GM Closing Flight Dept
 

Well, after the knee jerk reaction from congress (who buy the way also fly on chartered corporate aircraft), GM is closing its corporate flt dept.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted Dec 02, 2008 @ 12:26 PM
DETROIT —
General Motors Corp. is closing its corporate aircraft operations in Detroit as part of its budget cutbacks as it lobbies Congress for millions in loans.
GM's CEO Rick Wagoner and the CEOs from Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC were harshly criticized in Congress last month for flying to Washington on separate corporate jets to lobby for $25 billion in federal loans.
This time Wagoner is taking a company car — not a plane — to Washington to help the industry make its case before Congress. Ford boss Alan Mulally also is traveling by car from Detroit for his second appearance. Chrysler wouldn't say how its CEO Robert Nardelli would get there, citing security reasons, but said it wouldn't be by corporate plane.
All three executives are returning to Congress for hearings on Thursday and Friday. They are seeking the bailout loans to help them through the recession and the worst sales downturn in 25 years.
Ahead of the return visit, GM said in a statement today that it would cease operating its aircraft services starting Jan. 1.
"Due to significant cutbacks over the past months, GM travel volume no longer justifies a dedicated corporate aircraft operation," the company said in a statement.
GM, the statement said, is exploring options for transferring its aircraft to another operator and is trying to sell four of the aircraft. Last week the company said it was returning two of its five remaining jets to a leasing company, so the number of remaining jets is unclear.
The automaker will close its jet facility at Detroit's Metro Airport and will try to find another tenant for the balance of the lease, which expires next year, the statement said.
Also today, Ford said in a plan submitted to Congress to justify the loans that it would sell its five remaining corporate aircraft.
Wagoner will drive in a Chevrolet Malibu hybrid sedan when he makes the 520-mile (835-kilometer) trek from Detroit to Washington, GM spokesman Tony Cervone said today. Ford's Mulally will be taking a hybrid Ford Escape.

Ford, Too
 

Ford is shutting down their flight department, too. Both Ford and GM have had corporate flight departments for decades and Ford operated a company shuttle for many years. They operated Convairs for a number of years then went to 737s. I'm afraid this is just the beginning. This is not a good time for aviation. :(

Aviation Week
December 2, 2008
By Jim Swickard
Ford, GM to Shut Flight Ops
Ford Motor Co. and General Motors are closing their corporate flight departments as part of their proposals to obtain billions of dollars in emergency loans from the U.S. government. Leaders of both companies were criticized by Congress last month for coming to Washington in their respective business jets to appeal for federal money. Ford was the first automaker to announce full details of its recovery plan this morning, including divesting itself of its aircraft. Ford said it will sell its five corporate aircraft as part of an overall cash improvement plan. Within the hour, GM announced that it was shutting its GMATS flight operation at Detroit's Metro Airport and vacating its facility there by Jan. 1. GM said it has sold two aircraft and was attempting to sell four others in order to terminate their leases. In any case, the company said it wants to transfer its aircraft to other companies and/or end its aircraft leases by Jan. 1. It said it was getting rid of its airplanes because "GM travel volume no longer justifies a dedicated corporate aircraft operation." Kenneth E. Emerick, flight ops director of GM Worldwide Travel Services, is a former chairman of the National Business Aviation Association and remains a member of the board of directors. Privately held Chrysler does not own any aircraft, but charters or leases aircraft as needed. The company notes it tries to fly the aircraft as full as possible - including offering seats to sick children traveling to or from Detroit-area hospitals.

This is partially the fault of the GA operators out there not letting the public know how fundemental private air charter or flight departments are to companies. Execs of even small to medium companies that operate flight departments know this, let alone a major auto company!

No offence ,but does anyone really think that the public really gives a damn who is flying what ?
The public is given too much credit and as far as GA is concerned its a business that serves a purpose.And if the public wants more info than they schould do some enqiuries on their own its not reallly that difficult to do.
Lots of envy in this country and its pathetic.

Night all!

What congress and the average citizen fail to realize is that the corporate jet, while maybe a little expensive, offers these execs. of multi-billion dollar companies more time to do more business....It's not really good use of the CEO's time to have to drive 6 hours from Detriot to DC, and then 6 hours back, when they could have been there in 40 minutes...they lose 2 days of work in travel time alone!.....time is money!!

The public does not know nor even care until CNN, MSNBC, or FOX news sensationalize it to where the public viewer becomes "up in arms" and demand inquiries about how corporate CEO lavishly travel.

What would the senate committee have said if all three failed to show up because their Northwest flight from DTW was cancelled? Or would that have opened up a whole new can of worms...........

Lemmings following eachother over the cliff. This is just one more domino falling in the power grab by the gub'mint. In the immortal words of BTO: "You ain't seen nuttin' yet!"

Speaking of Congress, has everyone seen the fleet of Gulfstreams our elected officials get to use "as needed"? Talk about throwing stones in glass houses! Just what we need, a couple hundred more pilots out of work. :mad:

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.

If I were a U.S. Senate or Congressional member I would be careful about my travel on private corporate aircraft from now on. These hypocrit's should be exposed for their double standard attitude toward travel on Corporate aircraft and refused passage on any aircraft operated by corporations. What a bunch of jerks they are.

Who's next?
 

Toyota has a G300 on our ramp today. Will they be next?

Not sure who's next but this is all part of a larger 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

Well maybe if these CEO's spent some time in the cars they made then maybe they would not be in this situation. I bet a CEO of FORD would cry if he spent 6 hours in a FORD.

I can't believe this writer is sincere with this angle. Reading this little gem of journalism I thought, why should these CEOs make so much money in the first place that their time is so costly they need to go there on a Gulfstream IV in order to save time? Why do they need to go so fast when they are at the helm of modern disasters such as the Big Three automakers? So they have time enough to contemplate how badly they are doing as CEOs?

As mascots for an industry they are helping to take down by drawing salaries of 25 Harvard MBAs combined each, they do not need to go 550 miles per hour; 60 mph will do for that sort of transportation.

I am all for free market capitalism but that is not the issue here. The issue here is a bunch of fools who are nothing but comical parodies of capitalism. They are embarrassments that happen to draw millions of dollars in annual compensation apiece.

At least the fabulous Allen Mullally of former Boeing fame volunteered to cut his whopping 25-man salary down to $1 a year until his company rises above water again and rises out of bankruptcy. Maybe he gets it as they say; I hope so.

It's hard to believe that with our backgrounds in aviation, the efficiency of corporate aviation is being questioned.

Granted, 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. No need to re-hash the justification here. 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 G5 flying from Teterboro to Aspen for the weekend.

I have no problem with people using private jets if they save themselves time. To cubdrivers point, 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. 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. I just feel sorry for the GM pilots, the average working stiffs, who are the real victims here.

Speaking of which, there is a rumor at netjets that if they get the GM business, the GM pilots get a guaranteed interview. Bottom of the list, that is if they even get hired. Again, it's the working man who suffers.

Very well put. The public is tired of the Good Ole Boys Club and their gravy train. Someone mentioned earlier that time is money, and now these CEOs will lose valuable time. Let's be serious, these guys haven't done good business in the last 10 years. They're out of touch with their workers, company, and products. Yet they still have inflated compensation packages, and perks that they DON'T DESERVE! I want accountability on all levels, including the govt, and corporate America!

Would it have been such a sin if the Autocrappic Four Wheel Lemon Peddling Putzes to fly to DC in a King Air or Turbo Commander?

I realize a turboprop is not as prestigious or as glamorous as a jet, but then the crappy product they‘ve been turning out in Detroit is nothing to brag about either.

Well sometimes arrogance does outshine common sense.

Why didn't each CEO take 10K of his 20mil annual package and charter his own plane?

Instead they sit in a car for $11,000/hr (their pay) and drive?

is that a good use of shareholder value?

I guess the situation cannot be too bad at the big three if the top guys can spend 2 days driving the interstates?

IMO driving was a far worse display of brains than using the GV.

Who is going to be left to use DTW.... GM, Ford, going away... NK reduced flying, NWA/Delta yet to be seen but you can probably bet it will be reduced flying. The last one out of Michigan turn the lights out!