After defeating the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs will return victorious to Kansas City. The Super Bowl Champs will be flown back on a United Airlines Boeing 777 this afternoon. The flight will leave at 13:21 MT and arrive at 16:23 CT. The flight is one of many that the sports team has taken with United as the airline regularly flies many NFL teams around the country and occasionally overseas.

Victory flight

The flight will depart Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and arrive at Kansas City International Airport (MCI). The team will be carried back home on United Airlines Flight UAL2543. This service was last flown on February 5th, when it carried the team from MCI to PHX. The flight is part of the airlines' agreement with the team and NFL that it transports football teams around the country to various games as needed.

The partnership for the airline is lucrative as it has allowed the airline not only to partner with the NFL and its teams but grants it a lot of publicity as United planes and logos are frequently seen behind NFL players, particularly in photos taken at airports.

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Plane of choice

This first flight to PHX from MCI was flown on a Boeing 777-200 registered N206UA. Since dropping off the Kansas City Chiefs at PHX, N206UA has traveled between some of the largest US cities and even traveled across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. According to FlightRadar24.com, the airplane has journeyed as far as Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to the east and Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND) to the west.

While this was the plane to carry the team to the Super Bowl, it will not be the one to carry the victors home as it has already made plans to return to Europe this week. Fortunately, one of its colleagues, N204UA, will be able to fill in for it.

N204UA is another Boeing 777-200. Unlike its colleague, it has not spent the past week crossing oceans; rather, it has been flying between major US cities. The last time it undertook a transoceanic journey was the same day the Kansas City Chiefs were flown to PHX by its sister aircraft. The plane is currently in Chicago and will fly to PHX this morning before picking up the Super Bowl victors.

Simple history

Many older aircraft have a colorful history of flying for multiple airlines throughout their career. Some even get to work in the passenger and cargo industries. This is not the case for N204UA. According to ch-aviation, N204UA has had a simple but exciting career as an airliner. The jet was ordered in August 1996 and took its first flight on January 22nd, 1999. The aircraft was then delivered to United Airlines on February 3rd, 1999. Since then, it has flown millions of passengers across the continent and neighboring oceans.

The 276-seat aircraft will hit its minimum retirement date in December 2027. While it is unclear exactly when the airline plans to retire the aging aircraft, it has undoubtedly lived a long and eventful life as it has racked up over 96,000 flight hours.

What do you think of this victory flight? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: ch-avaition, FlightRadar24

• 

  United Airlines

  Region:

  North America

  Loyalty Program:

  MileagePlus

• 

  Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  PHX/KPHX

  Country:

  United States

  CEO:

  Chad Makovsky

  Passenger Count :

  21,928,708 (2020)

  Runways :

  8/26 - 3,502m (11,489ft) | 7L/25R - 3,139m (10,300ft) | 7R/25L - 2,377m (7,800ft)

  Terminals:

  Terminal 3 | Terminal 4