Because of the excesses of some stupid people there is an increasing movement of a backlash against the rich. Corporate jets, excessive compensation packages, etc. It doesn't matter whether justified or not, the public and by extension, the Congress, have had enough and the gravy train days are over
As aviators we are all familiar with the advantages of private air travel. no need to re-hash it.
In the case of GM, saddling up the Gulfstream to go begging for money is very bad PR. A coach seat on Northwest would have been much more appropriate. Of course, if they had been delayed out of DTW and missed their appearance on Capitol Hill that would have raised 'nother whole set of issues.
But seriously, we all know that private aviation is a much more efficient use of one's time. That's why we all drive personal cars rather than take the city bus.
90+% of corporate flying is totally justified, it's the other 10% that is an embarrassment. You know, the one passenger taking the G5 to go golfing or for that matter one passenger on a legitimate business trip on a transcon. Arguably on a city pair like LAX-NYC, airline flying is competitive.
I have no problem with people using private jets if they save themselves time. I just want to make sure that the time they are saving is being put to good economic use and helping make the overall economy better.
Unfortunately, the public is in no mood to define nuances. there is a general "off with their heads" sentiment out there. Even with this backlash, the reality is that whether GM owns its own fleet or not, the execs will still use private jets. Either charter or NetJets or whatever. For every customer NJ loses, another GM type operation will sign on. NJ is the gold standard and barring a total shutdown of the economy, there will be wealthy people who will be able to afford it.