Swift could have trouble parking her private jet for Super Bowl
LAS VEGAS — If Taylor Swift is jetting from her upcoming Tokyo concert to Las Vegas to see boyfriend Travis Kelce play in the Super Bowl the next day, she’d bet- ter already have a place to park her plane.
Even the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., seems to be rooting for her.
Places to leave private aircraft at airports in and around Las Vegas have been spoken for, airport and Fed- eral Aviation Administration officials said last week. Less than a week remains before the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers face off in the NFL championship game on Feb. 11.
The four airports immedi- ately around Las Vegas have about 475 parking spaces combined, said Heidi Hayes, a spokesperson for the Clark County Department of Avi- ation.
“Oh, they’re full,” said Rick
Breitenfeldt, FAA spokesman for his sixth Super Bowl.
Not the first time
Las Vegas-area airports also reached capacity for private planes during the inaugural Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix auto race in November, Hayes said.
Clark County handles Harry Reid International, one of the busiest passenger airports in the U.S., along with busy general aviation airports in suburban North Las Vegas and Henderson. Hayes also checked Boulder City Municipal Airport, about 24 miles east of Las Vegas.
Air traffic is expected to be heavy. Commercial airlines have added flights, and the Las Vegas airport reported it handled a record 57.6 million passengers in 2023. That’s an average of nearly 160,000 people per day.
Could Swift make it to the game?
The last of four scheduled
Tokyo shows of Swift’s Eras Tour will be Feb. 10. Due to time zone differences, if she flies out at midnight, it will be 7 a.m. Saturday in Las Vegas.
A spokesperson for Swift didn’t respond to questions about whether Swift plans to attend the Super Bowl, has made travel arrangements, or where her pilots could park a plane.
Swift has more than one private jet, including a Das- saul Falcon 900 that can typically seat at least 12 people and fly at up to 590 mph. Scrutiny about her jet travel has drawn some criticism for greenhouse gas emissions.
Barring delays, if Swift’s flight to Las Vegas takes 11 or 12 hours, she could arrive in Las Vegas the day before the game after crossing nine time zones and the interna- tional date line. confirmed to The Associ- ated Press that he made the post on Instagram and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He said Swift’s travel arrangements were a private matter.
“The embassy has no com- ment on that part,” Sugi- yama said.
Why is aircraft parking so scarce?
There aren’t as many air- ports around Las Vegas as there are around Glendale, Arizona, where the Super Bowl was played last year. The WM Phoenix Open golf tournament also was played during Super Bowl week in 2023. Breitenfeldt at the FAA said all 1,100 aircraft park- ing pads in the Phoenix area were claimed.
The NFL doesn’t handle aircraft reservations, league spokesman Brian McCarthy said, but it does coordinate with the FAA, National Busi- ness Aviation Association, host city airport authorities and commercial private aircraft service companies during Super Bowl events. McCarthy said the league doesn’t comment on individual requests.
McCarthy noted that players and fans of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf league also will be in Las Vegas for a tournament on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Las Vegas Country Club before the football game Sunday at the 60,000-seat Allegiant Stadium.