In December, Starbucks took delivery of a new Gulfstream 550 corporate jet, unfortunate timing after a year of store closures, layoffs and declining sales. Deb Trevino, a company spokeswoman said that Starbucks ordered the G5.5 three years ago and began paying for it when SBUX was flying high. The latte titan won’t divulge the specific price point of the purchase, but the Gulfstream 550’s going rate is approximately $45 million (with an operational cost of about $3,000 per hour, as well as per annum maintenance cost of around $810,000). Since plane buyers have to pay a fee to cancel a contract order, by the time Starbucks’ began facing its 2008 downturn, the company had already helped pay to build it. Plus, canceling the order would have been cost-prohibitive. So the biz jet arrived at Boeing Field on Dec. 17, and then flew to Van Nuys airport in California the next day. On Dec. 19, it flew to Kona International in Hawaii, and then on to Honolulu. The plane stayed in Honolulu from Dec. 19 until Jan. 2, when it flew back to Boeing Field, according to data on FlightAware.com. No official word on who were the passengers. Starbucks also owns a 2004 Bombardier. An older, third jet is in the process of being sold.
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January 12, 2009Diamonds in the Rough (Economy)
