Group calls Jayhawks’ business jet ‘wasteful,’ urges University of Kansas to sell

The University of Kansas’s Cessna CJ4 jet costs $1 million a year to operate. But the majority of university trips are short, under 200 miles and operating under-capacity, according to a report issued last year.

The University Senate Planning and Resources Committee urged the university to sell its Cessna CJ4 jet immediately in a report released in April.

University officials have since stated that the jet is a valuable tool used for donor relations, recruitment and KU Medical Center initiatives that can funnel money back to the university through philanthropy and athletics.

The issue may soon come up at the Kansas Legislature, where Republican Rep. Troy Waymaster, of Bunker Hill, said he began reviewing the state’s aircraft fleet and is considering possible liquidation.

The jet has been used by the university since 2015. The group of faculty, staff and students who worked on the report identified $6.6 million in savings that could be realized immediately, in addition to the $1 million a year for operations.

“It’s akin to owning a Lamborghini and using it to haul hay half a block to feed your horses. It’s that wasteful,” said Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, an aerospace engineering professor at the university and a member of the committee, told the Lawrence Journal-World. “We’ve got the wrong aircraft, we’re utilizing it the wrong way and it’s wasteful.”

According to the report, multiple entities, including the Provost, Chancellor and Alumni Association offices, use the jet. However, the athletic department used the most — 60 percent — of the flight hours logged between January 2015 to February 2017.

Rarely has the 10 passengers twin-turbine jet operated at full capacity.

The report stated that 97 percent of the university’s flights could be made with a fleet that “costs roughly $990,000 less per year to operate.”

“KU costs are extremely high with respect to industry averages,” the report stated. “There are several factors that are causing this, including low occupancy rates, low utilization rate and exorbitant expenses...”

It urged the university to recompose its aviation fleet and sell the Cessna CJ4 jet immediately.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Group calls Jayhawks’ business jet ‘wasteful,’ urges University of Kansas to sell."