Detroit News
December 3, 2008
By Tom Greenwood
Auto executives travel to D.C. by car but is it cheaper?
After being criticized for flying to Washington on corporate jets last month, when they asked Congress for $25 billion in loans, the heads of the Big Three automakers decided to travel by car for tomorrow's follow up appearance. General Motors' Rick Wagoner, Ford's Alan Mulally and Chrysler's Robert Nardelli all rode in hybrid cars made by their respective companies. So, is it really cheaper to drive a hybrid vehicle to Washington D.C., rather than fly in a corporate jet? It would seem so, but when time and numerous costs come into play, the answer isn't so clear.
Detroit is 524 miles from Washington, or about 1,050 miles round trip. Gasoline is averaging about $1.69 per gallon in Metro Detroit.
• GM's Chevrolet Malibu hybrid gets 24 mpg city and 32 mpg highway. Split the difference and you average about 28 mpg. So it would cost Wagoner about $64 in fuel to drive from Detroit to D.C. and back again.
• A Ford Escape hybrid (34 city/30 highway) would average about 32 mpg. The roundtrip gas tab for Mulally would be about $59.
• Chrysler's Aspen SUV hybrid gets about 20 mpg. It would cost Nardelli about $90 in gas roundtrip from here to the nation's capital.

Each car would be assessed about $36 in tolls.
At an average speed of 65 mph it would take just about eight hours each for Mulally, Nardelli and Wagoner to drive one way to Washington. That's 16 hours round trip (not counting stopping at a Cracker Barrel restaurant at least once each way.)

So what would it cost to fly in a corporate jet?
At Ford, top executives sometimes travel in a Gulfstream IV jet, which has a top speed of about 517 mph. According to jets.com, the average hourly cost of using a Gulfstream IV is about $3,615. If that cost applies to Ford's Gulfstream IV, you're looking at about $14,460 for the three-hour roundtrip flights, including takeoffs, landings and taxiing. But these comparisons do not take into account the executives' salaries. Is it still cheaper when you factor in hours spent on the road or in the air? In 2007, Mulallay's total compensation package -- including a $2 million salary, $7 million bonus plus stock options and assorted perks -- totaled about $21 million. If he puts in a 60 hour week, that comes to $6,730 per hour. At that rate, in 2007 dollars it would cost Ford about $20,290 for Mulally's time in the air, versus $107,680 to have him drive 16 hours roundtrip. (For the record, Ford has decided to sell its five corporate jets, Mulally will not receive a bonus this year, and at just under $3 a share his Ford stock is taking a bath on Wall Street. He also has promised to accept a yearly salary of $1 if Congress approves the loan.) Incidentally, members of Congress routinely accept rides on corporate jets, but under the current rules they are required to reimburse the corporation the "equivalent of a first-class ticket." But common sense says that the cost of a first-class ticket on a commercial airliner pales in comparison to the cost of flying in a private jet.