wannabepilot

GM Corp. Planes Down To Three From Seven - BusinessWeek

General Motors today said it reduced its fleet of corporate jets from five to three. The struggling automaker drew fire this week from Congress when the CEOs of all three U.S. automakers flew in private jets to Washington DC to ask for tax-payer funded loans to help them avoid bankruptcy. GM started the year with seven jets.

GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the reduction in the fleet was planned before this week’s Congressional hearings. Several members of Congress chided the CEOs for not sacrificing fat-cat perqs at a time when their companies are losing big money and are asking the public to help bail them out.

Wilkinson said GM’s corporate by-laws require the CEO and several members of the company’s top management to fly privately for “security reasons.” But that argument may not hold water for very much longer. Wilkinson said the company has now cut four leased planes from the fleet because of a reduction in white collar headcount, and a dramatic cutback in travel.

Bill de Decker, president of Conklin & de Decker, an aviation information company, projected that the cost of operating a corporate jet, such as the widely used Gulfstream 5, is about $3,850 per hour, mostly for jet fuel but also crew expenses, airport fees and other expenses. So the round trip to Washington DC comes to about $15,000.

The automakers were turned down for a $25 billion loan this week.
They have to give Congress a detailed report by Dec. 2 outlining how they will spend the money, how much they need, and how it will keep them viable so that tax-payers can be expected to get paid back.

In light of the negative attention on private planes this week, it is likely that the CEOs will find another way to get to Washington for the Dec. 8 hearings that will determine whether or not they get the loans.

It is a lock that members of Congress are going to be looking for evidence in the report and in the hearings that the companies and their employees are willing to make major sacrifices while the automakers are losing big money and being kept afloat by the tax payers.

That will put Ford CEO Alan Mulally on the hot-seat as well. He not only gets to use Ford’s corporate plane to visit his family home in Washington State, but his wife also gets to use it to go back and forth between the Seattle area and Dearborn, MI where Mulally works.

CAPTAIN INSANO

They're just hiding the planes under different company names. Nobody moves jets that fast.

Bill Lumberg

Are we talking about the Citation Xs or the GVs on the way out? Tough luck for those pilots who likely assumed they hit the career jackpot!

Cubdriver

That's my experience with these kind of flight depts. They will put the planes back under the leasor's name. They won't even move down the ramp to a new hangar.

Hoof Hearted

How about finding out all the congressional members and senators that used private jets in the past ( mostly the ones that travelled privately and paid airlne rates) and bring that list to the congressional leaders that were upset with the big 3 automakers flying into DC with their private jets. The bailout is another subject, I am talking about the hypocrisy of many of our elected officials who use this type of perk.

7700

If the auto execs should take coach then the politicians should ride Greyhound for the way they have spent this country into debt. At least the big 3 have some cash, the politicians are taking loans from China to fund their failed policies! As if the corporate aircraft industry isn't employing tons of americans we have to get rid of them now as well. Last time I checked GM's aircraft were all built in America. Ford favored the French in the past but have changed some. Chrysler is a Gulfstream user!

shanKs

I agree 100% but whoever was in their PR dept should be pulled out to the street and shot. Someone was obviously sleeping on the job. I feel sorry for the pilots but that was an obvious mistake flying to DC and asking for a handout.

7700

It is in their contract that they CANNOT fly airlines as directed by the Board of Directors. It would be against Board rules to fly all 3 CEO's on the same aircraft and could be considered antitrust and anticompetitve to do so. Would you want to sit next to the CEO of the big 3 on an airline filled with people who's benefits and jobs have been affected by the globalization of the industry. I have worked for people who have been threatened and who's houses have been shot at with much less at stake. I know the pilots on those aircraft and their job is identical to 90% of the people that use this forum. They are not asking for a handout but a guarunteed loan because commercial paper has all but halted. Are they the smartest people in the world, probably not, but grandstanding and then taking the Holiday Off didn't help anyone. ABC got the type of aircraft, number of aircraft, price of aircraft wrong and couldn't figure out if Toyota and Honda have aircraft or if they recieve money from the Japanese government but that is journalism now. The National Enquirer operates at higher standards than that.

KITT

Journalists tell you what they want you to hear. That is why I don't watch the news. All bias information.

BoilerUP

GM doesn't currently operate any Citation Xs...only G350s and G-Vs.