2016 U.S.-Booked Air Volume: $49.4 million
Consolidated Global TMC: Amex GBT
Ford Motor Co. spent $49.4 million on U.S.-booked air volume
in 2016, as estimated by BTN. Ford dropped off BTN's list in 2015 and 2016, and
its place could be short lived now. Amid declining revenue and the need to
invest in innovation, the company began pursuing costs of $3 billion annually
in 2016, 2017 and 2018, a potential negative impact on travel. To reduce labor
costs, Ford had planned to build a small car manufacturing plant in Mexico and
move those operations out of the U.S. but scrapped the project. Instead, it
will move small car manufacturing to China to leverage existing manufacturing
capacity there and will expand its Kentucky plant to focus on SUVs and
crossovers, preserving about 1,000 jobs there. Even so, the automaker announced
in May that it would lay off approximately 10 percent of salaried positions
this year, mostly in the U.S. and Asia/Pacific, a move that also could reduce
travel volume. Ford named former Steelcase chief executive Jim Hackett as CEO
in May. He replaced outgoing CEO Mark Fields.