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The “Rolls-Royce treatment” that NetJets, Inc., employees offer their fractional owners was bestowed upon members of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter who toured the company’s three-year-old operational complex at Port Columbus International Airport October 13.
It was white glove all the way as members and guests of the chapter traipsed through the gleaming 200,00-square-foot facility for nearly two hours before ending the tour in the cafeteria and enjoying an assortment of cookies and drinks.
NetJets, a Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. company, is the worldwide leader in fractional jet ownership, allowing individuals and companies to buy a piece of a private business jet at a fraction of the cost of whole aircraft ownership.
Clients buy a portion of a specific aircraft based on the number of actual flight hours they need, and contract for NetJets to manage the aircraft. Owners are guaranteed use of their aircraft 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with just a few hours advance notice. Clients include General Electric, Gillette, Sun Microsystems, and individuals such as Andre Aggasi, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tiger Woods.
The company currently manages 535 aircraft, including Citation Bravos, Vultras and Excels as light cabin jets; Hawker 8800XPs and Citation Xs as mid cabin craft, and Falcon 2000s and Gulfstream IV-SPs as large cabin jets.
Barry Witter, IFMA member and NetJets’ new facility manager, arranged the tour. NetJets employees Jim Bostick, Dick Counter, Janet Pasqueletti, Mary Wyatt, and Ann Strosnider assisted him.
The Columbus complex includes an 80,000-square-foot hangar with an additional 45,000-square-foot-support area. The hangar is large enough to house 30 aircraft at any time and features a 300-foot by 600-foot ramp and cantilevered roof that provides for easy expansion and movement.
Approximately 200 of the Columbus fleet operation’s 450 employees work in the communications center where calls come in from the fractional owners for aircraft, flights, food, and other desired in-flight amenities. Several hundred other NetJets employees work in two buildings in the Easton shopping complex.
NetJets employees will go to almost any length to keep their customers happy. For example, they provided one owner with a plot of natural grass because his dog could only bathroom on the real stuff, and an owner in Puerto Rico had to have one or more Al Pacino movies for his flights.
The communications center is also the weather information hub where employees keep constant check on environmental conditions throughout the world. These employees maintain a reputation for “accurate weather information two days out, and generally good information for 10 to 15 days.” This and data from other employees are passed along to those whose responsible for making sure the pilots have all the information they need for their flights.
Fractional jet ownership is generally acknowledged to have started in 1964 in Columbus with the involvement of well-known and respected individuals prominent in aviation circles. Gen. O. F. Lassiter is credited with starting Executive Jet Aviation, using Air Force principles in aircraft utilization and management. He had able assistance from such notables as General Curtis LeMay, Arthur Godfrey and Jimmy Stewart.
In 1965, William P. Lear Jr. and General Paul Tibbets Jr. joined the company, and in 1986, a subsidiary known as NetJets was created. Richard Santulli is considered the visionary who in 1987 created the concept of selling fractional ownerships for companies and individuals who needed jet transportation but did not prefer charters or ownership of a complete craft.
In 1998, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway bought the company for $725 million. Because NetJets and Executive Jet were one and two, respectively in the fractional jet ownership market, and to avoid “corporate confusion,” Executive Jet changed its name to NetJets in April 2002.
Next month is the chapter’s annual President’s Dinner, which will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at Lindey’s Polaris. This event also features the yearly raffle to benefit the Community Service Committee’s Adopt-a-Family program. Raffle tickets are now available to members for $2 each or for a book of six for $10. While books of tickets have been sent to members, additional ones may be purchased from Cynthia Tate at 224-9180, or Dave Bongivengo at 885-5981.
Also, the third FM Roundtable will be held at 7 p.m. November 12 at the Grandview Café.