The WNBA recently implemented a program that would give all teams chartered flights for the next two seasons. While the Indiana Fever went viral for being the first team to enjoy the luxuries of flying solo, other teams have yet to take the skies in private. This is exactly why Angel Reese hopes that her commercial flight on Tuesday would be the last of its kind for the Chicago Sky.

“Just praying that this is one of the last commercial flights the Chicago Sky has to fly,” Reese posted on her Instagram story (per ClutchPoints' Angelo Guinhawa). “Like Breezy said, ‘Practicing gratitude & patience as the league introduces charter flights for all teams.”

Ever since the league's founding nearly three decades ago, teams have been flying commercial when traveling to away games. While the WNBA did institute the use of chartered flights in recent years for special occasions (WNBA finals, postseason games), there were still calls for a program expansion due to player safety and other travel concerns.

An example of this would be last season, when Brittney Griner and her Phoenix Mercury teammates faced harassment at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport airport by a YouTuber who made remarks related to Griner's detention in Russia.

The WNBA makes a major decision

Prior to the 2024 draft, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert made remarks about being in the “right financial position” for an expanded use of charter flights.

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“No one wants (charter flights) more than I do for these players. We need to be in the right financial position,” Engelbert said, per CBS Sports' Jack Maloney. “Just a few years ago, we were surviving; now we're going from survive to thrive. We want to do it at the appropriate time.”

It looks like the appropriate time is now, based on Engelbert's big announcement during a press conference this past Thursday.

“We are thrilled to announce the launch of a full charter program as soon as practical for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, a testament to the continued growth of the WNBA,” Engelbert said. “We have been hard at work to transform the business and build a sustainable economic model to support charter flights for the long term.”

“While we still have a lot of work to do to continue to execute our strategic plan, we feel confident that the time is now to institute a full charter program to demonstrate our commitment to leading with a player-first agenda,” she added.

One could speculate that the 2024 draft class had plenty to do with the move. After all, the coverage that Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso and several others received in the past year arguably helped progress women's basketball as a whole. With an expected spike in fans and ratings due to the rookies, chartered flights may only be one of the many growth initiatives that could arise in the near future.