Global coffee retailer Starbucks capped off a year where they expanded to 616 locations with a purchase of a new corporate jet.
In a statement, company spokeswoman Deb Trevino said that Starbucks has just received delivery for a Gulfstream 550, which was an order that was placed three years ago. Although the economy is currently in recession, Trevino said it would cost too much to have the order cancelled.
Starbucks’ Gulfstream 550 has already spent two weeks in Hawaii for a business and leisure trip. According to Jet Perspectives consultant Bob Zuskin, the Gulfstream 550 has an estimated cost of $45 million. This is actually lower than its usual rate, because jet prices are down.
According to UPI Business News, a corporate jet is “Viewed as an executive luxury in good times and an insult during a recession, executives from General Motors (NYSE:GM) Ford and Chrysler flew corporate jets to Washington to ask for billions in federal support last year, a move some considered a slap in the face of taxpayers.”
Zuskin replies, “There’s a witch hunt against corporate aviation in American right now.”
