The Seahawks and Broncos may still be a few days from combat, but already Super Bowl XLVIII has crowned a clear winner: the Tri-State Area’s private aviation arena. Over this coming week, some 1,200 extra planes are expected to land in the region’s private airports and terminals. Arriving from across the nation — with flights particularly boosted from Seattle and Denver — the numbers are up to 10 times the usual traffic at the private airports closest to MetLife Stadium: Teterboro, Morristown and Newark’s six-week-old private aviation terminal.
“We are fully expecting the largest gathering of private jets ever in North America,” says Jeff Trance, senior vice president of Air Partner, North America, a leading global aviation provider. The private aviation onslaught reflects the importance of the Super Bowl for America’s deepest-pocketed flyers and their increasing disdain for commercial carriers. For the regional airports, this has meant prepping for Sunday’s big event with almost military-like execution. Airport landing and take-off slots have been precisely allotted, arrival and departure times exactly calibrated and flying clearances secured for days in advance.
Teterboro — the closest airport to the stadium — will actually be a “no-fly zone” for the 10 hours surrounding the game for security reasons. Accordingly, the airport has taken the unprecedented step of requiring take-off and landing reservations for an entire week surrounding the Super Bowl. At Newark, meanwhile, Signature Flight Support, which operates the new private terminal, expects 10 times the usual traffic for the coming days. Clearly, the pressure to arrive via private jet is tight, but Trance says landing slots can still be secured. His only caveat: “Book now!”