Every Presidential Candidate Has to Get Around the Country Somehow and They’re Spending a Lot to Do it
Not only is he currently leading in many national polls, despite his recent second place finish in the Iowa Caucus, but it should come as no surprise that Donald Trump leads the pack when it comes to expenditures on air travel.
According to the travel industry news site RoadWarriorVoices.com, the Uber-style private jet charter service JetSmarter recently released an infographic detailing just how much each of the top presidential candidates is spending on airfare to travel the United States kissing babies and pandering to audiences.
As you would have expected, Trump is far and away the leader in this category, as he reportedly paid $100 million for his very own Boeing 757 in 2011. He bought the jumbo airliner from Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder and previous owner of the plane.
One could argue that Trump — ever the savvy businessman, as he’s sure to tell you himself — actually made one of the more financially sound decisions with this exorbitant purchase.
It might seem counterintuitive, but at least he owns his giant personal aircraft carrier and has some real equity. All the other candidates are shelling out big stacks of cash for their temporary rental services. Well, with the exception of maybe the People’s Champion, a.k.a. Bernie Sanders, who was spotted still flying commercial as recently this past fall.
But take Hilary Clinton, for example. She spends about $5,850 an hour to travel around in a Dassault Falcon 900B. Ben Carson has spent over $60,000 on private charter jet services, while Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz reportedly spend about $5,000 and $3,000 an hour respectively on their travel.
Regardless of what you think of their spending habits, most business travelers seem to be happy the candidates at the top are choosing to spend their money flying solo. According to a survey of 500 business travelers from the black car service Groundlink, Donald Trump was voted as the worst political candidate to sit next to on a flight, with Hilary Clinton taking second.
