Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called relying on fossil fuels “the dumbest experiment in human history”—but that apparently that doesn’t necessarily apply to him.
Musk made the equivalent of six trips around the world last year, racking up 150,000 miles on his corporate jet. The data, obtained by The Washington Post, shows that Musk’s jet logged over 250 flights for work and vacation over the course of 2018.
But that’s not all. According to The Post, while many of Musk’s trips were to far-flung destinations, some were as short as 20 miles. Musk himself reportedly “never used the plane to fly between different spots in Los Angeles,” but it was not uncommon for the plane to “reposition” itself from one airport to another to meet Musk.
Musk’s flights are not only carbon-intensive, but also rack up big bills. Even among high-flying executives, the Tesla co-founder’s travel is noteworthy. The Post reports that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took 100 fewer flights than Musk last year. Meanwhile, Apple reportedly spent $93,000 in flights for CEO Tim Cook in 2017—Tesla spent $700,000.
Perhaps most significantly, Musk’s extensive travel coincided with a challenging year for the company he oversees: Tesla is billions of dollars in debt and just announced plans to cut 7% of its workforce earlier this month in addition to the layoffs made last year.
The full picture will be revealed Wednesday when Tesla releases it annual earnings report.
