When U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler traveled to a Middle Georgia hot dog shop to meet with local officials, she hopped on her newly purchased private jet for an 18-minute flight. A few hours later, the aircraft took her to Washington, where she touted a federal budget that included new money for Savannah’s port.
The luxury jet is an enviable tool on the campaign trail, helping the Republican senator zip from her Buckhead home to Macon campaign stops to votes in Washington in a span of hours as she tries to build her political brand ahead of a November race against several well-financed challengers.
It also fuels critics who are pushing to portray the former financial executive as an out-of-touch multimillionaire who whisks to meetings with Georgia farmers and small-town officials on her private jet.
The plane is a Bombardier CL30, a midsize business jet that typically lists between $7 million for older models and four times that for newer versions. The cabins are big enough to fit at least eight people, and the plane has a range of more than 3,000 nautical miles, making it capable of coast-to-coast travel.