Corporate jets: emblem of greed or a boon to business?

Rorschach test involves showing a series of ten inkblots to someone, and asking them what images they see. Although the test’s psychological validity is debatable, no one can dispute its wild success as a metaphor: a single object can mean very different things to different people. In business a prime example of Rorschachiness is the corporate jet. Depending on your perspective, it can signal untrammelled greed, rational decision-making, post-pandemic work habits or the fight against climate change. Those who see excess regard the company jet as the worst in a pile of gold-plated perks for overpaid executives. While minions reacquaint themselves with airport queues and the curse of six hours next to the chatty stranger in 24, bosses skip the lines and travel in luxury. It is difficult to remain grounded in these circumstances. , a global accounting firm, reportedly calls its plane “”; on touchdown, auditors doubtless fantasise about radioing that “the gle has landed”. If jets were used only for work trips, that would be bad enough. But more than half of the s of a 500-strong group of companies monitored by Equilar, an analytics outfit, made use of their firm’s jet for personal purposes in 2020.