By Sharon Terlep Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES DETROIT -(Dow Jones)- General Motors Corp. (GM), skewered this week for sending Chief Executive Rick Wagoner to Washington, D.C., in a private jet to plead for a bailout, will sell two of its corporate planes, the company said Friday.
The use of the lavish jets by the chief executives of GM, Ford Motor Co. (F) and Chrysler LLC became a rallying cry against auto makers as they sought federal aid during congressional hearings this week.
Several lawmakers cited the planes in their refusal to approve a loan package on Thursday.
GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said GM had decided to sell one of its five remaining jets before this week's hearings as part of deep cost-cutting under way at the company. The company sold two planes in September.
"We understand the symbolic issue of people showing up in Washington in corporate jets," Wilkinson said. "We're very sensitive to that."
All travel at the company is getting cut dramatically as GM, which burned through $6.9 billion in cash in the third quarter, struggled to stay afloat.
Wilkinson said GM's top executives are required to use company planes for air travel as part of security requirements set by the company's board of directors. The planes make for expedient, safe travel and also allow executives and their teams to travel to places not easily accessible by commercial airlines, he said.
Executives of many large corporations use jets as a way to ensure safe, timely and private travel.
But that bore little relevance to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and much of the media, which lambasted the executives for using the planes.
"There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off them with tin cups in their hands," Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D.-N.Y.) said. "It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo."
Without immediate government aid, the auto makers have said, one of more of Detroit's Big Three could collapse by the end of the year.
Congress adjourned on Thursday without approving an aid package, but left the door open for an emergency vote in December.
To get the cash, the auto makers must convince Congress they have a viable business plan to keep their companies afloat should they get the money.
Shares of GM fell 5.5% to $2.72 in recent trading. Ford's shares were up 10.1% to $1.53.
-By Sharon Terlep, Dow Jones Newswires; 248-204-5532; sharon.terlep@dowjones.com.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 21, 2008 10:04 ET (15:04 GMT)

Publié le 21 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones