Arsenal’s 14-minute flight for Norwich City game
Arsenal arrive at Norwich airport on a Embraer ERJ-145 jet airliner from Luton airport involving just 14 minutes of flying time for their Premier league match against Norwich City. Picture: Rob Howarth / Albanpix.com - Credit: Albanpix.com
Arsenal Football Club may be used to flying high in the league. However the London team has come in for criticism after it was revealed the team took a 14-minute flight to Norwich for Sunday's game against Norwich City.
Arsenal arrive at Norwich airport on a Embraer ERJ-145 jet airliner from Luton airport involving just 14 minutes of flying time for their Premier league match against Norwich City. Picture: Rob Howarth / Albanpix.com - Credit: Albanpix.com
The Gunners flew from London Luton airport, a 20 minute drive from their training base in Hertfordshire, to Norwich International airport ahead of the 4.15pm kick-off on Sunday against the Canaries.
The club elected not to take advantage of the newly dualled A11 to reach Norwich, with an estimated travelling time of two and half hours for the 118-mile journey.
The new road system was officially opened in December 2014.
And Arsenal decided not to use the London Liverpool Street to Norwich train service, which takes about two hours.
National newspapers have published reports of criticism of the team's flight by a group called Plane Stupid, which labelled the 14-minute flight as 'ridiculous'.
Friends of the Earth Norwich tweeted: 'Arsenel's 14-minute flight to Norwich branded outrageous #COP21 #climate #Premierleague Poor dears'll be jet-lagged. Advantage Norwich City!'
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According to national reports Arsene Wenger told a press conference the team flew to Norwich on Saturday night after having dinner at the training ground.
He said they took the decision to fly as there were some road works planned and sometimes access to Norwich is difficult. The reports added Wenger said it was exceptional for the team to fly.
In 2012 Arsenal flew to Norwich for their away game, with Wenger saying there was no train available and it was unclear how long the drive up would last.
