Airport employees ‘starstruck’ after New England Patriots plane lands in Gulfport
The Mississippi Gulf Coast may be New Orleans Saints territory, but an NFL team’s airplane from the Northeast doesn’t land in Gulfport every day.
The official airplane for the New England Patriots was seen on the tarmac at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport off U.S. 49 on Friday as the Coast braced for heavy rain from a tropical system expected to be named Tropical Storm Claudette.
The airport posted pictures of the plane on Facebook, adding that three employees were “starstruck” by it.
Clay Williams, the airport’s executive director, said the plane went to the Army National Guard base in Gulfport.
The aircraft was being used to transport troops, said Chaille Munn, director of marketing for the airport.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his family used the plane in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to travel to China and collect PPE for health care workers.
The “Pats Plane” was also recently spotted at an airport in El Paso, Texas, according to local TV station KTSM.
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 7:09 PM.
