Irish athletes travelling to take part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will travel in business class on Qatar Airways.
They will have full lie flat beds and catering to suit their nutritional routine. The mood lighting in the cabin will help adjust athletes’ body clocks to the Tokyo time zone and the cabin is pressurized to a lower altitude which equates to more oxygen and less travel and fatigue.
The seats will be paid for by the Olympic Federation of Ireland and will likely cost something in the region of around €2,000 per head. With a likely team somewhere in the region of 80 athletes that will be a substantial but not an unacceptably high cost given the overall investment in preparing the team of around €3.2 Million.
The funding of the flights will be drawn from sponsorship income derived from Team Ireland Olympic partnerships with FBD, Indeed and Circle K.
Support staff and administrators will travel economy as will the athletes on their return from the games.
They will travel via Doha with dates of departure to be confirmed. Qatar Airways started a daily service from Dublin to Doha in July 2017.
“As a Board and Executive, we really want to give our athletes every opportunity to arrive in Tokyo rested and ready for what for many will be the most important competition of their lives,” said Olympic Federation of Ireland CEO Sarah Keane speaking yesterday.
“This is their time, and we are proud to support them with business class travel amongst other things.”
“This is the first time, we are able to provide business class travel for our athletes, and the upgrade is thanks to the support of our sponsors, FBD, and partners Indeed and Circle K,” added CEO peter Sherrard.
“Our shared goal is to do everything in our power to enhance the performances of our athletes.”
“While we would like to be able to provide the same for the support staff, everyone on Team Ireland agrees that our priority needs to be the athletes who will be competing to represent the whole country at Tokyo 2020.”
The OFI has also teamed up with Vita to offset the carbon emissions involved with travelling to Tokyo and will make a contribution of €10,000 to support their work.
Vita is a next-generation Irish overseas development agency working in Africa. Their innovative programmes transform lives of women and their families in Africa by providing food security as well as access to clean water and clean cooking, while also, generating carbon emissions savings that are sold as certified carbon offsets.
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Image Credit: Brendan Moran, Sportsfile
