We reported on Nike’s extensive use of private jets. The company just made it harder to track them down.

Nike, the world’s largest sportswear brand, has been highlighted by ProPublica and The Oregonian/OregonLive as executive travel destinations, obstructing public inspection of its corporate jets. It became the latest participant in a cat-and-mouse game in which aircraft owners have sought to cover up their movements around the world.

A month after the story was published, two of Nike’s Gulfstream G650ER jets were no longer visible on flight-tracking website FlightAware. Both are listed on the Federal Aviation Administration’s Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed list, which includes aircraft that websites like FlightAware cannot display. Placement on the list makes it difficult – but not impossible – to see where the machines go.

We reported that Nike’s private jets emitted nearly 20% more carbon dioxide last year than in 2015, which is the basis for the company’s climate goals. Airplanes are one small reason why Nike and its supply chain will produce roughly as much carbon dioxide in 2023 as they did in 2015, despite the company’s voluntary commitment to significantly reduce emissions.

LADDlist.com first noted the blockage on one of the planes on Aug. 27, just two weeks after the article was published and days after flight records showed the plane had returned from a 10-day trip to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where the company’s executive chairman, Mark Parker, owns a house. LADDlist does not say when the other aircraft was blocked, but it was visible on FlightAware as of August 13.

An FAA spokesman would not confirm the timing for any of the aircraft on the list, and Nike did not respond to questions. The planes can still be tracked through another data source used in reporting by ProPublica and The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Air travel is considered public information because taxpayers help fund the air traffic control system that manages the common space, said Chuck Collins of the progressive Institute for Policy Studies.

Collins, who has studied the FAA’s intelligence programs, called Nike’s move an effort to avoid accountability. He said it amounts to Nike: “We don’t want ProPublica bothering us. We don’t want to appear in the newspaper.”

A precursor to the LADD list, which included the names of 1,100 aircraft owners who wanted to hide their travel until ProPublica fought in court to get it from the FAA. After the news organization reported on the program’s participants in 2010, the FAA said it would require aircraft owners to prove valid safety concerns to block tracking. But under pressure from Congress and lobbying groups for pilots and aircraft owners, the FAA soon dropped the requirement.

The list of blocked tail numbers has expanded exponentially since then. It now includes 52,000 aircraft, or 24% of all aircraft registered in the country, according to FAA records obtained in January by the Institute for Policy Studies.

The National Business Aviation Association, which represents corporate jet owners, cited privacy as the main reason for the program’s existence. “People should not be required to give up their right to privacy, safety and security to corporate espionage just because they get on a plane,” said Dan Hubbard, a spokesman for the association.

The passenger registers are not public.

Many celebrities have objected to people and groups publicizing their air travel, drawing attention to their carbon footprint. After a college student posted the whereabouts of Elon Musk’s jets on X, Musk’s social media platform, Musk tried to buy the account and then temporarily suspended the student.

Nike drivers’ trips remain visible in other ways, thanks to transponder technology called automatic dependent surveillance broadcast, or ADS-B, implemented as part of the FAA’s transition to a more precise, next-generation air traffic control system. ProPublica and The Oregonian/OregonLive used transponder records from a site called the ADS-B Exchange to track the flights of Nike planes.

Some of the news organization reports focused on the travels of CEO John Donahoe, a former Silicon Valley tech executive who started at Nike and made his home in the Bay Area. Airports near his home were a magnet for Nike planes during his tenure.

The morning after former Nike executive Elliott Hill was named Donahoe’s replacement on September 19, the Nike jet’s transponder reported that the plane had taken off from the Portland area.

With a moving van in front of Donahoe’s downtown Portland condominium building, the plane climbed to a cruising altitude of 41,000 feet and landed in San Jose, Calif., less than 24 hours after Donahoe’s exit was announced.