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GM terminates lease on its seven private jets

Last Thursday, General Motors (GM) sought approval from a federal bankruptcy judge to terminate the leases for all seven of its corporate jets, along with a hangar in Detroit airport.

With no objections, Judge Robert Gerber granted the request in a 10-minute hearing at a Lower Manhattan courtroom.

“The new GM will have no jets—we’re all flying Delta,” commented Tom Wilkinson, a spokesman for GM.

Former GM chief executive Richard Wagoner Jr. was criticized by lawmakers at a hearing last November when he and other company executives flew to Washington via private jets to ask for a government rescue package. Last March, Wagoner was pushed out by the Obama administration, which has pumped billions of dollars to GM.

GM believes that the decision to terminate the leases is a “sound business judgment.”  The auto maker claims that these contracts and aircrafts are no longer valuable to its business activities.

GM is not alone in this move. Fellow Detroit auto manufacturers—Chrysler and Ford—are also seeking to jettison their private jets.

Chrysler recently terminated two aircraft leases. On the other hand, Ford—the only Big Three auto maker who has not asked for a government loan—said it plans to sell its five private jets, which have been grounded since last year.