High Flying CEO’s

Last November the CEO’s of all three major Detroit automakers were slammed in the media and on Capitol Hill for flying to Washington on big private jets to ask the government for bailouts. But that bad press has not apparently grounded all executives.

A report by the executive pay consulting firm Equilar shows that, even in the middle of a recession, U-S corporate chiefs are still enjoying the perks of personal travel on company planes.

The majority of large corporations still require their CEO’s to use company planes when traveling, even for vacation. They argue it’s a safety requirement rather than a perk and that private flights are more efficient for business.

The study shows that while some companies have stopped underwriting personal flights amid shareholder scrutiny, the value of CEO airplane usage in 2008 was at its highest level in five years. Researchers at Equilar say they did take rising jet fuel costs into account when making their study.

But private plane use is certainly changing for those who are not senior executives flying on company-owned planes. So far this year, the recession has driven private jet charter business down as much as forty percent. To counter that drop and fight media criticism, The National Business Aircraft Association and U-S based private plane manufacturers are airing ads touting the millions of jobs and billions of dollars private planes add to the economy.

Local communities not served by commercial flights, have also joined the campaign to convince politicians and the public that general aviation is vital to small communities nationwide. Aviation economists add that selling U-S built planes overseas helps reduce our balance of trade by billions of dollars.

I wonder how big this issue of CEO’s flying high would be if just one highly paid PR staffer had the guts to tell his auto company boss that if you’re flying to Washington “cup in hand”, you should take the shuttle.

(Brian Banmiller is a national Business Correspondent for CBS News Radio, free lance writer and public speaker. The former television business news anchor in San Francisco can be reached at brian@banmilleronbusiness.com .)