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Air time: How long will each NRL team spend in an aeroplane during 2025?

NRL teams will spend 732 hours in planes in 2025.

Published by
Scott Pryde

The New Zealand Warriors will break records for the amount of time in aeroplanes during the 2025 NRL season, with the club facing 14 trips away from Auckland and a staggering 116 hours in the air.

It comes as the Warriors prepare to start their season against the Canberra Raiders in Las Vegas.

The Warriors, on top of their trip to Las Vegas which is an away game, will have to fly a further 13 times this year with home games in Christchurch and Brisbane for Magic Round.

The Raiders come in as the second most travelled team, while the Penrith Panthers and Cronulla Sharks who are also heading States-side will sit fourth and fifth on the table of most hours in the air.

The North Queensland Cowboys have the worst run of teams who are not flying to Vegas, with almost 70 hours in the air, although that in itself is a small reduction on last year.

The Melbourne Storm, Dolphins and Brisbane Broncos are the next three clubs, with the Gold Coast Titans spending just a little less than Brisbane in the air.

The Newcastle Knights lead the remainder of the clubs, while the Manly Sea Eagles, despite only having five games needing a flight, are the worst of the Sydney clubs thanks to trips to Auckland, Perth and Townsville.

At the other end of the list, the Canterbury Bulldogs are the clear winners with only four flights booked in for the entire season (although one game is at a venue yet to be determined). It leaves them facing five hours less travel in the air than any other club.

Here is every team's run down for 2025.

Team Flights (return) Time in air
New Zealand Warriors 14 116hr 55 min*
Canberra Raiders 8 83hr 20 min*
North Queensland Cowboys 12 69hr 15 min
Penrith Panthers 7 59hr 40 min*
Cronulla Sharks 6 59hr 20 min*
Melbourne Storm 13 49hr 20 min
The Dolphins 10 42 hr 5 min
Brisbane Broncos 9 33hr 45 min
Gold Coast Titans 10 33hr 30 min
Newcastle Knights 6 29 hr 0 min
Manly Sea Eagles 5 27hr 25 min
Wests Tigers 7 27hr 20 min
South Sydney Rabbitohs 6 24hr 30 min
St George Illawarra Dragons 5 21hr 25 min
Parramatta Eels 5 21 hr 50 min
Sydney Roosters 5 19hr 10 min
Canterbury Bulldogs 4 14hr 35 min

* - Includes game in Las Vegas.

Note: Flight time relates to the scheduled time of a flight by the quickest route possible, including connections where necessary.

Flights were mainly used for interstate travel and to locations such as Tamworth and Bundaberg. They were not used between Sydney and Canberra, Sydney and Newcastle, or some other regional games.

However, flights were used for other games in and out of Newcastle and Canberra. For games marked with venues still to be announced, it was assumed that they would be played in the home team's region.

It was also assumed that teams would fly home after each away game, whereas sometimes they may hold a training camp if playing multiple away games in the same area back-to-back.

Published by
Scott Pryde