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Major Airline drops most NFL team charter flights including the Cardinals

When thinking about how the National Football League transports their teams around the country one envisions the private charters that go with it.

Thoughts can immediately go to seeing your team’s players landing back in their city and stepping off of their airline to a heroes welcome.

Well, what won’t be seen for many teams is the American Airlines insignia on the side of those aircraft as the Fort Worth, Texas-Based American Airlines company informed their employees via a memo that they will terminate their agreements with select teams.


Those affected include six NFL team charters consisting of the Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Big named teams who reside in major hub cities (i.e., Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles) will remain with American for the time being.

The reasoning for the change, according to American, is the necessity to ensure regular passenger operations are not affected, and aircraft are available for these flights.

Given what has been making headlines across the country about United Airlines and their treatment of passengers, this may not be a bad thing for your regular traveller. 

The memo, first reported by Forbes, said the changes would go into effect for the 2017-2018 NFL season.

The changes now open the door for new partnerships with those teams in need of a major charter, but not being kept with the most well-known airline in the country is surely a hit to the ego of the have-nots.

“This was a very tough decision as many of the teams have been longstanding customers of the airline,” the memo stated. “The decision came down to available aircraft, location and input from senior leadership.