Despite the recession, corporate jet expenses at companies offering the perk increased and incidence levels have held steady, according to an analysis of more than 2,500 Russell 3000 companies by The Corporate Library.

Median expenses related to chief executives' personal use of corporate aircraft increased more than 9 percent, to $80,368, according to the report, "Proxy Season Foresights #8: CEOs' Personal Use of Corporate Jets Still Flying High."

The report notes that small-company CEOs don't seem to have as much access to corporate jets as their large-cap counterparts: Just 15 percent of Russell 3000 companies in the sample report the perk, while 40 percent of S&P 500 companies do so.

According to TCL Research Associate Michelle Lamb, author of the report, "most troubling" among the findings is the continued evidence of unreimbursed family and personal use, payment of related-tax gross-ups, and related-party transactions, for instance, at Williams-Sonoma, where the plane being leased for the CEO's use is owned by the CEO's other company.

"It is these practices that we believe call into question the culture in the boardroom," Lamb writes.

The average reported aircraft expense in the last year increased 3 percent to $131,340 (not including related tax gross-ups), while that average is up 71 percent for companies with expenses in both years, driven by some companies that greatly increased their expenditures, such as PartnerRe Ltd., where the expense climbed 4,126 percent from $7,138 in 2007 to $301,684 in 2008. Among the S&P 500, the averages, medians, and maximums have increased since 2004, according to the report.

For the companies comprising the Top 5, expenses range from nearly $700,000 to over $1 million. Two of the CEOs, former Dana Holding Corp. CEO Gary Convis and Abercrombie & Fitch's Michael Jeffries, got tax gross-ups, where the company pays the CEO's personal taxes on the perk. Two (Stephen Wynn of Wynn Resorts and David Hanna of CompuCredit Holdings) have usage rights extended to family members, and in one case (Howard Lester at Williams-Sonoma), the plane being leased is owned by the CEO's own company

The report cites McGraw Hill, where the CEO is required to fly on the company's jet, but is required to reimburse the company for the equivalent of first-class commercial airfare for himself and for each passenger traveling with him, as an example of best practices in recouping personal expense.

At Wynn Resorts, the family usage is at partly reimbursed to the company. Some of the companies impose limits on usage. At Dana Holding, Convis was limited to "up to 30 roundtrips" between his home in California and the company headquarters in Ohio. CompuCredit's Hanna was limited to 200 hours.

"We believe shareholders would be best served by CEOs reimbursing their companies for the equivalent of commercial airfare for themselves and those traveling with them on personal trips," Lamb writes. "In addition, we have particular concerns about companies that not only provide a personal aircraft use benefit, but pay executives' taxes on it, or companies which lease the plane in question from a company owned by the CEO."

The full report is available as a free download.