sneaking into the massage rooms to sneak a look at Hams and Houlihan.

 

[Eagle87]

The other issue of course is the size of the plane.

What the article doesn't cover is if we need a bigger plane to accomodate 100 supporters - do we now need to pay more for a bigger plane?

Would also be good to fly at low altitude as well.

I can just see GO EAGLES sneaking into the massage rooms to sneak a look at Hams and Houlihan.

Yep, that 80k number seems low for a full size commercial plane and obviously if you re-configure the plane to allow treatment tables etc you reduce capacity.

You may find that a more exclusive ticket (say 25 punters at $3k per) sells just as well, real contact with the players and there are plenty of west aussies who could find 3k return one would think (its about that business class on Qantas) ...

Low Altitude increases fuel use as I understand it which would increase costs .. but I'm not engineer, so dont take that as gospel ...

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Low Altitude increases fuel use as I understand it which would increase costs .. but I'm not engineer, so dont take that as gospel ...

Fuel would cost more - but as a percentage of total cost - it would be relatively minor in relation to the lease cost for the plane.

 

[Ochre]

as long as its as safe as VB/Qantas im all for it

wouldnt be the worse idea to try and get freo on board too

 

[davidantonowicz]

We just plough our multi million dollar profits back into the WAFC anyway. We may as well spend it on something that gives us an advantage. Surely we could do a deal with one of the many charter companies operating out of Perth because of the mining industry. Only tricky bit would be the seat config, but im fairly sure theres a few 737's around fitted with all business class seats.

 

[Marlin01]

Not exactly a ringing endorsment for the AFL's newest sponsor.

 

[jaxxon]

We can afford it if it means winning an extra game or so per year, or extending the careers of our players by an extra season.

 

[larrikin]

Fuel would cost more - but as a percentage of total cost - it would be relatively minor in relation to the lease cost for the plane.

Fuel and time, I believe.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Not exactly a ringing endorsment for the AFL's newest sponsor.

People need to be realistic though. The fact is Virgin is a budget carrier. I personally don't have any issue when flying with them, but elite sportspeople have needs that they just may not be able to meet - eg a certain level of comfort, a certain frequency of flights etc.

It's not inconsistent to say that Virgin is a sponsor but not the best option for players. It's the same as saying McDonalds is a sponsor but players aren't going to be eating burgers in the lead up to games

 

[larrikin]

People need to be realistic though. The fact is Virgin is a budget carrier. I personally don't have any issue when flying with them, but elite sportspeople have needs that they just may not be able to meet - eg a certain level of comfort, a certain frequency of flights etc.

It's not inconsistent to say that Virgin is a sponsor but not the best option for players. It's the same as saying McDonalds is a sponsor but players aren't going to be eating burgers in the lead up to games

But Virgin are supposed to be flying the players around.

I don't fly Virgin for work, and I don't want to. And (believe it or not) I am not an elite athlete.

Having said all that, I understand where the AFL are coming from. From what AD said Virgin knocked on their door and offered them a deal that was too good to knock back.

 

[Coledinho]

We should just run to Melbourne.

 

[CursoryMercenary]

It annoys me that the Eagles don't sound out a rich WA mining magnate to help cover the costs of these things (and give themselves some publicity). It's amazing the amount of high profile people are backing and vocal about their support for their Melbourne clubs but we don't have any.

 

[Eagle87]

But Virgin are supposed to be flying the players around.

I don't fly Virgin for work, and I don't want to. And (believe it or not) I am not an elite athlete.

Having said all that, I understand where the AFL are coming from. From what AD said Virgin knocked on their door and offered them a deal that was too good to knock back.

The same AD who got shitty on a flight because Qantas showed stuff about the Qantas Wallabies and the Qantas Socceroos but nothing about the AFL?

If Tiger Air or Skywest offered him a deal that was too good to knock back he would have baulked on the basis that they couldn't provide an adequate service. It appears he didn't check with anyone (like the players or clubs) before making a similar judgement on Virgin....

Its a shyte decision that makes AD look like the arrogant tool he often is...

 

[Pat_Footy]

I think it may all be getting blown out of proportion. Virgin will do all they can to please the players and the recent piece from the CEO said they would try to match the service and flights of Qantas. It's in their best interests to please, they are the new sponsors.

Every club will probably own a plane in the future bar the struggling clubs. Eagles ahead of the times sounds good.

 

[Eagle87]

I think it may all be getting blown out of proportion. Virgin will do all they can to please the players and the recent piece from the CEO said they would try to match the service and flights of Qantas. It's in their best interests to please, they are the new sponsors.

Every club will probably own a plane in the future bar the struggling clubs. Eagles ahead of the times sounds good.

It MAY be blown out of proportion but don't you confirm "service matching" and "pleasing the players" BEFORE you sign the agreement?