New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s flights — including what appear to be personal trips — in her first seven months in office have cost taxpayers at least $170,000, while average New Yorkers struggle to fill their gas tanks.
Hochul, a Democrat, has been avoiding traffic in this election year. She hopped on either a state helicopter or airplane 140 times in the first seven months since she took office last August, The New York Post reported.
Her flights on a Sikorsky 76D operated by state police costs taxpayers about $2,500 per hour, while a Beechcraft King Air airplane runs about $1,300 per hour. The governor’s flight time and estimated costs per hour add up to cost taxpayers somewhere around $170,000.
Many of Hochul’s flights appear to be for work: attending meetings, events, and press briefings. Others look like personal use, The Post reported.
In September, she took a flight from New York City with her husband Bill Hochul on a state-owned Beechcraft King Air 350 to attend the Buffalo Bills home opener, the only event listed on her public schedule.
Another questionable trip occurred in November when the governor and her husband flew on a state plane from New York City to Buffalo following a commercial flight after a Democratic Party event in Puerto Rico.
Rachael Fauss, a senior research analyst at good government group Reinvent Albany, questioned Hochul’s trips.
“When there is state business it is appropriate to use state aircraft but where it bleeds into personal or campaign business that should be paid for by the governor herself or campaign – not the taxpayers,” Fauss told The Post.
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