New England Patriots' two 767 planes cause social media circus

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- The defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots recently became the first NFL team to purchase their own plane.

And they bought two.

The Patriots' Boeing 767s feature the team logo in blue and white on the majority of the body and have five Lombardi Trophy images on the tail.

Sources told ESPN that the Boeing wide-body jets feature all first-class seating. The planes cost between $5 million and $65 million. The report also stated that the planes can fly nonstop for up to 12 hours. One of the planes will be used as the primary transportation for the squad, while the other is a backup.

In April, American Airlines suspended its providing of charter flights for the Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers for this season because the company said it didn't have enough aircraft, according to Forbes.

With NFL teams typically participating in two preseason road games and eight regular season road games, the bill for chartering would be about $4 million, according to reports.

The Patriots would also likely need wings for those annual postseason games and eventually the Super Bowl.

The Patriots tweeted photos of the planes Tuesday night, using a pun from owner Robert Kraft. ESPN's photo and the Patriots' tweet received plenty of social media responses.

"New airkrafts," the franchise tweeted.

Kraft is worth about $5.2 billion, according to Forbes. The Patriots are worth about $3.4 billion, according to the website.

New England's longest road trip this season is for their game against the Oakland Raiders on Nov. 19. The trip from Foxborough, Mass. to Oakland is about 3,091 miles.