KlasJet: Athlete Performance Influenced by Mode of Travel

It turns out that the way athletes travel can influence their performance drastically. Some sports teams have to fly over 370,000 km in a single season and, depending on comfort during transit, they might have a 60% more chance of coming back home with gold.

A study following NBA players has shown that poor performance was more likely when the team had to cross three different time zones before a competition. To solve the problem, the NBA made a deal with an airline that allows the majority of their teams to use chartered jets specifically fitted to host the players. The study showed that comfortable traveling helped athletes save energy and prepare for the game better than when flying on commercial planes.

One example is EuroLeague: The majority of EuroLeague teams use commercial flights as their mode of transport, while the few clubs that use private jets tend to perform better. A team from Lithuania, Zalgiris Kaunas, decided to change the way they travel and the results were shocking – Zalgiris won 18 games in the 2017-2018 EuroLeague season, compared to 7 games in the 2015-2016 season. This drastic change happened after Zalgiris signed a deal with KlasJet and started using their business class Boeing 737. This was the best performance by the Lithuanian team since the 1999 season, when Zalgiris dominated European basketball.

KlasJet is a member of Avia Solutions Group, the largest aerospace business group from Central & Eastern Europe, with 67 offices and production stations providing aviation services and solutions worldwide. KlasJet operates a fleet of jets based in Vilnius, Lithuania, as well as other airports across Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, and the CIS.