The Arizona Cardinals, a professional American football team, reportedly volunteered its fleet of Boeing 777 widebody planes to aid the Los Angeles Rams in evacuating the city of Los Angeles, which is under threat from deadly wildfires.
Ongoing evacuation efforts.
According to an Arizona Cardinals report, the organization deployed two Boeing 777-200ER airliners from Gridiron Air to Los Angeles on January 10, 2025. These flights flew around 350 individuals to Arizona, including Rams players, coaches, staff, and their families. Rams coach Sean McVay responded to the news, saying:
“This week has been unique. Fortunately for us, some people have been affected by outages, and evacuation is urged. Several of our employees’ homes were affected. But, to my knowledge, no one has been injured, for which we are grateful.
According to Adam Schefter, a senior NFL insider, the Arizona Cardinals are allowing the evacuated Rams to utilize their training facility ahead of their Monday night game against the Vikings at State Farm Stadium.
The evacuation operations come as wildfires rage throughout the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, killing 11 people and burning down buildings, leaving entire neighborhoods vacant and forlorn. In addition to the tremendous devastation on the ground, the current Los Angeles wildfires have affected certain regional aviation operations.
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), a major US West Coast hub for numerous major American carriers, experienced few cancellations. Cirium, an aviation analytics business, reported that as of January 9, 2025, only 8.55% of American Airlines’ flights to and from Los Angeles International were canceled.
Frontier Airlines’ result was much higher, at 20%, but it is crucial to note that the carrier flies far fewer flights to and from LAX than American, so the raw number is still low.
The Arizona Cardinals’ 777-200ER fleet
According to Planespotters.net, the Arizona Cardinals fly four Boeing 777-200ERs. However, this information is not totally correct, as the two 777-300ERs registered N861DA and N864DA have been kept at Roswell Industrial Air Center (ROW) and Marana Pinal Airport (MZJ), respectively, since 2022. According to ch-aviation, both aircraft were formerly owned by
According to ch-aviation statistics, Jet Aviation Flight Services operates the N777AZ, which is branded with Cardinals colors and design, on a wet lease and is owned by Giridor Air.
In 2021, the team bought the aircraft on a wet lease to meet its logistical demands. Notably, before joining the Gridiron Air fleet and servicing the Arizona Cardinals, the aircraft flew under the Delta Air Lines name.
The airplane features 288 seats, 166 of which are enlarged for comfort. This contains 28 first-class pods with lie-flat seats and 48 business-class seats.
According to ch-aviation, Gridiron Air also runs the final N860DA on a wet lease for the Arizona Cardinals.