2020 U.S.-Booked Air Volume: $10 million
Multinational food and beverage giant Nestle was one of the
first companies to halt nearly all business travel in February 2020 in response
to Covid-19, and it shows in its decline of its estimated U.S.-booked air
volume from $50 million in 2019 to an estimated $10 million in 2020. The
company’s CEO Mark Schneider told Reuters in September 2020 that some
operational changes made during the pandemic were “here to stay, because if you
can do something remotely with the same quality, there’s no need to travel.” He
also noted in May 2021 during a conversation with JP Morgan that “when the
travel restrictions are eased and more people go back to the office, we will
not go back to a carbon copy of our lifestyles in the year 2019.”
The company reported 2020 sales at 84.3 billion Swiss
francs, or US$91.8 billion, an 8.8 percent decrease from 2019 sales. The
company employed 273,000 employees as of Dec. 31, 2020, down 6.2 percent from
291,000 in the prior year. It also completed its acquisition of vitamin maker
The Bountiful Company’s main brands in August 2021 for $5.75 billion.
Nestle has committed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas
emissions by 2050, and in December 2020, announced it would spend 3.2 billion
Swiss francs, or US$3.58 billion, over the next five years to progress toward
that goal. The company also said it wanted to offset all business travel by
2022. According to the company, Nestle USA was the first food and beverage
company in the U.S. to achieve the WELL Health-Safety Rating seal for all three
of its corporate locations, in recognition of its heightened focus on employee
health, safety and wellness.