By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Flight records for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's fleet of private planes provide new evidence of the mayor's whereabouts during last December's incapacitating blizzard and the bungled cleanup effort that followed, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Although Bloomberg refused to disclose where he was when the storm began, many suggested that the mayor, whose primary residence is on the Upper East Side, was vacationing at another home in Bermuda.
That allegation and the mayor's refusal to say where he was became points of controversy in the days and weeks that followed the Dec. 26-27th storm, which, even the mayor agreed, had been mishandled by the city.
Now flight records obtained by the Journal confirm that one of the jets operated by Bloomberg Services and used by the mayor did indeed leave LaGuardia Airport for Bermuda on Christmas morning.
The plane returned the next day at 2:49 p.m., shortly before the mayor gave a press conference about the growing storm, according to the Journal.
While the flight information appeared to support the claim that Bloomberg was in Bermuda while the disastrous storm gathered speed, the records did not specify the names of passengers on board, the paper noted.
The mayor has defended his decision not to reveal his whereabouts when he leaves the city, citing privacy concerns.
The flight records uncovered by the Journal also suggested a conflict between the mayor's travel behavior and his 2008 plea with the U.S. Department of Transportation to limit the number of small airplanes that can utilize scarce runway slots at New York airports, according to the Journal.
Bloomberg's fleet, which is also reportedly used by relatives of the mayor and employees at his financial information company, was the largest user of private plane slots at LaGuardia Airport, the paper said.
