Frequent flyers: How long each AFL team will spend in the air during 2026

The West Coast Eagles will rule the skies of the AFL world in 2026 - literally. The club is set to rack up nearly nine more hours in the air than any other team next season, and over 15 more hours than the closest non-Western Australia based club.

Their estimated total time in air of 78 hours and 40 minutes exceeds Fremantle's 69 hours and 50 minutes, dethroning the Dockers, who had held the title in both the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

While the Eagles and Dockers unsurprisingly sit at the top of this list due to the geographical nature of Australia, seven clubs actually fly more than the 'Purple Haze', who will only make nine return flights in 2026.

Gold Coast will make the most trips across Australia next year, with 12 return flights seeing them accumulate 63 hours and 25 minutes in the air. It's the second year in a row they rank first in this category, being the only club to make 12 return flights last season.

Hawthorn are the highest-ranked Victorian team for 2026, tasked with two visits to Perth, while their designated fixtures in Tasmania also boost their overall volume of air time.

Embed from Getty Images

MORE AFL FIXTURE NEWS
» Full 2026 AFL fixtures
» The ten must-watch matches in 2026
» Who does every team play twice?
» When do new recruits face their old side?
» Your club's fixture difficulty rated

Melbourne follow closely, given that they'll play a number of Victorian fixtures interstate, including a home game in Alice Springs in Round 12 and a trip to Tasmania with Hawthorn in Round 17.

Carlton will board just five return flights for the entirety of 2026, the fewest of all 18 clubs, for a total airborne time of 23 hours and 55 minutes. The other powerhouse clubs of Victoria - Collingwood, Essendon and Richmond - will fly return six times, as will St Kilda.

The Saints will notably spend over 10 hours less in the air compared to 2025, remarkably remaining in the state of Victoria from Round 14 onwards. It comes 12 months on from when the AFL scheduled them to make trips to Adelaide three times in the first five rounds of 2025, seeing the Moorabbin-based outfit rank second for Victorian clubs in airtime.

Round 5 sees the most minutes spent in the air in total, with 16 teams heading to South Australia for Gather Round. Round 20 sees the fewest minutes total despite not being a bye round, as the AFL continues to quietly use the round as an unofficial 'rivalry round', with the WA Derby and Sydney Derby both taking place that weekend, as well as four purely Victorian fixtures.

Note: Flight time relates to the scheduled time of a flight by the quickest route possible, including connections where necessary through the AFL's partner airline, Virgin Australia.

Flights were used for all interstate travel except when Sydney teams travelled to Canberra, the Lions or Suns played an away game on the Gold Coast or in Brisbane, or Melbourne teams travelled to Geelong, for example.

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.