WNBA Will Phase in Charter Flights Program Starting in 2024 Regular Season

The WNBA will begin chartering flights across the league during the 2024 season, the league announced Thursday.

Primarily operated by Delta Air Lines, the program will be "phased in" beginning May 14 with the start of the regular season.

"We are thrilled to announce the launch of a full charter program as soon as practical for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, a testament to the continued growth of the WNBA," WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.

"While we still have a lot of work to do to continue to execute our strategic plan, we feel confident that the time is now to institute a full charter program to demonstrate our commitment to leading with a player-first agenda."

The WNBA guaranteed premium economy status for regular-season air travel in 2020, but players said they still faced problems including long travel times on commercial flights.

The league previously changed its policy to allow for charter flights for postseason and back-to-back games at the start of the 2023 season.

Leaving teams to take commercial flights during the regular season still led to problems including Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner reporting harassment at an airport in 2023. The incident led the WNBA Players' Association to call for changes in the league's flight policies.

The announcement comes two days after Engelbert told reporters the WNBA planned to arrange for charter travel for all 12 teams "as soon as we logistically can get planes in places."

Engelbert has previously stated that a full-league charter flight program for the regular season and playoffs would cost about $25 million per year, per ESPN's Michael Voepel.

In Thursday's announcement, Engelbert said the league was working to "build a sustainable economic model to support charter flights for the long term."

That model is likely to involve an increase in media revenue starting in the 2026 season.

The WNBA's current media rights deals, which are worth approximately $60 million per year, are set to expire in 2025, per CNBC's Ian Thomas.

Engelbert said in April on CNBC's Squawk Box that she hopes to "at least double" that amount with the league's next media rights deal.

Of note, the WNBA has already granted the Indiana Fever national broadcasts for 36 of the team's 40 regular-season games in order to provide increased exposure for No. 1 draft selection Caitlin Clark.