Bristol City might charter plane to Newcastle game

Bristol City might charter a plane to get fans to the away match with former Premier League giants Newcastle United in October.

Robins supporters have been snapping up plane tickets for the 600-mile round trip to the North East with budget airline easyJet after the 2009/10 fixture list was announced earlier this week.

The surge in demand for seats has pushed up the cost of a flight from Bristol International to Newcastle Airport on October 3, with a return flight the following day, to £202.

The cost of the return fare is £160 more expensive than fares for flights to the city on the weekends before and after the fixture against Alan Shearer's team, who were relegated from the Premier League in May after a woeful season.

EasyJet has announced that it might put on extra flights from Bristol to Newcastle if it has "additional capacity" for the weekend of October 3 and 4.

Bristol City season ticket holder Stephen Silverthorne, who lives in Hanham, said he was "disgusted" by the difference in the cost of fares to Newcastle and hopes he can find a way of getting to St James' Park for the match.

He said: "I hope Bristol City charter their own flight for fans."

Spokesman for Bristol City, Adam Baker, said: "We are sympathetic to the supporters and are investigating the possibility of putting on a charter flight for fans to get to the game."

Andrew McConnell, spokesman for easyJet, said prices for the seats Mr Silverthorne wanted to buy were higher because there were only a few places remaining on the plane.

He said: "Our pricing structure is not based on any public events or football matches and we don't raise prices.

"When matches are announced, seats go very quickly and the prices being quoted for the flight from Bristol to Newcastle will be for the last remaining seats on the aircraft.

"What we say is 'book early to save big'.

"The earlier you book, the better price you get when there's a big match on.

"We try to find additional aircraft when seats on flights sell out fast, and where we have additional capacity we will endeavour to put additional aircraft on."