A frenetic video shows the Tesla CEO travelling the equivalent of six times around the world in a $99 million private jet during the year he described as "excruciating".
Tesla flew its billionaire chief executive officer Elon Musk the equivalent of six times around the world in a private jet in last year — and this hypnotic video shows his dizzying flight routes.
The tech entrepreneur logged more than 241,400km flying around the United States, Asia and Europe in the corporate jet, a $98.7 million Gulfstream G650ER in 2018, according to flight records obtained by The Washington Post.
Non stop: Elon Musk, center, began 2019 with a meeting in China with Premier Li Keqiang. Photo / Getty Images
There were 250 flights both for business and leisure, which added up to the equivalent of about six trips around the world.
And as the video shows, most of the action was seen in California, where Mr Musk lives in a mansion in Bel Air, Los Angeles.
He also a frequent flyer to the airport in San Jose, which is close to Tesla's Palo Alto headquarters, as well as the airport near SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, in southwest Los Angeles County.
Mr Musk said he never flew from one part of LA to the other, but sometimes the jet would be flown to the airport nearest to where he was to be picked up, according to The Post.
But other flights on the private jet sent Mr Musk to further-flung parts of the world, such as Thailand, where he — controversially — delivered a mini submarine to rescue a soccer team and their coach trapped in a cave.
Just returned from Cave 3. Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rocket parts & named Wild Boar after kids’ soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be useful in the future. Thailand is so beautiful. pic.twitter.com/EHNh8ydaTT
The billionaire also jetted off to Chile, Jordan and Israel for holidays.
Other US domestic flights on the jet included visits to Texas, where Mr Musk visited the set of HBO series Westworld, Seattle, where SpaceX has an office, and New York, where he attended the Met Gala with his then-girlfriend, electro musician Grimes in May.
Tesla EV station: Musk's ventures have been heavily travel related. Photo / Robert Alexander, Getty Images
If you think this is all part of a typically high-flying year for a chief executive — well, not really.
The Post reported Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — the wealthiest man in modern history — took 100 fewer flights than Mr Musk in 2018.
And Apple spent $131,000 on flights for its chief executive Tim Cook in 2017, a mere speck of the $987,000 Tesla forked out on Mr Musk's air travel that year.
Notably, Apple made 19 times the revenue of Tesla in 2017.
Mr Musk's high-flying 2018 was also a year of turmoil for Tesla, during which Mr Musk said the electric car maker was losing up to $141 million a week and on the verge of collapse.
Last month Tesla announced plans to lay off about 7 per cent of its workforce, in addition to a job cull in June.
Tesla said the company did not cover the cost for Mr Musk's personal trips and his air travel was part of the job.
"Until we can teleport, there's unfortunately no alternative that would allow him to do his job as effectively," Tesla spokesman Dave Arnold told The Post.
Moonshot: Musk's Space X venture promised to send patrons on the 380,000km journey to the moon. Photo / Getty Images
Mr Musk told the New York Times that 2018 had been an "excruciating" year for him as he worked up to 120 hours a week and struggled to sleep.
The 47-year-old said sometimes he didn't leave the Tesla factory for three or four days straight and he had not taken off more than a week at a time since he was sick with malaria in 2001.
"This has really come at the expense of seeing my kids. And seeing friends," he told The Times.
He also admitted he spent all 24 hours of his birthday at work.
