Taylor Swift has logged a lot of miles on her record-breaking Eras Tour around the world, and she may soon add more than 5,500 miles to her one-way trip.
Presumably the pop star will travel from the stage in Tokyo on February 10 to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to watch boyfriend Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs play the next day Super Bowl game.
Kansas City will make its fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years as the Chiefs defeat the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday. The Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers on February 11 at 6:30 pm ET.
Considering Swift has been a frequent presence at Kelce’s games since the two first went public with their romance in the fall, it’s only fair that she would try to attend. But meeting the travel schedule for the season finale will be a daunting task.
With the night show set to end in Japan for four days, Swift will have to rush across the Pacific to get back to the U.S. in time for the kickoff.
So, can she succeed?
In short, yes. The 17-hour time difference worked in her favor, meaning Swift arrived in Las Vegas with plenty of free time.
But there are also considerations, such as weather patterns and a crowded Las Vegas airport over Super Bowl weekend, that could come into play.
Here’s how it works.
Swift performed four shows at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on consecutive nights from February 7-10 before heading to Australia for shows starting on February 16. Doors open for her Tokyo concert at 4pm local time and the show starts at 6pm. Her show usually opens about two hours after its scheduled start time.However, her Tokyo tour dates have yet to be announced, meaning she will likely continue performing around 6 p.m.
Assuming that’s the case and her concert lasts about three and a half hours, she’ll wrap up around 9:30 p.m.
If she were traveling from Haneda Airport, the closest airport to Tokyo Dome, which is about a 25-minute drive, plus the extra time for concert transportation and flight check-in, Swift might be in a car an hour later and heading to Las Vegas Vegas.
According to Business Insider, Swift owns two multi-million dollar private jets – a Dassault Falcon 7X and a Dassault Falcon 900 – which she used extensively during the U.S. leg of her Eras tour airplane.
Falcon lists its 900LX model as having a range of 4,750 nautical miles. The 7X model has a longer range of 5,906 nautical miles. The distance between Haneda Airport and Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport, located near Allegiant Stadium, is 4,821 nautical miles (5,548 miles). Therefore, for this exercise, it makes sense for Swift to choose 7X.
Paramount Business Jets, which provides global private jet charter services, including the 7X, has nothing to do with Swift’s plans, and an account manager at the company estimated that the number of flights from Haneda Airport to Harry Reid International Airport The trip takes about 10 to 10 1/2 hours on that plane.
That means Swift will likely leave Tokyo at 10:30 p.m. and, due to the time change, arrive in Las Vegas around 4 p.m. on February 10, a full day before the game.
However, as of Friday, there were no flights available to land in Las Vegas during Super Bowl weekend, said the account manager, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
“I had four clients who wanted to fly to the Super Bowl, but we had to cancel their trips because no one could find the right time to land in Las Vegas,” the account manager said.
“The explanation I got from the operators was that (they) had no more available space at any of the Las Vegas airports that could accept aircraft, whether private or commercial. When I say commercial, I mean Someone rented a plane to fly,” the account manager continued.
A Paramount Business Jets account manager said the plans had to be in place “probably months ago” to ensure flight schedules could land or take off from Las Vegas on the weekends.
“We know the airport is going to be busy,” Harry Reid International Airport spokesperson Melissa DeFrank said. “We’ve been preparing for it for a long time, but… Super Bowl weekend is always busy in Las Vegas. We’re well prepared to handle the high volume of traffic.”
Airlines are also bracing for a surge in demand. American Airlines even coded their flights to honor the Chiefs and Swifts. American Airlines is adding seven nonstop flights to Harry Reid International Airport or Kansas City International Airport from February 8-13. Three of them are No. 15, named after Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who wears No. 15. Two pieces are No. 1989, a tribute to Swift’s chart-topping album. One is No. 87 – Kelce’s jersey number – and the other is 1521, a combination of Mahomes and safety Mike Edwards’ jersey numbers.
“There’s so much excitement about sports this year,” American Airlines said in a statement. “You could say that after (Sunday’s) game, we entered the football era, and we’re excited to offer flights from Kansas City. Nonstop flights to Las Vegas. For our customers who are super sports fans, look what you made us do.”
It’s unclear if Swift will still be in Las Vegas. There was no immediate response to an email sent to her publicist about the plan.
However, even if Swift can’t land in Las Vegas, she could fly to Los Angeles — either LAX or Van Nuys — and drive the rest of the way.
In this case, the flight to Los Angeles will be shortened by approximately 45 minutes, meaning the flight time will be approximately 9 hours and 45 minutes. So in theory, Swift could arrive in Los Angeles and go through customs around 3:30 pm local time.
The drive from LAX to Allegiant Stadium takes four to five hours, depending on stops and traffic. In this case, she would still be in Vegas by 8:30 pm on February 10, giving her plenty of time for pregame activities.
Or much needed sleep.
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