Agent Edward Rom says the decision to charter a flight for Arsenal fans to watch their team in the Champions League final was a ‘great business opportunity’ that netted him a profit of £80,000.
The founder and Managing Director of EFR Travel — a luxury travel management company that also sells leisure — in Bushey, Herts, chartered a 189-seat Boeing 737-800 for the final, against Paris Saint-Germain, in Budapest, on Saturday.
Edward, who is an Arsenal fan himself, sold every seat apart from six, which were secured by Winged Boots luxury agency owner David Ox. Seats were charged at £1,095 each, totalling revenue of £206,955.
Arsenal scored an early goal but lost on penalties. Despite that, Edward said customer satisfaction was high.
He accompanied the charter and said it allowed him to engage with new and existing clients, including some VIPs, who he said he could not name for privacy reasons. The charter returned after the game, at 3.40am on Sunday (31 May).
“It was a success; we got all our timings as good as we could’ve done, and I think from everyone’s reaction, even after defeat, they were all very gratified, and they all congratulated me on a success. Customer satisfaction was between 90 and 100%,” he said.
The week before the match, Edward flew to Budapest on a recce, which he said was ‘absolutely fantastic’.
“I got to know exactly the logistics, where everyone had to be, where everyone was going to be, and where everyone had to come back from. It was the perfect thing to do, and meeting the suppliers a week before, getting everything ironed out, it really worked like a dream for that,” he said.
EFR Travel has previously chartered aircraft for other football matches, and Edward said Budapest stood out as a ‘good city to host an event’, with the stadium and city being close to each other, and rival fans being separated at the airport.
He said he would ‘100%’ charter another flight in the future for football fans.
Picture credits: Edward Rom.
