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Ford may sell jets

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jonjuan

Honey Ryder
Joined
Feb 26, 2004
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http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/21/new...oratejets.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008112121

Ford mulls corporate jet sale

Carmaker says it's exploring options for its planes after CEO is criticized for flight to Congressional hearings.
November 21, 2008: 9:51 PM ET

DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. may sell its fleet of five corporate jets after top executives of the three Detroit automakers were harshly criticized by members of Congress this week for their travel expenses.

In a statement issued Friday, Ford (F, Fortune 500) said it is exploring all options for the fleet, which it said has been reduced from nine in 2005.
"Ford's top priority is to continue making progress on our transformation plan, and we do not want anything to distract us," spokesman Mark Truby said in a statement. "We are exploring all cost-effective solutions for our air travel."
The announcement comes just days after Ford CEO Alan Mulally, Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli and General Motors Corp. (GM, Fortune 500) CEO Rick Wagoner traveled to Washington on separate corporate jets to seek $25 billion in government loans to help them make it through the worst U.S. auto sales downturn in 25 years.
Congress, though, abandoned a vote on the bailout after a disastrous appearance in which the automakers were criticized for lavish corporate travel, as well as for having poor business plans and high labor costs that some members said would keep them from being competitive with Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) andHonda Motor Co. (HMC)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said in Washington that "these guys flying in their big corporate jets doesn't send a good message to people in Searchlight, Nev., or Las Vegas or Reno or anyplace in this country."
Corporations typically lease planes, buy them or charter aircraft to transport executives and other employees. Many require executives to travel by corporate jet for security reasons and so they can meet with other executives and do work while traveling.
Truby said that of the five remaining jets, three are used for executive travel, while the other two shuttle employees such as engineers to factories where new products are being launched.
"We have been and continue to look at all of our operations to reduce costs and operate more efficiently," he said.
GM said Thursday that it was in the process of returning two of its five leased corporate jets to the leasing company.
Spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the company planned to return the jets because travel spending had been cut. The jets were scheduled to be returned even before the automakers were criticized in Washington, he said.
"It would have been done anyway," Wilkinson said. "It's just the travel cutbacks have been so severe. It's just not being used."
GM started the year with seven leased jets but returned two of them in September, Wilkinson said.
Chrysler spokesman David Elshoff would not comment on its jets.
 
Yea Right!!!!!!! Bad news for all the automakers Pilots but good news for Netjets who will probably be the sneaky way they keep up their executive lifestyles while placating the congress they are going to change their way of doing business.
 
Yea Right!!!!!!! Bad news for all the automakers Pilots but good news for Netjets who will probably be the sneaky way they keep up their executive lifestyles while placating the congress they are going to change their way of doing business.

You do realize that business aircraft aren't just some "fat cat luxury", but are another tool that helps run a large international business...don't you?
 
BU- right you are... but it is all about perception! Sorry, the phat cats are going to lose job effectiveness because they are...well not effective....

We shouldn't reward failure.....right?
 
You do realize that business aircraft aren't just some "fat cat luxury", but are another tool that helps run a large international business...don't you?

How many of those tards up on the hill have been on those jets and others? How many flights have the Clintons been on in their campaigns? How many of the lobbiers been on? Interesting.

Perception is certainly the key here but it should also not be lost. Bad timing fo sho. Thanks to those interns sitting at the airport. One of our crew members was at lunch at a local hotel having lunch and right next to him was several newsproducers who were talking to their crews stationed all over watching for these planes.

As a stockholder in certain companies (like we all are) do we really want those execs that make tons sitting at gate 21? I guess I am biased being a pilot for a fortune 100 company but at times it makes my mind spin. I just flew to 5 cities in three days - it would be difficult at best to have flown that profile on any other vehicle. Expensive? Well that depends on the importance of the meetings. Efficient use of company personnel? Absolutely. We left early on Friday to return home where they were able to go back to corporate and do more work. Rant over.
 
I wonder who'd buy em

I'd buy them if I had any where the capital necessary.

In all reality it will be NetJets, Jet Aviation or any other part 135 with a brain and then lease them back to Ford. This is a license to print money for someone who acts quickly.

All Ford want's to do is get them off the books until the Congress has someone else to pick on. A company the likes of Ford has no intension of making their executives rely on NWA out of Detroit for all of their corporate travel.
 
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Word has it that as soon as Nishimatsu heard what US CEOs make, he fired off an app to GM.
 

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