Agency Uses its $7.5M Jet to Get Execs to Ribbon Cuttings and Press Conferences

New Yorkers have come together in hopes of addressing the New York Power Authority’s superfluous private aircraft use. The $7.5 million aircraft, which was originally painted as a tool to get engineers and managers to time-critical sites, seems to now prioritize getting top executives to ribbon cuttings and press events.

As one would expect, the expensive purchase is only getting more expensive. It is staffed by three full-time pilots and stored in a Westchester Airport hangar for $159,000 per year. Flight logs from June 2023 to July 2024 show a clear pattern: frequent flights carrying executives from White Plains to events across New York, as well as trustees traveling from upstate communities to monthly board meetings.

“New Yorkers are grappling with skyrocketing energy costs and uncertainty about heating their homes this winter,” said Andrea Alice Stewart-Cousins, New York State Senate Majority Leader. “It is unacceptable that the agency tasked with overseeing the production and distribution of this power is wasting millions of dollars of taxpayer money on a private jet. This must stop immediately.”

The controversy lands at a moment when affordability is a hot topic. NYPA introduced a rate proposal that raises residential bills by one to two dollars per month over six years, and that was only the scaled-down version. The initial proposal, from earlier this year, was withdrawn after strong bipartisan pushback.

Lawmakers pointed to the plane controversy as evidence that the authority could learn a thing or two about budgeting. Other groups added that most meetings can be conducted remotely, reducing the need for state agencies to rely on aviation at all. They argued that the authority should set an example for the emissions reductions it has pushed so passionately for.

“It seems to me we’ve finally found the greedy energy executives the Democrats have been harping about, as they simultaneously jam through costly and unrealistic energy mandates in the name of the Green New Scam,” said Ortt, the minority leader.

FMI: www.nypa.gov