Over the weekend, the New York Knicks etched their names into National Basketball Association history by winning their first championship since 1973. A 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs saw them seal a 4-1 series win, finally bringing 53 years of hurt to an end for the team and their fans. The triumph understandably left the team’s players delighted, as evidenced by ATC transmissions.

Indeed, as the team and their entourage flew back from Texas to the East Coast of the United States of America in the early hours of Sunday morning, air traffic controllers interacting with the flight’s pilots could audibly hear the players’ celebrations in the cabin. This turned what would otherwise have been a run-of-the-mill charter into a special occasion, and ATC staff were happy to offer their congratulations.

Celebrations In The Sky

Credit: Flightradar24

As noted by X (formerly known as Twitter) user @NBAPLANES in the aftermath of the Knicks’ victory, the team had originally been set to fly from San Antonio (SAT) back to Westchester County Airport (HPN) in New York State at 10:00 AM on Sunday, June 15. However, keen to take their celebrations back to New York City as soon as possible, the team canceled this charter in favor of a 3:00 AM departure.

According to Flightradar24, the service actually ended up taking off at 3:46 AM. As it flew northeast back to New York, the team’s wild on-board celebrations were clearly audible in ATC transmissions, with Yahoo noting that one of the pilots told a controller that “the plane’s rocking – they’re having a party!” As the flight approached its destination on Sunday morning, another controller in New York said that:

“Please let the guys know. New York TRACON, LaGuardia Tower, Kennedy Tower, maybe even Newark Tower, Westchester Tower: we’re all on about three to four hours of sleep, but as happy as we could ever be.”

A Warm Welcome Home

Credit: Shutterstock

The congratulatory messages from air traffic controllers kept coming in throughout the flight right from the start, with the ATC worker who cleared the service for takeoff asking the pilot to “tell those guys congratulations [and] enjoy the moment.” Despite the boisterous early atmosphere on board the charter, which was operated by Delta as DL8938, it seems that the players did eventually opt for some sleep.

Indeed, as the flight approached New York, one of the pilots confirmed that “they finally settled down about 30 minutes ago, but before that, it was a pretty excited bunch back there.” By that time, the receiving air traffic controllers in New York who had perhaps stayed up a little later than would have been ideal in order to watch the game were already “on [their] second box of coffee [of the] morning.”

All in all, Delta Air Lines flight DL8938 was in the air for a grand total of three hours and seven minutes on Sunday morning, and it eventually touched down in Westchester at 7:53 AM. There, as seen in the social media post embedded above, the aircraft was greeted with a water cannon salute, with coverage of the matter by ABC 7 News also noting that players signed autographs at the airport.

Not Your Average 757

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Tracking data made available by Flightradar24 shows that Delta Air Lines flight DL8938 was operated by a Boeing 757-200 that bears the registration N655DL. According to data from ch-aviation, this veteran narrowbody twinjet airliner is 36.36 years old, putting it well above the (already rather high) average age of 29.3 years for Delta’s 757-200s across the board. However, it is special despite its age.

Indeed, unlike Delta’s regular 757s, this particular example features a VIP seating configuration that is earmarked for sports charters such as this one. There are just 72 seats on board in a four-abreast 2-2 configuration, split between 40 in first class and 32 in business class. Planespotters.net data shows that the jet has been at Delta (or low-cost brand Song) its whole life, but it only got the VIP layout in 2016.