All-Midwest Super Bowl Has Charter Operators Scrambling

Jan. 24 -- With three minutes left in Sunday's NFC Championship Game and the Chicago Bears ahead 39-14, Kyle Johnson started calling other air charter operators around the country.

"As soon as they had the game locked up, I started calling," Johnson said. "You have to be on top of it, or you'll miss the whole thing."

The operations director of the Chicago Business Air Center, at Lansing Municipal Airport, knew he soon would be fielding calls for jet charters to Miami for the Super Bowl on Feb. 4.

Sure enough, by Tuesday, Johnson had been tagged for 15 charter flights to Miami and was able to book six. Charter operators around the region report there is no shortage of Bears fans willing to shell out $15,000 to $25,000 to charter a jet for a round trip to Miami.

But there is a shortage of charter jets, because the Bears-Indianapolis Colts matchup is an all-Midwest Super Bowl. Out of charter jets for that weekend, Midwest operators report the are leasing planes from the coasts and other regions to meet demand.

Those include Learjets, Beechjets, Cessna Citations and others that are normally chartered by business execs flying off to seal deals in Los Angeles or New York.

"It's all about convenience," said Doug Worsley, director of flight operations for the Gary Jet Center, at Gary/Chicago International Airport.

The Jet Center on Tuesday had booked two charters to Miami for the Bears-Colts battle, one going to Miami International and one to Opa-locka Executive Airport.

With a cruising speed of more than 500 mph, a top-flight business jet can make the trip in about 2-1/2 hours.

Sometimes, a charter will carry just one or two passengers, Worsley said. Other times, people find six to nine of their best friends to make the trip with them -- and maybe split the cost.

In Valparaiso, MidWest Air Link is working with Box Seat Tickets to land some Super Bowl tickets, said Marketing Director Sherry Wartman. MidWest Air Link is able to fly a party of five down and back on one of its Beechcraft Barons for about $6,500.

"It's much less than a jet; that's our big selling point," said Wartman.

Start-up airline SkyValue, flying out of the Gary airport, has already seen a spike in Orlando reservations for that weekend, according to Gabrielle Griswold, SkyValue senior vice president.

Seats on the 174-seat Boeing 737-800 are still available for $79 one way, a tad or so less than chartering your own business jet.

Three lucky winners from Resorts East Chicago Casino and their friends won't be paying anything for their Learjet to the Super Bowl. Resorts has been holding a "Big Game Giveaway" drawing every Wednesday. Winners get two Super Bowl tickets, a round-trip ride for two on the Learjet, limos and hotel.

John Wilson, of Box Seat Tickets, Valparaiso, has been arranging the package for Resorts.

"I know the hotels, I know the limo people, the plane people and I have the tickets," Wilson said.

Oh, yes, he has tickets. Lower level seats were going for $5,000 on Tuesday, with prime lower level seats at $11,000. That limo from the hotel to the game would cost $2,500 round trip, and hotels are $700 to $800 per night.

And, yes, he knows where he can round up a 24-person stadium luxury suite for $687,000.

"It's all for people that have more money than God and don't know what to do with it," he said.

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