Automakers Highlight Economics Of BizJets

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It may have been about potential job losses, but by attaching that motive to CEOs with multimillion dollar salaries flying by private jet to seek a $25 billion infusion for companies hemorrhaging cash under their own leadership, the focus has instead shifted to the loss of some jets … at least for now. And so, a few days after the cap-in-hand CEOs of Ford, Chrysler and GM were blasted in Congressional hearings for each using their company’s corporate jet to fly to Washington for the same hearing comes word that their hangars have some empty slots and may have more free spaces in the future.

For the record, GM says that while it’s in the process of returning two of the five business jets it currently operates, it already got rid of two more back in September as a result of cost-cutting, and that the timing of the latest cuts is coincidental with last week’s congressional meetings. Over at Ford, news broke over the weekend that company is “exploring” the idea of selling the five jets it owns as part of its transformation plan. The company told The Wall Street Journal it has sold four aircraft already, since 2005. Chrysler, which is a private company, was mum on aircraft over the early part of the weekend, but its CEO had already publicly offered to work for $1 a year. The CEOs of Chrysler, Ford and GM (companies currently contending with the lowest total auto sales figures in 17 years, according to Bloomberg news) were blasted by government officials for their individual use of business jets to appear before Congress seeking money that would most likely need to be printed, or borrowed, before it could be delivered.

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