Back in April, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took an FAA-operated jet to New York City to do a radio interview and two short meetings before hopping back on the jet and returning to Washington just hours later, according to an exclusive report from Fox News.
According to internal Transportation Department calendars obtained by Americans for Public Trust (APT), on April 7,2022, Buttigieg flew aboard a Cessna Citation 560XL operated by the FAA from Reagan National Airport in Washington to an executive airport near New York City.
While in New York, Buttigieg had a 40-minute meeting with the president of the American Civil Liberties Union as well as a 20-minute meeting with Transportation Department employees, according to his calendar. Additionally, Buttigieg joined the “Breakfast Club” radio program for an interview that lasted nearly an hour.
Later that day, Buttigieg returned to Washington on the same jet to attend a meeting at the White House. The next day, Buttigieg flew back to New York City, this time on a commercial flight, to attend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention and to appear on ABC’s daytime talk show “The View.”
He returned to Washington later that evening by train. When asked about the various methods of transportation Buttigieg chose for the two back-to-back trips to New York, the Transportation Department blamed a last-minute White House meeting.
A spokesperson for the DOT told Fox News that the trip was initially planned as a 2-day visit, with Buttigieg traveling to New York on the 7th and returning to DC on the 8th. However, a “late-notice schedule change” forced Buttigieg to fly back to Washington for a meeting at the White House on April 7.
The spokesperson argued that Buttigieg chose the FAA’s Cessna “because this was more efficient and less expensive than a last-minute airline ticket.” According to the spokesperson, the FAA only charged Buttigieg $228 per flight for his flights aboard the Cessna. But the claim is a wee bit misleading.
While each flight may have only cost taxpayers $228, according to Fox, the Cessna would have burned $1,060 worth of fuel for the flight, also paid for by US taxpayers.
