Study finds that UK flights taken by clubs included one that took just 27 minutes.
An investigation into the use of domestic air travel by Premier League football clubs in the UK has revealed that over a two-month period a total of 81 short-haul flights took place with the shortest just 27 minutes.
The BBC study into 100 games played between January and March this year found flights taken including from Liverpool to Newcastle (200 miles, three hours by coach) for a league game, and from Nottingham to Blackpool (136 miles, two-and-a-half hours by coach) for an FA Cup tie.
Premier League football clubs highlight the unreliability of the UK train network and potential road traffic problems for their use of air travel, with reduced journey times important for performance reasons in what many clubs see as an overloaded fixture schedule.
Critics fear the clubs have become ‘addicted’ to air travel and take the easiest option available to them, but a Premier League statement into the findings said it “recognises the need to take action on climate change and is committed to reducing its overall climate impact”.
Analysis of Liverpool’s recent flight to Newcastle for a Saturday evening game estimate that it was between 25 and 30 times worse for the environment than driving. An added problem is the number of positioning flights taken, whereby an aircraft is moved from one airport to another to pick up a football team, often with just the crew travelling.
The longest Premier League journey is from Bournemouth to Newcastle, a trip that would take six hours by coach over a distance of around 350 miles. The information provided comes shortly after the Premier League hired a head of sustainability, with plans to release an ‘environmental strategy’ later this year; at present, there are no restrictions on clubs using whatever form of transport they deem necessary to travel to and from games.
The study release comes shortly after a report from UK think tank, The Intergeneration Foundation, called for a total ban on short-haul flights in the UK. France recently decided to ban domestic flights where an alternative rail route under 2.5 hours is available.
