From what I have been hearing, most Colleges have been slowly (but surely) releasing their Men’s Basketball schedules. And I have a feeling they will be flying some good old planes to and from airports. This is where you can post them. (Note: Please use FlightAware. Copy the URL of the flight and put in in the thread). Let’s hope this is a good season. GO ‘CUSE

I wonder how COVID affects the college basketball charter industry. Might see teams try to size up their aircraft. Didn't see that much with football except for a few because you have to upgauge to a widebody, but some teams might upgauge from the usual CRJ200/ERJ145 to a narrowbody for some more space.

gdavis003 wrote:

I wonder how COVID affects the college basketball charter industry. Might see teams try to size up their aircraft. Didn't see that much with football except for a few because you have to upgauge to a widebody, but some teams might upgauge from the usual CRJ200/ERJ145 to a narrowbody for some more space.

Typical college basketball team isn't traveling with more than 25 people in the party (12-15 players depending if walk-ons will travel, 4 coaches, media rep, two radio broadcasters and 2-4 trainers/doctors) so I think a CRJ-200 would still be fine - the bigger issue with CRJs is that there just might not be as many of them this year with airlines retiring some of the smaller RJs.

A lot of college basketball teams often use 737s for their ops. Swift Air and Sun Country do a lot of them.

Most PAC-12 teams will probably use Alaska Air for their charters.

I would guess there will be less than normal. I know of a few schools only allowing games they can drive to.

There will be a lot of bubble pod concepts with many teams playing in a single location. Some conferences are doing two game series one school's location in a given weekend instead of doing a traditional home and home.

There will be alot less charters by overall number needed. There will be charters just less than usual. All conferences are trying to minimize travel. Some are doing conference only, some are doing conference and nearby schools. Alot of work has been done to try to minimize air travel with things like back to back games instead of the usual play once at your gym and once at theirs. Definitely lower numbers this season for charters.

The NCAA tournament will be interesting, i wouldn't be surprised to see a bubble concept there. Maybe Disney again

SYRAVGEEK wrote:

Let’s hope this is a good season. GO ‘CUSE

I am a Kentucky Wildcats fan, but this weekend I saw on ESPN's Bottom Line that Coach Jim Boeheim had tested positive for Covid-19. I have a lot of respect for Coach Boeheim & I wish for him a full & speedy recovery!

The Ivy League cancelled their season, so that’s one conference down...

SkyVoice wrote:

SYRAVGEEK wrote:

Let’s hope this is a good season. GO ‘CUSE

I am a Kentucky Wildcats fan, but this weekend I saw on ESPN's Bottom Line that Coach Jim Boeheim had tested positive for Covid-19. I have a lot of respect for Coach Boeheim & I wish for him a full & speedy recovery!

Appareciate the well wishes. Lets hope this won't affect our schedule TOO much.

gdavis003 wrote:

I wonder how COVID affects the college basketball charter industry. Might see teams try to size up their aircraft. Didn't see that much with football except for a few because you have to upgauge to a widebody, but some teams might upgauge from the usual CRJ200/ERJ145 to a narrowbody for some more space.

I think they'll probably stick with 737s with a good number of seats. I know that Basketball teams dont have a lot of players so I would imagine veryone gets a row to themselves. I noticed there were a lot of A321s and 737-800s during the football season and I would think those would work.

My alma mater Iowa State uses a SAAB2000 for their away games that are further than a bus ride away. Departing straight from AMW.

Losing Miami Air will hurt

I know Purdue used them a lot

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

ibthebigd wrote:

Losing Miami Air will hurt

I know Purdue used them a lot

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I would think a lot of those teams who used Miami Air will transition to Swift/iAero. I might also expect an increase in SY basketball charters

slcdeltarumd11 wrote:

There will be alot less charters by overall number needed. There will be charters just less than usual. All conferences are trying to minimize travel. Some are doing conference only, some are doing conference and nearby schools. Alot of work has been done to try to minimize air travel with things like back to back games instead of the usual play once at your gym and once at theirs. Definitely lower numbers this season for charters.

The NCAA tournament will be interesting, i wouldn't be surprised to see a bubble concept there. Maybe Disney again

Looks like it is going to be Indy.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ncaa.c ... ites%3famp

cledaybuck wrote:

slcdeltarumd11 wrote:

There will be alot less charters by overall number needed. There will be charters just less than usual. All conferences are trying to minimize travel. Some are doing conference only, some are doing conference and nearby schools. Alot of work has been done to try to minimize air travel with things like back to back games instead of the usual play once at your gym and once at theirs. Definitely lower numbers this season for charters.

The NCAA tournament will be interesting, i wouldn't be surprised to see a bubble concept there. Maybe Disney again

Looks like it is going to be Indy.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ncaa.c ... ites%3famp

Which makes sense since the Final Four will be hosted in Indy. Just off the top of my head, you have Lucas Oil Stadium, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse (Butler), the Indiana Farmers Coliseum (IUPUI home games; arena is at the State Fair complex) and IUPUI's on campus gym. I'm sure IND will be pretty busy come March.

Plan is to bubble the Indianapolis convention center with 20 or so courts no fans

COSPN wrote:

Plan is to bubble the Indianapolis convention center with 20 or so courts no fans

That will be interesting to see

COSPN wrote:

Plan is to bubble the Indianapolis convention center with 20 or so courts no fans

I'd guess that at least eight of those courts would be fore games with the remaining 8-12 for practice sessions. To be honest, 20 seems like a lot of courts, even for 68 teams and I'd be curious to see how that is going to work out logistically.

EDIT: A few takeaways from this column in the Indianapolis Star:

[*]Lucas Oil Stadium would probably not be used until the actual Final Four itself in order to avoid giving teams an unfair advantage.
[*]At least five professional and collegiate basketball arenas are located within Indianapolis city limits.
[*]Four of the nation's 12 largest high school gyms are located within 90 minutes of Downtown Indy.
[*]The columnist suggests that Indy's convention center could squeeze in six courts, at most.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the teams arrivals into IND are staggered so IND doesn't get overwhelmed with potentially 50-60 charter flights leading into a bubble tourney. Though, I am wondering if anyone recalls how IND handled the Pan American Games of 1987 (which was, it goes without saying, a much larger undertaking than a 68-team college hoops tourney).

Not all 68 will fly in so won’t be a problem..

NCAA normally takes care of logistics I think it’s a bus for under 300 miles per ncaa tourney rules.

Lots of teams within 300 miles of INDy

Should begin to see some action tomorrow for the Wednesday season tip-off. I know someone who is a manager for a team playing in a tournament game on Wednesday, and they will be flying out tomorrow. Will try to track as many as possible in here. Should be interesting to see if teams who would normally fly commercial will charter this season due to less exposure potential. Would seem make sense. Although, it seems that buses might also be utilized a good bit this season. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

A few charters for tomorrow already showing up in the database. Will want to keep an eye on BDL, RSW, MLB, and FSD for these early season tournaments:

Florida will be taking a DL A320 up to BDL for their tournament at Mohegan: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KGNV/KBDL
Baylor will be headed to BDL as well for Mohegan on a UAX E170 (Mesa): https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASH ... /KACT/KBDL
Kansas will be taking a DL A320 to RSW for their tournament in Fort Myers: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KFOE/KRSW

SY sent their VIP/Charter (80pax) N713SY 737-700 to MCI for HMV..Its back in service, Did a charter out east this weekend. Not sure if its NCAA or not CMH-EWR, back to MSP. Today it did a MSP-CMH-MSP

sunking737 wrote:

SY sent their VIP/Charter (80pax) N713SY 737-700 to MCI for HMV..Its back in service, Did a charter out east this weekend. Not sure if its NCAA or not CMH-EWR, back to MSP. Today it did a MSP-CMH-MSP

Not sure what the EWR was but checked Ohio State's composite sports schedule for the CMH-MSP leg, and it appears that it was probably the men's hockey charter for Ohio State. They're playing in Minneapolis tomorrow

gdavis003 wrote:

A few charters for tomorrow already showing up in the database. Will want to keep an eye on BDL, RSW, MLB, and FSD for these early season tournaments:

Florida will be taking a DL A320 up to BDL for their tournament at Mohegan: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KGNV/KBDL
Baylor will be headed to BDL as well for Mohegan on a UAX E170 (Mesa): https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASH ... /KACT/KBDL
Kansas will be taking a DL A320 to RSW for their tournament in Fort Myers: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KFOE/KRSW

Update here: Florida announced today that they will not be going to Uncasville anymore due to some positive COVID tests. Adding one more to the list though.

San Francisco will be taking a long haul on a JSX E145 to BDL for Mohegan (believe this would probably be the first time JSX has been at BDL). They'll make a stop in Salina, Kansas to refuel: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JSX8124

Western Kentucky into FSD for their tournament on an Elite Airways CRJ2: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/MNU ... /KBWG/KFSD
Wichita State into FSD on a Key Lime E145: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KICT/KFSD
West Virginia will be on a SkyWest CRJ9 for their trip to FSD: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KCKB/KFSD
Memphis also on a SkyWest CRJ9 for FSD: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KMEM/KFSD
Arizona State will be on a looooongggg turboprop trip on N814BB, a Saab 2000, with a stop in Tulsa into GON for Mohegan: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N81 ... /KPHX/KTUL
Gonzaga will be taking a very long trip on a Key Lime ERJ135 to RSW with a stopover for fuel in Topeka: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KGEG/KFOE

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWQ ... /KCHO/KBDL
Virginia on the SwiftAir, no wait, iAero 737

Another two Key Limes. Will see if there's anything else today, should be more to RSW tomorrow I would expect. Looks like Kansas will wait a day to head to RSW and go tomorrow instead, might be waiting on some COVID testing.

Saint Mary’s leaving out of CCR on a Key Lime Dormier 328 to head to FSD with a stop in Scottsbluff, NE: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KCCR/KBFF
Utah State out of LGU on a Key Lime Dormier 328 to FSD, nonstop: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KLGU/KFSD

sunking737 wrote:

SY sent their VIP/Charter (80pax) N713SY 737-700 to MCI for HMV..Its back in service, Did a charter out east this weekend. Not sure if its NCAA or not CMH-EWR, back to MSP. Today it did a MSP-CMH-MSP

713SY is back in all Y config, I think it is 144 pax. One of the 800s is the all F aircraft now.

Purdue University descending into Melbourne with a Jetblue E190.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JBU ... /KLAF/KMLB

A few more:
Clemson on N500DE, an E145 owned by Champion Air, headed to MLB from Anderson: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N50 ... /KAND/KMLB
McNeese State will be on a Contour E135 into LNK to face Nebraska: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VTE ... /KLCH/KLNK
Richmond will be headed to LEX for a neutral site game on an Ultimate Air Shuttle E135: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UJC ... /KRIC/KLEX

Rumor also has it that Wichita State has been placed on pause due to COVID testing (Jon Rothstein on Twitter), and VCU will be their replacement it sounds like. N970DC is still in FSD so I guess they will take Wichita home tomorrow. Looks like the Swift/iAero aircraft that flew Virginia up to BDL today just ferried down to RIC, and I presume that it will be taking VCU to Sioux Falls tomorrow.

California up to EUG for a neutral site game on a JSX E135: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JSX ... /KOAK/KEUG
Auburn will be on the same Saab 2000 that Arizona State used yesterday, N814BB, to head down to RSW out of AUO: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N81 ... /KAUO/KRSW
Liberty on N70VA, an ERJ145, to head down to MLB for their tourney: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N70 ... /KLYH/KMLB
Wichita State will be headed back to ICT tonight from FSD after withdrawing from the tournament in Sioux Falls, back on a Key Lime Dormier 328Jet: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KFSD/KICT
Kansas actually ended up flying today on a DL A320 into RSW, used same flight number as football flights actually: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KFOE/KRSW
Colorado headed to MHK for a neutral site game on a Key Lime Dormier 328jet, which will later take Wichita home: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KBJC/KMHK
Mississippi State into MLB for their tourney on N811BB, another Saab 2000: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N81 ... /KGTR/KMLB
This was VCU headed to FSD on short notice to replace Wichita on a Swift/iAero 734: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWQ ... /KRIC/KFSD
I also missed this on Sunday, this was St. Joseph's headed to RSW very very early for the tourney on a Swift/iAero 734: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWQ ... /KPHL/KRSW

Western Kentucky will be flying from Sioux Falls to their next "bubble" site in Louisville on an Elite Airways CRJ2: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/MNU5222

Here's a dump of some flights from the last few days. Should be some more action at BDL tomorrow with the arrival of the next teams to Mohegan:

South Carolina was on N500DE, the same ERJ145 that Clemson was using, to head to Kansas City for neutral site game: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N50 ... /KCAE/KMCI
The same ERJ145, N70VA, that brought Liberty to MLB took them to MKC for their game in Kansas City: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N70 ... /KMLB/KMKC
TCU was on as Hillwood Airways 737 into MKC: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/HWA ... /KAFW/KMKC
Baylor was on Mesa E170 into Las Vegas for their bubble: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASH ... /KACT/KLAS
Washington also flew into Las Vegas but on a Horizon/Alaska E175: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/QXE ... /KSEA/KLAS
N92VA, an ERJ145, took UNLV on a long haul from Las Vegas to Asheville for their tournament: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N92 ... /KLAS/KAVL
Quick trip for Texas Tech into FTW for a neutral site game vs Houston on a Swift/iAero 733: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWQ ... /KLBB/KFTW
Indiana with a tight ride into AVL on a SkyWest CRJ200: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KBMG/KAVL
Providence taking a SY 738 into AVL for the Maui Invite: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SCX ... /KPVD/KAVL
Texas on a SkyWest CRJ900 into AVL: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KAUS/KAVL
Alabama on a Key Lime ERJ 145 into AVL: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KTCL/KAVL
Stanford with a cross country trip on a JSX E135, Oakland to Asheville with a stop in Amarillo: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JSX ... /KAMA/KAVL

USC on a Contour E135 up to BDL with a stop in LNK for their bubble at Mohegan Sun: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VTE ... /KVNY/KLNK
BYU en route to PVD on an SY 738 for Mohegan: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SCX ... /KPVU/KPVD
Michigan State will be on a DL A321 to face Duke at Cameron Indoor: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KLAN/KRDU
Kentucky also on a DL A321 to IND for a neutral site game vs Kansas: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KLEX/KIND

gdavis003 wrote:

Here's a dump of some flights from the last few days. Should be some more action at BDL tomorrow with the arrival of the next teams to Mohegan:

TCU was on as Hillwood Airways 737 into MKC: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/HWA ... /KAFW/KMKC

I thought this was TCU football at first since they had an away game at Kansas, but this was TCU hoops on their first road trip of the season.

ctrabs0114 wrote:

gdavis003 wrote:

Here's a dump of some flights from the last few days. Should be some more action at BDL tomorrow with the arrival of the next teams to Mohegan:

TCU was on as Hillwood Airways 737 into MKC: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/HWA ... /KAFW/KMKC

I thought this was TCU football at first since they had an away game at Kansas, but this was TCU hoops on their first road trip of the season.

Correct. TCU Football was on DL8906, an A321, which went FTW-FOE

Long overnight trip back to Oakland for San Francisco, will have to stop twice, once in BMI and again at APA, for a 8+ hour trip on a JSX E135: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JSX ... /KBDL/KBMI
Baylor back in the air tonight to their next neutral site game in IND from LAS on a Mesa E175: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASH ... /KLAS/KIND
Kansas also flew into IND tonight from their tournament in Fort Myers on a DL A321: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KRSW/KIND
Oklahoma State will fly out of SWO tomorrow on a SkyWest CRJ200 to head up to MKE for a game vs Marquette: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KSWO/KMKE
Florida will be on a DL A320 to OKC to face Oklahoma: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KGNV/KOKC

Looks to be a relatively quiet day today.

Florida was going to take an A320 to OKC but that’s been cancelled so they’ll now take a 712 up to BDL to face West Point and Boston College supposedly at Mohegan. All seems to be tentative with the Gators at the moment but DL has them on schedule: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KGNV/KBDL
Gonzaga will head up to IND from their tourney in Fort Myers on N509GU, the Key Lime E135 they took down to Florida last week: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KRSW/KIND

Oklahoma State MBB's twitter posted photos of them getting on the Skywest CR2 in House colors today (tail # is blurry) - it was ferried in from ORD and is one primarily used on UA coded EAS flights.

https://twitter.com/OSUMBB/status/1333531432296308738

Seems like next few days may be quiet as well. Only a few today. I suspect tomorrow that we'll see NC State fly up to BDL, Washington fly from LAS to SLC, maybe something for UTSA up to OKC, and Arizona State head up to Berkeley. Maybe a few more but we'll see. Don't see any of those scheduled as of yet.

VCU up to UNV for Penn State on a Swift/iAero 734: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWQ ... /KRIC/KUNV
Oregon on a Key Lime E145 to Omaha for a neutral site game vs. Mizzou: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KEUG/KOMA

Next Tuesday/Wednesday games look to have quite a lot of teams that will have to charter I suspect

gdavis003 wrote:

Kentucky also on a DL A321 to IND for a neutral site game vs Kansas: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KLEX/KIND

The Wildcats & the Jayhawks did meet in Indianapolis for the State Farm Champions Classic, with Kansas prevailing over Kentucky, 65-62. Kentucky did fly LEX-IND on 30 November aboard a Delta Air Lines Airbus A321, but I have been unable to determine how the Wildcats returned to Lexington. Their return flight was cancelled & the plane was evidently ferried back to MSP.

Frankly, I'm surprised that the Wildcats flew to Indianapolis, as it is only a three-hour drive from Lexington. I'm guessing that, since they sponsored the Classic, State Farm picked up the tab for the team's charter flights, their hotel bill, their meals & their ground transportation in Indy. But how did the Wildcats get back home to Lexington?

SkyVoice wrote:

gdavis003 wrote:

Kentucky also on a DL A321 to IND for a neutral site game vs Kansas: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KLEX/KIND

The Wildcats & the Jayhawks did meet in Indianapolis for the State Farm Champions Classic, with Kansas prevailing over Kentucky, 65-62. Kentucky did fly LEX-IND on 30 November aboard a Delta Air Lines Airbus A321, but I have been unable to determine how the Wildcats returned to Lexington. Their return flight was cancelled & the plane was evidently ferried back to MSP.

Frankly, I'm surprised that the Wildcats flew to Indianapolis, as it is only a three-hour drive from Lexington. I'm guessing that, since they sponsored the Classic, State Farm picked up the tab for the team's charter flights, their hotel bill, their meals & their ground transportation in Indy. But how did the Wildcats get back home to Lexington?

Looks like they’re going to take a Delta 712 back to LEX this morning (https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL ... /KIND/KLEX). Presumably, they’ll then fly down either Friday or Saturday to ATL to face Georgia Tech on Sunday

NC State on a JetBlue E190 up to BDL (feel like they were on Swift in years past but could be wrong): https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JBU ... /KRDU/KBDL
Guess Stanford is going to practice in Raleigh for the next few days maybe due to the California restrictions. Next game scheduled after today’s is for Monday vs Cal Poly so that must be changing: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JSX ... /KAVL/KRDU
Texas back to Austin on a SKW CRJ9: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KAVL/KAUS
Indiana back to BMG on a SKW CRJ2: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KAVL/KBMG

gdavis003 wrote:

Long overnight trip back to Oakland for San Francisco, will have to stop twice, once in BMI and again at APA, for a 8+ hour trip on a JSX E135: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JSX ... /KBDL/KBMI

Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like upgaging to a capable aircraft making the trip nonstop may be more cost effective than stopping twice for fuel, landing fees, etc.

Montana flew on a Key Lime Dormier 328JET to Cedar City, Utah for a matchup with Southern Utah: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/LYM ... /KMSO/KCDC
Arizona State took a Contour E135 up to OAK for California last night (they used one of the Meregrass Saabs on last trip): https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VTE ... /KPHX/KOAK
Seton Hall left Rhode Island to face Oregon in Omaha on an Elite CRJ7: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/MNU ... /KPVD/KOMA
South Carolina flew on N138DE, an E145, to HOU for Houston: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N13 ... /KCAE/KHOU
Oakland took an Air Charter Express/Freight Runners Express E120 Brasilia to SWO out of PTK for OK State: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FRG ... /KPTK/KSWO

nws2002 wrote:

sunking737 wrote:

SY sent their VIP/Charter (80pax) N713SY 737-700 to MCI for HMV..Its back in service, Did a charter out east this weekend. Not sure if its NCAA or not CMH-EWR, back to MSP. Today it did a MSP-CMH-MSP

713SY is back in all Y config, I think it is 144 pax. One of the 800s is the all F aircraft now.

Last I heard from a SCX insider 713SY is a 737-700 in C80 interior i'm a former SCX employee

sunking737 wrote:

nws2002 wrote:

sunking737 wrote:

SY sent their VIP/Charter (80pax) N713SY 737-700 to MCI for HMV..Its back in service, Did a charter out east this weekend. Not sure if its NCAA or not CMH-EWR, back to MSP. Today it did a MSP-CMH-MSP

713SY is back in all Y config, I think it is 144 pax. One of the 800s is the all F aircraft now.

Last I heard from a SCX insider 713SY is a 737-700 in C80 interior i'm a former SCX employee

We’ve been seeing a lot of SY in CMH lately. Don’t forget that in addition to their NCAA charters, they are doing a ton of work for Major League Soccer. With the Crew making a deep playoff run this year, I would expect we’ll see another SY bird in tonight from BOS (or another New England airport) for the Eastern Conference Finals match tomorrow.