Dylan Johnson, the assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, shared a photograph on social media on Friday, saying it depicted “Americans boarding one of the many State Department charter flights leaving the Middle East to the U.S.”
The incongruity in the image was this: It was a New England Patriots plane.
It turns out that, when it is not in use during the N.F.L. season, the plane is operated by a charter company, which uses it for various flights, according to a Patriots spokesperson.
Mr. Johnson said the plane landed safely Friday morning in Washington. The flight was paid for by the State Department, according to a senior department official, who said the department had been chartering flights from several Middle Eastern countries for American citizens looking to return home.
The United States has urged Americans in 14 Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to leave the region. Some Americans are choosing to remain, the State Department official said.
The State Department official did not say the country to which the team’s plane had flown.
Evacuations began Wednesday. But some diplomats and travelers have faulted the government for not doing enough for stranded Americans.
Officials would not say exactly how many planes were being used to airlift Americans from the region, but they said the flights would continue.
It was not the first time that a Patriots plane had been observed flying internationally in the football offseason. Flight tracking data showed that it flew from Texas to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and back last April, WBUR reported. The team said at the time that it was not a deportation flight and that “there were no detainees on the plane.”
A Patriots plane was also used to bring masks from China during the Covid-19 pandemic and to fly students and families from Parkland, Fla., site of a school shooting, to Washington, D.C., for a march against gun violence in 2018.
Michael Levenson contributed reporting.
Victor Mather, who has been a reporter and editor at The Times for 25 years, covers sports and breaking news.
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