Australian Football Association of North America

by Johnson Leung reporting for AFANA in Melbourne

After nine years the AFL has dumped Qantas as its official carrier. From January 1, 2011, Virgin Blue will carry AFL players, staff and officials in a three-year exclusive deal believed to be worth six million Australian dollars annually. Virgin Blue is the official airline of Australia's National Basketball League but this is its first sponsorship deal of this magnitude and is expected to provide a raft of entertainment, promotional and marketing opportunities. The official airline provides the AFL with thousands of heavily discounted seats a year for football clubs and League officials.

The deal prevents other airlines from sponsoring individual AFL teams although existing deals, such as the one Emirates has with Collingwood, will be honored. Virgin Blue partner airlines like Etihad Airways (which is currently the naming sponsor of Melbourne's Docklands' stadium) are also part of the deal.

"We are very excited to have been chosen as the official airline for the AFL. It is a great fit for the Virgin Blue brand and we look forward to welcoming the AFL board, executives, teams and support crews on board," Virgin Blue Chief Executive John Borghetti said in a statement.

"We chose the Virgin Blue Group as not only do they provide an extensive network and great service but they are a great brand fit with the AFL," said AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou. "We look forward to the AFL, our clubs and supporters partnering with Virgin Blue as football-related travel and tourism which is estimated at A$400 million a year continues to grow."

Qantas, which has on-going commercial arrangements with Football Federation Australia, Australian Rugby Union and National Rugby League, replaced Ansett Australia as the AFL's official airline after the latter's collapse in 2002. Qantas also sponsors the AFL KickStart program, which uses Australian Rules football to promote healthy lifestyles in indigenous communities and to facilitate the dreams of indigenous youths throughout Australia. Qantas was keen to extend the relationship with the AFL, but refused to accept the League's demand to stop sponsoring other football codes. Qantas Regional Manager for Southern Australia, Ken Ryan, said: ''Our philosophy at Qantas is we are a national - indeed an international - company. We support a range of sports … It's inappropriate to lock ourselves into supporting any … code to the exclusion of others ... We have a proud history of supporting all sports in Australia, including all codes of football and that's not going to change."

Virgin Blue's new sponsorship deal coincides with Borghetti's plan to take the airline upmarket and to increase its share of the corporate market from 10 to 20 per cent within two years. The upgrade, which will begin in 2011, involves re-equipping part of the cabin area of Virgin Blue's Boeing 737 jets with business class seats and inflight menus. Flight attendants will get new uniforms to replace the current drab brown suits and skirts.

Borghetti oversaw Qantas' involvement in Australian sport during his 37-year career at the airline before joining Virgin Blue in May this year, and has built a long list of contacts within major sporting organizations to pursue his sponsorship agenda. "We wanted to position ourselves behind one code rather than four and do it properly rather than fragment the promotional spend and get a little bit of everything," he said. "And the AFL is perfect for us because there is a lot of domestic travel - I'd argue more than all the other codes."

The AFL Players' Association, which was not involved in discussions, has raised concerns with the Virgin Blue deal. Players had enjoyed traveling with Qantas because the airline ensured they received top service and would regularly be upgraded to business class or have aisle seats, particularly for tall players who struggle for leg space in economy. Club officials and players are also concerned that Virgin Blue may not offer a similarly friendly traveling schedule, especially from the east coast of Australia to Perth. AFLPA spokesman Ben Hart said the new deal would be closely monitored when it commenced on January 1. ''Virgin Blue have said they can put on additional flights if necessary. They have also made a commitment to providing priority seating for players who require it," he said.

Virgin Blue has more than 30 per cent share of the Australian domestic market and carries more than 15 million passengers each year. Since it began operating 10 years ago, the Brisbane-based airline has won numerous domestic and international awards, most recently SkyTrax's Best Low-Cost Airline Australia / Pacific at the 2010 World Airline Awards. Its international subsidiary, V Australia, flies between Los Angeles and Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The end of AFL's relationship with Qantas came two days after the airline celebrated its 90th anniversary on November 16, and hot on the heels of the announcement that 14 Qantas engines will need to be replaced following an engine explosion on a Qantas Airbus A380 earlier this month.

Sources: Herald Sun, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, virginblue.com.au