For members of the , Boeing , Co.’s administrative committee, catching a walk on the company’s business jets has long been a cherished benefit of the job.
The 19 top officials have counted on five company-owned , Bombardier Inc.  , Challenger 650 company planes and two personalized 737 narrowbodies to help monitor the , U. S.  , planemaker’s sprawling activity.  , Boeing , requires its chief executive officer to prevent business airlines for safety reasons, even when on a specific trip.
Therefore in mid-September, fresh CEO , Kelly Ortberg , grounded much of the commercial ships in an earlier cost-cutting walk. Instead, directors were instructed to take business flights on regular airlines.
Boeing’s corporate production was in dire need of money at the time, and a strike had caused the business to go out of business. The flying regulations, combined with job layoffs and cutbacks, sent a message of frugality as Ortberg worked with financiers to raise$ 24 billion to finance its return.
” To some degree, I think he was trying to get people’s consideration”, said , George Ferguson, scientist with Bloomberg Intelligence. ” He’s trying to show some of the shared devotion”.
The savings wouldn’t move the needle for a company with a$ 58 billion debt load, said aviation consultant , Brian Foley, who estimates , Boeing , spends about$ 15 million per year flying its executives around. However, the move sent a clear message from the new employer at a time when the business was cash-strapped and factory workers were in open rebellion over what they saw as total payments.
Boeing’s executive fleet operated just 29 flights in October, an 85 % decrease from a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg analysis of flight data compiled by Flightradar24. That’s down from 56 in September and 146 in August, when Ortberg joined , Boeing , as CEO with a mandate to turn around the troubled planemaker.
While , Boeing , is starting to ease its travel crackdown, the tactics provide a glimpse into the priorities and management ethos of the new CEO. As a result of the strike, which lasted seven weeks, Boeing  reduced spending on everything from advertising to consultants and catering in September.
It’s a theme that Ortberg has frequently brought up throughout his brief tenure.
” We need to reset priorities and create a leaner, more focused organization”, he said on an , Oct. 23 , conference call.
Ortberg is taking steps to permanently shrink Boeing’s costs, eliminating 17, 000 jobs that include management, and drawing up a list of non-core businesses to potentially sell or shutter.
” Headcount was clearly bloated and so was the cost structure”, said , Sheila Kahyaoglu, an analyst with , Jefferies LLC. She estimates , Boeing , could raise as much as$ 12 billion by shedding assets such as its Jeppesen and ForeFlight navigation businesses.
Boeing, which declined to comment for this story, scrapped its annual rooftop soiree for the Singapore Grand Prix in September, typically a lavish affair near the Formula 1 racetrack. In past years, the company provided a generous spread of catering, free-flowing drinks and complimentary tickets for guests.
Party pullback
Boeing , also yanked its longtime sponsorship of the Washington International Horse Show in October, and skipped China’s first commercial and defense air show in November. It was a no-show this month as , Brunei , hosted the annual gathering of Asian airlines.
Ortberg’s edict has curtailed flights to Boeing’s major operations centers in , Seattle , ( commercial planemaking ),  , Washington , ( corporate headquarters, defense arm ), and , Dallas , ( services unit ).
The previous arrangement made it simple for senior executives to travel by car. Former CEO , Dave Calhoun , flew in from homes in , New Hampshire , and , South Carolina, and his senior leadership team was scattered in places like , Connecticut , and , Toronto.
Flights have fallen off to , Charleston, South Carolina, and nearby , Savannah, Georgia,  , White Plains, New York, close to Chief Financial Officer Brian West ‘s , Connecticut , home, and , Toronto, where information technology head , Susan Doniz , is based.
Calhoun, West and Doniz declined to comment for the story, a , Boeing , spokesperson said.
While Ortberg, like his predecessors, must travel in a private jet, he is relocating to , Seattle.
By Foley’s calculation, the company pays about$ 4, 480 in total variable costs for each hour a Challenger 650 spends in flight, or about$ 1.5 million a year per plane. For each 737, hourly operating costs average about$ 9, 685, or$ 3.7 million annually.
The estimates cover fixed costs like crew salaries, insurance and the 50, 000-square-foot hangar at , Chicago Gary International Airport , where the jets are housed.
In all,  , Boeing , has ownership stakes in 22 business jets, turboprops and helicopters that also support flight-testing and engineering. The total includes fractional interests in two Challenger 650s operated by , NetJets Inc., according to data provider , Amstat.
With Ortberg looking to streamline, it’s likely , Boeing , will eventually consider divesting some of these aircraft, Foley said, and rely more on fractional holdings if executive flying is permanently reduced.
” With a person like Kelly who chose to be based in , Seattle, maybe there will be less reason to go coast-to-coast if the Zoom goes out”, he said.
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