9 June 2023: Chartering aircrafts for sports teams, VIPs and fan groups is at the core of what we do at Smart Aviation. Once again, we have played a pivotal part in all major football tournaments this year, arranging charters to the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League as well as to Premier League matches.

The Premier League may be over but the football season is not over for Smart yet. This week, we arranged a complex schedule of charters so West Ham fans could watch The Irons soar to victory over Italy’s ACF Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League Final, played at Fortuna Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. 

The Smart Team was contacted by our long-standing partner Sport Options, the UK’s largest sports tour operator, to assist with the charter operation. In partnership with Smartwings, the biggest Czech airline and one of the fastest growing air carriers in Central Europe, the Smart Team arranged ten charter flights from London Stansted to Prague Airport. Using a carefully chosen combination of 737-800 NGs, 737-Max and 737-900s, the operation of 10 individual flights was a huge success. 

Mark Saward from Sport Options said: “Smart delivered another seamless operation for us this week, which is why they continue to be our ‘go to’ broker, not just for football finals but to other tournaments as well. We look forward to working with Smart again on further sporting charters in the not too distant future ”.

Mark Hawkins, Smart Aviation’s Managing Director, said: “I am delighted that everything went so well this week and I was personally at Stansted to ensure there were no issues with any of the departures. It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the team since the semi-finals, securing the aircrafts and finalising all the passenger information and requirements, but the team ironed out all the details as always, offering our client the most cost effective solution”. 

Smart Aviation was founded in 2005 by Managing Director Mark Hawkins, an established sports charter specialist with over 30 years’ experience in senior operational roles within the travel and aviation industry, including managing sports charters at Excel Airways. Over the last 18 years, Mark has led Smart Aviation to become the leaders in global sports chartering. Mark is still very active in sports chartering, frequently providing air travel for global sports teams to key sporting fixtures including Champions League and Premier League football matches, as well as to ice-hockey, boxing, basketball, golf, motorsport and cricket tournaments.

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For further information on Smart Aviation, visit www.smart-aviation.co.uk