Maybe this can get us all to Tacoma?

Starbucks' new corporate jet is a Gulfstream 550.

As I-5 lays impassable under 20 miles of water, some folks from Portland have managed to book flights into SeaTac and Horizon Airlines has added additional flights to try ferry more passengers back and forth between Portland and Seattle. However, with new reporting from the Seattle Times, I think I have a better solution.
It seems that even while shuttering hundreds of stores and cutting back on employees’ 401k funds, Starbucks has recently taken delivery of a brand new Gulfstream 550 valued at some $45 million. Now of course I’m not saying they need to send us north on their new ride, I’m more than willing to accept a lift on either of the company’s other two jets. As the Times also reports Starbucks is trying to sell its 7-year-old Gulfstream V. Now, had they sold that jet six months ago it might have fetched up to $45 million itself, but now with the economic mess we’re in, most corporations are not as interested in that old model and it’s now only worth $32 million. So hey, why not hold onto that plane for a while, until the economy recovers, and sell it for more? Meanwhile, best to not let it go to waste, and send it on down here to PDX and we can all get to the NWRBC?

About Ken 262 Articles
Kenneth R. Olson (he/him) is co-founder and publisher of Barista Magazine the worldwide trade magazine for the professional coffee community. He has written extensively about specialty coffee, traveled near and far for stories, activities, and fun, and been invited to present on topics important to coffee culture. He is also an avid fan of the Portland Trail Blazers, the Washington Huskies, and public libraries.