Embattled airplane maker Boeing disclosed it lavished an additional $546,000 on the cost of personal air travel in recent years for four top executives, including CEO Dave Calhoun, who announced last month that he will leave the company by the end of the year.
The increased spending estimate, disclosed in a recent company filing, brought the total cost to the company for the personal air travel for the four to $1.9 million since 2021. Besides Calhoun, the other executives include CFO Brian West; Stan Deal, who recently departed as CEO of its commercial airplane unit; and Theodore Colbert, the CEO of its defense, space and security business.
The disclosure comes as the plane maker is facing additional scrutiny for a series of safety incidents, including a midair blowout of part of a fuselage in January, which prompted a number of investigations into the company’s practices, an executive shakeup and promises that the company will turn itself around.
The air travel is part of what are known as perquisites, or perks granted the executives, which also include ground transportation, lodging and meals during personal travel.
And for air travel, the reported costs include only the incremental costs to Boeing, such as fuel, crew travel expenses, on-board meals, landing fees, and parking costs. It does not include the cost of the corporate jets or the salaries of the flight crew, which Boeing said it would be paying whether or not the executives made the personal trips.
The cost of personal air travel by Calhoun alone came to $979,000 during those three years.
The upward adjustment means that Boeing spent at least $734,000 in 2022 and $306,000 in 2021 on these executives’ personal air travel, according to figures provided. Some of the amounts for air travel for Colbert and Deal are not…
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