How often do we Charter?

[moshock]

I'm pretty sure the Shox fly to SWOMO or have in the past

[TheReal3G]

We fly to every conference game directly except Missouri State. Coach has always chosen to drive that game but it is in the budget to fly to Missouri State as well. As for non-conference games it depends on location. Last year they drove to Tulsa, makes sense. At the end of the day it is in Coach Marshall budgetary discretion where he wants to fly too. The dollars raised at his Auction go to help support the charter flights and give them the ability to fly charter. I believe Illionois State and Creighton are the only other two that the ability to fly charter everywhere and not occassionally. The additional dollars the department makes during the season go to help Coach Marshall fly on private jets for recruiting which he takes 6-7 times a year. We really do have a big time basketball program!

[DoubleJayAlum]

Honestly, if so many of the MVC schools weren't in podunk villages, charters wouldn't be as necessary because there would be commercial options. For example, I know that when Creighton flew to Las Vegas for the Thanksgiving tourney, they flew commercial because there are multiple nonstop flights from Omaha to Vegas daily.

There are NOT nonstop commercial flights from Omaha to Carbondale, Terre Haute, Evansville, etc. I doubt there are from Wichita to these locales either. If only we had conference members in places like Chicago, Milwaukee, St Louis, etc. it would be possible to fly nonstop commercially and actually save money. Alas...

[DoubleJayAlum]

We fly to every conference game directly except Missouri State. Coach has always chosen to drive that game but it is in the budget to fly to Missouri State as well. As for non-conference games it depends on location. Last year they drove to Tulsa, makes sense. At the end of the day it is in Coach Marshall budgetary discretion where he wants to fly too. The dollars raised at his Auction go to help support the charter flights and give them the ability to fly charter. I believe Illionois State and Creighton are the only other two that the ability to fly charter everywhere and not occassionally. The additional dollars the department makes during the season go to help Coach Marshall fly on private jets for recruiting which he takes 6-7 times a year. We really do have a big time basketball program!

I know that Creighton buses to Drake, but that is only 2 hours away. I am not sure about Frostbite Falls, but I know Creighton charters the rest.

[SPEShockAlum]

There are NOT nonstop commercial flights from Omaha to Carbondale, Terre Haute, Evansville, etc. I doubt there are from Wichita to these locales either. If only we had conference members in places like Chicago, Milwaukee, St Louis, etc. it would be possible to fly nonstop commercially and actually save money. Alas...

Unfortunately, here in Wichita the airlines like to discontinue service to certain cities before expanding it. We don't have Midwest Express to offer multiple flights to tropical destinations like Milwaukee. We no longer have service to St. Louis and haven't for at least the past 5 years (American). My hope is that we'll eventually get service to Lambert once Southwest starts serving this market next year. Lucky for the Eppley fliers, you still have access to about every major city in the U.S... even directly.

I assume that if/when teams charter to Carbondale, they fly to St. Louis and bus the rest of the way. I remember sitting at Mid-Continent and an American commercial flight arrived from St. Louis with the SIU men's team on it.

[shock4life]

They fly charter to all destinations except for Missouri St. and Tulsa, including St. Louis which is only a 45min flight.

But what some of you don't realize is they are not huge charter planes. Some times they fly out of Jabara airport on smaller type aircraft that only hold around 20 people. I know for Tennessee they flew out of Jabara on an aircraft that only held about 20 people.

They switch the airline charters depending on the destination.

Like for instance, for the Cancun trip they chartered with Miami International Air and used a 737.

They often use Sun Country airlines for most of the valley games.

[shox1989]

They fly charter to all destinations except for Missouri St. and Tulsa, including St. Louis which is only a 45min flight.

But what some of you don't realize is they are not huge charter planes. Some times they fly out of Jabara airport on smaller type aircraft that only hold around 20 people. I know for Tennessee they flew out of Jabara on an aircraft that only held about 20 people.

They switch the airline charters depending on the destination.

Like for instance, for the Cancun trip they chartered with Miami International Air and used a 737.

They often use Sun Country airlines for most of the valley games.

I am sure you need a small plane to be able to land in places like Carbondale and Cedar Falls.

[rrshock]

I am sure you need a small plane to be able to land in places like Carbondale and Cedar Falls.

I would guess that too. Most of the cities in the Valley would have a decent sized airfield. I think Peoria has small commercial aircraft come into it. I would bet that Carbondale probably does have the smallest.