Starbucks puts new corporate jet up for sale

Starbucks is trying to sell the $45 million corporate jet it bought last month, along with a 7-year-old Gulfstream that it tried to sell before taking delivery of the new airplane.

Both jets are listed without asking prices by Avpro, an aircraft-sales company in Annapolis, Md.

Starbucks has decided to keep only one of its three jets as part of its plan to save $500 million this year, Chief Financial Officer Troy Alstead said Wednesday.

The jet that Starbucks appears to be keeping is a 5-year-old Bombardier.

Starbucks' new jet — a Gulfstream 550 — has made only 15 flights, according to Avpro's online sales pitch. Several of those landings were in Honolulu and Kona, Hawaii, during a two-week trip apparently taken by CEO Howard Schultz. A Starbucks spokeswoman said the company ordered the jet three years ago and determined that canceling delivery would be too expensive.

Companies are not buying jets like they used to, driving down prices and making it difficult to sell planes. Starbucks' older Gulfstream, for example, could have brought $45 million six months ago, but now is worth less than $35 million, said Bob Zuskin, a consultant at Jet Perspectives in the Washington, D.C., area who works with Gulfstream and other manufacturers and aircraft-finance companies.

Earlier this week, Citigroup decided not to take delivery of a $50 million corporate jet after President Obama expressed concern that such a purchase, given the billions of dollars Citigroup has received from the federal government, is not "the best use of money at this point."

Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com