NetJets Inc. is an American company that sells
fractional ownership shares in private
business jet
A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...
s.
Founded as Executive Jet Airways in 1964, it was later renamed Executive Jet Aviation. NetJets became the first private business jet charter and aircraft management company in the world. It launched its fractional ownership business in 1986 and became a subsidiary of
Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiu ...
in 1998.
History
1960s
The company was founded in 1964 and originally known as ''Executive Jet Airways''. The name was later changed to ''Executive Jet Aviation'' (EJA), and again in 2002 to NetJets, after Berkshire Hathaway purchased it in 1998. NetJets was the first private business jet charter and aircraft management company in the world, launching its fractional ownership business in 1986.
The founding members of the board of directors included
US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sig ...
generals
Curtis E. LeMay
Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was an American Air Force general who implemented a controversial strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific theater of World War II. He later served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air ...
and
Paul Tibbets
Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the ''Enola Gay'' (named after his moth ...
, Washington lawyer and former military pilot
Bruce Sundlun
Bruce George Sundlun (January 19, 1920 – July 21, 2011) was an American businessman, politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as 71st governor of Rhode Island between 1991 and 1995.
He was Rhode Island's second Jewish gover ...
, and entertainers and pilots
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...
and
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname The Old Redhead. At the peak of his success, in the early-to-mid 1950s, Godf ...
, with retired Air Force Brigadier General Olbert F. "Dick" Lassiter serving as president and chairman of the board.
EJA initially began operations in 1964 with a fleet of ten
Learjet 23
The Learjet 23 (originally Lear Jet 23) is an American six-to-eight-seat (two crew and four to six passengers) twinjet, high-speed business jet manufactured by Learjet. Introduced in 1964, it was Learjet's first model and created a new market ...
aircraft.
Bruce Sundlun became EJA president in 1970, and
Paul Tibbets
Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the ''Enola Gay'' (named after his moth ...
became president in 1976.
1980s
In 1984, Executive Jet Aviation was purchased by mathematician and former
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
executive
Richard Santulli
Richard T. Santulli (born August 14, 1944), is an American businessman. He is the founder and chairman of Milestone Aviation Group, a helicopter and business jet leasing company.
He is best known for pioneering the concept of fractional jet owner ...
who owned a business that leased helicopters to service providers of offshore oil operations. When Santulli became chairman and CEO of the corporation, he closely examined 22 years of pilot logbooks, and began to envision a new economic model where several individuals could own one aircraft.
In 1987, the NetJets program was officially announced becoming the first fractional aircraft ownership format in history.
Around the same time, painted on every NetJets US aircraft is a registration ending with QS, symbolizing the concept of selling quarter shares of an aircraft—a feature that is still representative of the NetJets brand today.
1990s
In 1998, Berkshire Hathaway acquired EJA and NetJets Inc from Richard Santulli for US$725 million, half of which was paid in stock. NetJets soon expanded to Europe and then Russia, and by 2006, it was the largest operator of business jets in Europe.
2000s
The company operated a fleet of nine
Boeing 737-700
The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boein ...
Boeing Business Jet
Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) are versions of Boeing's jet airliners with modifications to serve the private, head of state and corporate jet market. In 1996, Phil Condit, president of The Boeing Company, and Jack Welch, chairman and CEO of Genera ...
s in the mid-2000s, since then sold off.
In early August 2009, Santulli resigned as CEO and was replaced by
David Sokol
David L. Sokol (born September 1956) is an American business executive. He is Chairman/CEO of Teton Capital LLC, headquartered in Wilson, Wyoming. He served as chairman, president and CEO of NetJets as well as chairman of MidAmerican Energy Hol ...
. Shortly afterward, NetJets moved its corporate headquarters from New Jersey back to its original home in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
.
2010s
In 2010, NetJets acquired Marquis Jet from founders
and
Kenny Dichter
Kenny Dichter is an American entrepreneur and the CEO of privately held aviation company, Wheels Up. He also co-founded Alphabet City Sports Records, Marquis Jet, and Tequila Avión.
Career
Alphabet City Sports Records
After graduating from ...
. The prepaid Marquis
Jet card
A Private Jet Card is a private aviation product that enables holders to use different aircraft at agreed-upon fixed hourly rates. Jet cards are offered by large and small fleet operators and charter brokers. There are as many as 65 variables betwe ...
allowed customers to purchase 25 hours of guaranteed flight time on the NetJets fleet.
On 11 June 2012, NetJets placed the largest aircraft order in private aviation history totaling US$17.6B. The company placed a firm order for 30 Bombardier Global 5000/6000 jets, 25 Bombardier Challenger 650 jets, 75 Bombardier Challenger 350s, 25 Cessna Citation Latitudes and 50 Embraer Phenom 300s.
As a part of this purchase agreement, it also placed conditional orders for an additional 40 Bombardier Global 5000/6000s, 50 Bombardier Challenger 650, 125 Bombardier Challenger 350s, 125 Cessna Citation Latitudes and 75 Embraer Phenom 300s. As a result of these orders NetJets became
Cessna
Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ...
's largest business jet fleet owner.
In September 2014, NetJets acquired approval to launch its aircraft charter service in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, having worked with Chinese authorities since 2012 to secure the operating certificate.
In 2015 the company's pilots picketed the Wynn resort in Las Vegas where company owner Warren Buffett was hosting some of his wealthiest customers. The event was symbolic of deteriorating labor relations within the company at this time.
The
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
(IRS) had sought back taxes and penalties of $643 million from NetJets for periods beginning in 2003, including on its maintenance and service fees. NetJets filed a lawsuit challenging the IRS assessments. In January 2015, the United States District Court issued a decision in NetJets' favor, holding that the IRS assessments were unlawful.
In 2019, a former NetJets pilot filed a lawsuit alleging that in March 2017, the company violated US Civil Right and Ohio anti-discrimination law when she was fired for being too short () to properly control the rudders of an Embraer Phenom 300. She states that male pilots who were too tall were reassigned to different aircraft, while her employment was terminated without the opportunity to fly a different plane.
2020s
In the spring of 2020 the company saw a boom in demand, as wealthy individuals sought to avoid the risks of airline flying during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Previously many potential customers had concerns about the optics of opulence and the environmental issues of private jet transport, but NetJets President of Sales, Marketing and Service, Patrick Gallagher noted in May 2020, that the health risks associated with flying on commercial airlines during the pandemic had trumped those concerns. The company introduced regular employee COVID-19 testing to try to contain the risks of an outbreak on its aircraft.
In October 2020 the company made initial moves to reduce its
carbon footprint
A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...
. The company committed to buying "up to 3 million gallons" (11.4 million litres) of
sustainable aviation fuel
An aviation biofuel or bio-jet fuel Note: About">Investable Universe>About' or bio-aviation fuel (BAF) is a biofuel used to power aircraft and is said to be a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) co ...
to be used at two of its bases, San Francisco and Columbus, Ohio. The company is also encouraging its customers to buy
carbon offsets for their flights. The company will also buy its own offsets for its administration and training flights.
As of November 2020 almost half of the company's fleet was manufactured by Textron, and the rest by
Bombardier Inc. and
Embraer
Embraer S.A. () is a Brazilian multinational aerospace manufacturer that produces commercial, military, executive and agricultural aircraft, and provides aeronautical services. It was founded in 1969 in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, where i ...
. After reducing its delivery target for 2021 by more than half, due to decreased demand caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
in 2020, the company expected to take delivery of 40 new aircraft in 2021 in anticipation of industry recovery.
In February 2021 the company purchased a stake in
WasteFuel, a business that will convert
landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
waste into
sustainable aviation fuel
An aviation biofuel or bio-jet fuel Note: About">Investable Universe>About' or bio-aviation fuel (BAF) is a biofuel used to power aircraft and is said to be a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) co ...
(SAF). NetJets plans to purchase 100 million gallons of SAF from WasteFuel over the next 10 years as part of the deal.
In March 2021, NetJets announced that it had ordered 20
Aerion AS2
The Aerion AS2 was a proposed supersonic business jet that was being developed by Aerion Corporation.
In May 2014, it was announced that the Aerion AS2 would be part of a larger Aerion SBJ redesign, which aimed for release after a seven-year de ...
s supersonic business jets. The
memorandum of understanding between NetJets and Aerion called for the two companies to operate a larger "Aerion Connect" network.
Aerion abruptly announced its closure on 21 May 2021, due to the inability to raise the needed capital to continue.
The company announced in March 2022, that it would partner with
Lilium GmbH
Lilium GmbH is a German aerospace company which is the developer of the Lilium Jet, an electrically powered personal air vehicle capable of VTOL flight.
History
Lilium GmbH was founded in 2015 by four engineers and PhD students at the Techni ...
to establish an
eVTOL
An electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is a variety of VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft that uses electric power to hover, take off, and land vertically. This technology came about thanks to major advances in elec ...
network in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. NetJets will buy 150
Lilium Jet
The Lilium Jet is a prototype German EVTOL, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) electrically powered airplane designed by Lilium GmbH. A seven-seat production version is planned.
History
Initial design studies included forward-foldi ...
s and operate them under a
FAR Part 135
The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). A wide variety o ...
charter operation.
Subsidiaries
NetJets Europe, also known by its corporate legal name, NetJets Transportes Aéreos, S.A., was launched in 1996 as a sister company of NetJets and is now a subsidiary.
It is based in
Oeiras, Portugal
Oeiras () is a town and municipality in the western part of Lisbon metropolitan area, located within the Portuguese Riviera, in continental Portugal. The municipality is part of the urban agglomeration of Lisbon and the town of Oeiras is about 16& ...
, and serves more than 5,000 airports globally.
Also among NetJets subsidiaries is Executive Jet Management (EJM), based in Cincinnati, Ohio, which offers aircraft management and charter services. QS Partners is the whole-aircraft brokerage arm of NetJets, launched in 2016 and officing in Columbus, Ohio; Boulder, Colorado; and London; it also exclusively resells used aircraft from NetJets' fleet. QS Security Services was launched by NetJets in October 2019 with "tiered security packages" based on passenger needs and threat level at destination. Initially only available at Paris Le Bourget and in Mexico, future plans include worldwide coverage by 2023.
Business model
NetJets sells fractions of specific aircraft, chosen from several available types at the time of purchase. Owners then have guaranteed access (50–400 hours annually, depending on share size) to that aircraft with as little as four hours' notice. If the owner's aircraft is unavailable for some reason, another aircraft of the same type, or a larger aircraft, will be provided.
Fractional owners pay monthly maintenance fees for a minimum of 50 annual flight hours and a five-year commitment, as well as operating fees by the hour for use of aircraft. Alternatively, customers may buy flight hours in 25-hour increments by way of jet card programs.
Fractional owners also pay an occupied hourly operating fee, but it is charged only when an owner or guest is on board, not for
ferry flights.
NetJets is the largest fractional aircraft provider. In 2021 its fleet flew 478,444 hours.
[
]
For companies or individuals that require less than the minimum 50 flight hours and the five-year commitment of fractional ownership, they can buy flight hours in 25-hour increments via the NetJets jet card programs.
Fleet
![N162QS-Global6000-FAR-3808](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/N162QS-Global6000-FAR-3808.JPG)
NetJets is the largest private jet operator in the world.
The NetJets fleet :
As of July 2022, NetJets' global fleet included more than 600 aircraft.
Accidents and incidents
See also
*
Air taxi
An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand.
In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...
*
List of charter airlines
This is a list of notable charter airlines and leisure airlines which are in operation.
Asia
* EastIndo
* Indonesia Air Transport
* Premiair
* Susi Air
* Air Japan
* Arab Wings
* Jordan Aviation
* Sunday Airlines
* Union Express Charter ...
References
External links
*
{{Berkshire Hathaway
Airlines established in 1964
Airlines based in Ohio
Berkshire Hathaway
Companies based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area
Fractional aircraft ownership companies
Air charter