High-Flying CIOs: It's Only Right

Nonbusiness use of the corporate jet is a perk for many CEOs, according to the new study. Shouldn't CIOs be afforded the same privilege?There's a lot of talk about CIOs being invited to the executive table. What about being invited aboard the company airplane? According to Reuters, a new report by the Corporate Library, a research firms, says that more than half of the CEOs of 215 companies that reported perk packages for their top execs of more than $500,000 were able to hop on the corporate jet for personal use.

That includes Meg Whitman, the CEO of eBay, who generated $773,467 in corporate aircraft costs for personal trips, according to the report, and Michael McGrath, who stepped down as CEO of i2 Technologies, the supply chain software company, in July, who racked up $942,565 in frequent flyer costs.

Does that privilege extend to other corporate execs, and if so, shouldn't one of them be the CIO? After all, who keeps the organization from crashing? The job of the CIO is often described as assembling the airplane while it's in flight -- shouldn't that person get a couple of first-class seats?