NASA Aircraft Services Are Costly, Report Says
Posted on: Monday, 3 October 2005, 18:00 CDT
By Tim McLaughlin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Oct. 1--NASA's passenger-aircraft services cost about $20 million more than they would have if the space agency had bought coach tickets on commercial airlines, a report by government investigators said Friday.
In fiscal 2003 and 2004, NASA employees took nearly 1,200 flights using the agency's aircraft services, at a cost of about $25 million, the Government Accountability Office said Friday. Commercial tickets for those trips would have cost $5 million.
Since NASA was set up in 1958, it has owned and operated a small fleet of aircraft, as allowed by federal law. The agency's fleet, which includes Gulfstream jets, can save NASA employees time and provide more scheduling flexibility.
The GAO said 86 percent of the flights taken in the two years studied were to support routine business operations.
NASA's flight operations have been questioned before in several audit reports. Congress asked the GAO to audit the space agency to prevent fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
In fiscal 2004, NASA reported its seven passenger aircraft carried 10,000 passengers and logged 4 million passenger miles.
Flights included transporting people to the annual Engineer of the Year Awards conference. NASA said its cost for a flight to Baltimore from Kennedy Space Center was $14,000. Commercial ticket costs would have been $3,000, the GAO audit said.
NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin said the agency will examine its policies and procedures.
-----
To see more of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.stltoday.com.
Copyright (c) 2005, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
GD,
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Related Articles
- NASA Shuttle Commander Tweets, Will Answer Questions From Space
- Air Wisconsin Completes 1,000,000th Revenue Flight on the CRJ-200
- Fuel Costs Change Air Travel's Flight Path
- Prince Charles to Use Commercial Flights
- Commercial Flights Start in Somalia
- Airport OK for Commercial Flights: Future Hinges on Continued Conformity With Federal Regulations
- Development: Tax on Commercial Flights to Raise Money for Aid
- Ghana: New National Carrier Begins Commercial Flights on 29 October
- NASA targets next fall for next shuttle flight, too many repairs to
- NASA plan details changes needed to resume flights
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds