Tesco is close to ditching the last of the private jets used by its top executives after an accounting scandal that sparked the biggest crisis in its 95-year history . Britain ’ s biggest grocer operated a multimillion-pound fleet of five aircraft for its bosses , but after a disastrous year new chief executive Dave Lewis admitted the planes gave the wrong image and put them up for sale . Four have been sold and the final one , a Hawker 800 , will be gone by the end of next month . A similar plane can cost up to £67,000 to charter . Tesco 's old Gulfstream 550 , worth around £30 million , that was capable of flying 14 executives at a time . Just days ago , Tesco managed to sell its seven-year-old , Gulfstream 550 , worth around £30million new . It was capable of flying 14 executives at a time . With a top speed of 580mph , powered by two Rolls-Royce engines , it was the height of luxury , kitted out with DVD players , widescreen TVs and a bar . It even had cabins allowing executives to sleep in full-sized beds on longer journeys to America and Asia . Mr Lewis hopes the sale of the fleet will draw a line under a difficult year in which Tesco lurched from crisis to crisis , including a fraud investigation into after a £263million black hole emerged in its accounts . The supermarket haemorrhaged senior staff losing its chairman , chief executive and finance director while being hit hard by competition from German discounters Aldi and Lidl , who have stolen customers . In September Lewis was parachuted in from consumer goods giant Unilever . However less than four weeks after informing the City he no longer wanted to maintain the fleet , Lewis could not resist hopping onto a private jet to visit seven locations in Asia in four days . A spokesman said : ‘ In October we said we would dispose of the five aircraft we operated . The last aircraft will be handed back by the end of May at the latest . Tesco spent nearly £29 million flying executives to different parts of the world between 2005 and 2012 . ‘ The aircraft have not been used by Tesco since December . In future we will use chartered aircraft only if there is a compelling business justification and travel can not be completed by scheduled airline. ’ Between 2005 and 2012 the firm has spent nearly £29 million flying executives to different parts of the world . Previous chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has been reported as saying he preferred flights with EasyJet than flying on private jets but still managed to spend £2.3 million on the planes in 2009 . The bill increased dramatically under the management of former boss Phil Clarke . In February 2011 under the tenure of Clarke it had jumped to £8.9 million . A brand new Gulfstream was delivered and sold almost immediately in November along with a Cessna Citation and another Hawker .
Tesco operated nearly £29 million a fleet of five aircraft for its bosses . Four of the private jets have been sold after they were put up for sale . Sale comes after grocer embroiled in £263million fraud investigation . Over a seven year period firm spent £29million flying executives across the world .