A New England Patriots team plane flew to notorious military base Guantanamo Bay on Monday as part of its deal with a charter company which sees its planes work with the Department of Defense.

While Guantanamo has recently been used to detain US deportees, a Patriots spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the plane ‘was not used for any kind of deportation flight and there were no detainees on the plane.’

However, the spokesperson acknowledged that the planes are chartered ‘to the Department of Defense to move military personnel as well as other government agencies with no financial gain to the organization.’

‘The New England Patriots plane was not used for any kind of deportation flight and there were no detainees on the plane. Under our current charter manager, neither of the Patriots planes have ever been used for that purpose,’ the statement began.

‘The team planes are operated by a professional charter company when they are not in use by the team. This company manages all logistics, bookings, and operations independently. The New England Patriots organization is not involved in, nor does it approve, sanction, or coordinate the uses of the aircrafts when they are chartered for non-team purposes.

‘The charter company uses the Patriots planes as part of their inventory when chartering to the Department of Defense to move military personnel as well as other government agencies with no financial gain to the organization.’

A New England Patriots plane flew to Guantanamo Bay on Monday from Texas

The flight record of the trip was first publicized on BlueSky

Notably, the Patriots signed an agreement last year with Omni Air International, with the company hired to operate the team’s two Boeing 767-300 pᴀssenger aircrafts ‘for team travel and other charter flights including humanitarian and goodwill flights on behalf of the Kraft family,’ a press release says.

However, an investigation from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights in 2022 alleged that a Patriots team plane flew three deportation flights to Honduras.

The Daily Mail reached out to the Patriots for further comment regarding that reporting.  

Flight records posted to Bluesky first publicized Monday’s trip, which began at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport around 6 a.m. local time before landing in Cuba a few hours later.

Records indicate that the plane was grounded for four hours and then returned to to Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso.

More to follow