What Is Net Jets
Posted on July 31, 2008
History of NetJets
NetJets is a company that was founded in the mid 1960s under the name Executive Jet Aviation. I did not become known as NetJets until the mid 1980s. It is owned by Berkshire Hathaway and rents out private jets to businessmen.
Chairman Richard Santulli thought of the idea for NetJets when he was thinking of purchasing his own personal jet in 1986. The idea of owning his own jet certainly appealed to Richard Santulli however his financial situation did not necessarily permit him to purchase his own jet. Before long, he was considering jointly purchasing a jet, however it was nearly impossible for the businessmen considering the purchase of the jet to coordinate their schedules. After some consideration, he finally decided that he wanted to establish a company that would offer partial ownership of private jets to businessmen. Thus NetJets was born after Richard Santulli’s purchase of Executive Jet Aviation and a little re-vamping. They provided the jets, the pilots, the hangars, and the maintenance, and the businessmen paid lots of money for the convenience of a private jet whenever they needed it.
The original Executive Jet Aviation actually taught the FAA how to properly administer checks on business jets. In 1983, Executive Jet Aviation was still the largest personal jet charter service, with over 150,000 customers served and nearly 100 million miles flown with clients. In 1984 Richard Santulli purchased Executive Jet Aviation and established NetJets, which quickly rose to the top of the personal jet charter industry. It wasn’t until 1986 that NetJets offered fractional ownership to their clients. The proposed program was implemented in 1987 with the sale of the first eight craft in the new NetJets fleet. In 1993, NetJets placed an order for 20 large business jets. At the time, the order was the largest jet order ever.
In 1995 NetJets expanded to gulf region of the United States, further establishing its dominance in the private jet chartering industry. In 1996 the company again expands, this time overseas to Europe. NetJets profits are at record highs and remain steady and increasing. In 1997 NetJets purchased 52 new jets, which then became the largest jet purchase ever, at the time. NetJets sets their eyes on a 1999 expansion to the Middle East. Also in 1997, NetJets joined forces with the most prominent jet company in the world as it adds its first Boeing jet to its fleet. In 1998 NetJets orders 161 new business jets, an order that exceeded $2.8 billion USD. In 2000, NetJets established a 200,000 square foot headquarters inside of the Port Columbus Airport. In addition, the company purchased another 20 jets to add to their fleet.
NetJets was the first company in the United States that allows for the rental and chartering of private jets to businessmen. NetJets also provides partial ownerships of aircraft to some of its clients who chose to participate. After being a customer of NetJets for 3 years, Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway bought out the owner Richard Santulli. Today, NetJets is still dominating the jet charter industry.
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