New England Patriots plane evacuates Americans from Middle East amid U.S.-Iran conflict

Rick Sobey, Boston Herald on Mar 6, 2026

Published in Football

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BOSTON — Americans fleeing the Middle East amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran were brought home on a New England Patriots team plane.

A U.S. State Department employee on Friday posted a photo of Americans in the Middle East boarding “AirKraft” with the Patriots logo and six championship trophies.

“Americans boarding one of the many State Department charter flights leaving the Middle East to the U.S.,” wrote Dylan Johnson, the assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs.

“This plane landed safely this morning in Washington,” Johnson added.

When it’s the Patriots' offseason, the team planes are operated by a charter company that uses the planes for various charter flights.

“We encourage the charter company to use them for missions like this and other humanitarian and national interest type missions,” the team said.

In the past, the Kraft family has used the planes for other humanitarian missions.

For instance, the Kraft family sent a team plane to China to secure and retrieve desperately needed PPE for healthcare workers during the pandemic.

The Patriots' team planes were in the news last week when the NFL Players Association report card was leaked. The report card rates the Patriots’ travel among the worst in the league.

“The Patriots’ travel remains a significant concern,” the report card reads. “The team airplane ranks last in the league, with players citing outdated conditions, lack of Wi-Fi and insufficient space, with one player describing the plane as feeling ‘borderline unsafe.’ ”

Meanwhile, nearly 24,000 American citizens have returned to the U.S. from the Middle East since the U.S. launched attacks on Iran last week.

“These figures do not include the many Americans who have safely relocated to other countries or those who have departed the Middle East but are still in transit back to the United States,” Johnson posted. “The Department continues to proactively call American citizens to offer charter flight or ground transport travel assistance.

“Several flights have safely returned hundreds of Americans to the United States with additional flights scheduled to take place over the coming days, as security conditions allow,” he added. “Commercial flight availability across the region continues to improve with commercial options available in most of the region.”