Savannah GA Divorce Lawyer - Divorce Puts Light on United Technologies Jet Use

Divorce Puts Light on United Technologies Jet Use

By JOHN EMSHWILLER and DIONNE SEARCEY

A divorce proceeding involving a top official at United Technologies Corp. has uncovered potentially embarrassing records showing he made extensive personal use of company aircraft.


Associated Press
United Technologies said George David had authorized a "handful of flights by unescorted guests" on company aircraft. It said he had reimbursed the company for those flights, but the company declined to provide further details. Above, Mr. David arrives for divorce proceedings in Hartford in March.
Over the past seven years, George David, United Technologies' chairman and former chief executive, and his guests have used corporate planes and helicopters for personal travel on several hundred separate flights, company records show.

Among other things, the records show that on about a dozen occasions, Mr. David allowed guests to travel on board without him, including to join him on vacation -- which he said in court was "normally not" permitted under company policy.

In response to questions from the Journal, United Technologies said Mr. David had authorized a "handful of flights by unescorted guests" on company aircraft. It said Mr. David had reimbursed the company for those flights, but declined to provide further details, such as when the reimbursements were made.

Earlier, a United Technologies official had said the company couldn't accept reimbursement from executives because of certain Federal Aviation Administration rules. In a written statement Monday, the official said the reimbursements were "FAA-compliant," but didn't elaborate.

The records of the 67-year-old Mr. David's personal air travel from 2002 to 2008, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, became available as a result of a divorce battle between Mr. David and his wife, Marie Douglas-David, in a Connecticut court. Ms. Douglas-David, 37, is seeking tens of millions of dollars from Mr. David.


Mr. David stepped down as CEO in April 2008 after 15 years in the top job at United Technologies, which makes Sikorsky helicopters, Otis elevators and Pratt & Whitney airplane engines. During his tenure, annual earnings soared from $585 million in 1994 to $4.69 billion last year, and the company's stock-market value grew some 12-fold to $75 billion.

United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., said company policy required Mr. David, as well as CEO Louis Chenevert, to use company aircraft for personal flying for security reasons. The company estimated that more than 80% of Mr. David's flight time on corporate aircraft was for business travel. "Information about his flight itineraries, exchanged in the litigation, has been disclosed outside the courtroom in an obvious attempt to embarrass him," the company said in a statement.

Like many companies, United Technologies doesn't charge its executives for personal travel on corporate aircraft. It uses a formula to estimate the cost of a given trip and adds that amount as income when reporting the executive's compensation to the Internal Revenue Service. The taxes on this imputed income are often much lower than the cost of chartering a private plane.

Through a United Technologies spokesman, Mr. David declined to be interviewed.

Personal use of company jets is a major issue for some shareholder activists and government officials seeking to clamp down on executive perks. The Securities and Exchange Commission began several years ago to press companies to be more open about the cost of executives' personal travel. Proxy filings, including those by United Technologies, routinely estimate this cost.

Some companies, including Sears Holdings Corp. and Ford Motor Co., have begun selling their corporate aircraft.


Associated Press
The records of George David's personal air travel became available as a result of a divorce battle between Mr. David and his wife, Marie Douglas-David. Above, Ms. Douglas-David leaves a Hartford court after the first day of proceedings in divorce trial on March 18.
Records show Mr. David's travels ranged from international flights to a helicopter ride in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island. In a statement, United Technologies said "selective references have been made to certain flights...in an attempt to devalue" Mr. David's record.

In March 20 court testimony as part of his divorce case, Mr. David was asked by one of his wife's lawyers whether flying unescorted guests was allowed under company travel policy. "Normally not," Mr. David said.

The question arose in connection with Mr. David's use of a company jet to fly unescorted guests to Italy to join him and his wife on a yachting vacation in 2005.

The records of Mr. David's personal travel list about 900 flights, or the equivalent of about 450 round trips, though some of the flights were legs of the same journey.

The majority of Mr. David's personal flights involved helicopters. About a quarter of them involved jet travel, with destinations that ranged from Paris and Buenos Aires to San Diego and Augusta, Ga.

A review of SEC filings of Fortune 100 companies by Equilar Inc., an executive-compensation research firm, shows that the median reported value of a chief executive's personal travel was $141,477 last year. For 2008, United Technologies reported Mr. David's personal travel at $309,865 and that of Mr. Chenevert, the current CEO, at $93,435.

United Technologies proxy statements show Mr. David's personal travel costs have declined from a 2006 level of $612,303.

Savannah GA Divorce Lawyer
GA Uncontested Divorce - GA Contested Divorce -

We specialize in: Separation Agreements - Spousal Support - Property Division - Alimony - Military Divorce - Contempt Actions in Divorce Cases - Child Custody / Custody modification - Child Support Modification - Child Visitation - Adoptions - Prenuptial Agreements

Savannah GA, Richmond Hill, GA, Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia Family Law Lawyer - Georgia domestic mediator. Georgia divorce lawyer, GA child custody attorney

Our family law firm handles cases in Savannah, Georgia. Our Georgia divorce lawyers represent clients in Savannah & throughout Coastal Georgia including Savannah, Hinesville, Richmond Hill, Fort Stewart, Bloomingdale, Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt, Tybee Island, and Vernonburg, Bryan County, Liberty County, Long County, Chatham County , and Effingham County.