Biden used the Sharks’ team plane last month

Joe Biden will be able to fly on Air Force One after he is sworn in as the next President of the United States on Jan. 20.

But for roughly five weeks up until Nov. 4, Biden and his campaign staff were using a slightly more modest aircraft — the San Jose Sharks’ team plane.

As he traveled around the country for much of October, the new President- elect was doing so on the same plane that the Sharks have used for their travel the last several years — a 737 with 54 first class seats.

Oakland- based KaiserAir owns and operates the plane, which, according to senior vice president of operations Rob Guerra, has also been used by Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and U2.

“There’s not been a lot of flying when you think about the airline industry as a whole,” said Guerra, who is also KaiserAir’s chief pilot. “I can be honest in saying that (the Biden contract) was nice.”

Under normal circumstances, the Biden campaign would have had to find another plane, which is dedicated for use by the Sharks during the NHL season.

The NHL usually starts its training camp and exhibition season by midSeptember, and begins an 82- game regular season in the first week of October. Just last year, the Sharks flew to play three preseason games in September, then played nine of their first 13 games in

October on the road.

In 2016, Guerra said Hillar y Clinton’s campaign contacted KaiserAir about using the plane for the fall. But the Sharks, of course, had just started their season.

This time, though, with the NHL’s offseason not expected to end for at least a few more weeks, the plane was available.

“We were approached, but we didn’t have airplanes available because they were tied up on contracts,” Guerra said. “From the standpoint of it being fortuitous this year that the NHL wasn’t playing, we had an airplane available that is normally tied up at that time.”

Some work needed to de done to the outside of the plane to get it ready for the Biden campaign. The Sharks’ plane is white with teal, silver and black stripes painted on the side. The plane remained white, but the stripes had to be covered with wraps that featured the Biden campaign logo.

Guerra said he other flight crew members had to be tested for the coronavirus every day, and stayed in their hotels when they weren’t flying. They also had different teams of flight crews in Biden’s home state of Delaware in case anybody got sick.

The last time the Sharks f lew on the plane was March 12. They were in St. Louis, and were scheduled to play the Blues on March 13. Instead, the NHL announced that it was pausing its season for an indefinite amount of time, and the Sharks, like other teams on the road, were told to go home.