Netjets' charter/management division seems to be doing very well. Here's an article I found.
As major airlines suffer, Executive Jet Management continues to thrive. Based at Lunken Airport and part of Berkshire Hathaway's NetJets, the nation's largest private jet charter is cashing in on well-financed business and other travelers looking to skip the hassle at major airports.
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With fares starting at $2,500 per flight hour (most U.S. destinations can be reached in 1 to 4 hours), the price is right for passengers that save money by saving time. While renting an eight-passenger plane can easily run five figures, chief executive Ben Murray argues that can be very economical if you're flying a team of engineers to several stops and don't want to pay to put them up in hotels.
CAN YOU explain your business model?
Executive Jet Management has three engines to its growth: aircraft management, its charter business and aircraft maintenance. Aircraft management is where owners have us handle their aircraft for them - we provide the pilots, maintenance, hangaring, and broker a sale if they want to upgrade. When an owner is not using his airplane is where our charter business comes in - we rent it when it's not being used, which defrays the cost for owners and it serves customers that travel more sporadically and don't need to own a private jet. Our aircraft maintenance operation has two bases - one at Lunken, the other at West Chester (County) Airport in White Plains, N.Y. - and two rapid response teams that go anywhere in the world and put jets back into service.
HOW DOES THE tough climate for commercial flying affect your business?
More commercial fliers are looking for alternatives and the current state of flying is making life difficult for more business travelers - especially if flying to and from remote locations. If you fly out of CVG, you're taking two hours out of your schedule to arrive early. If you have a 9 a.m. flight with us, you can pull up at 8:59 - if you arrive at 9:15, the plane's still there because it's your flight. We often have passengers leave at 8 a.m., hit three different cities and get back home by 6 p.m. in time for their dinner and kid's ballgame. It's rare you can do that flying on a commercial airline.
WHO'S THE TYPICAL customer catching a flight?
We don't have a typical customer. Some are executives with publicly traded companies, others are middle management, professionals and entrepreneurs of local businesses and there's a nice blend of leisure travelers.
WHERE DO YOU FLY and what's your most popular destination?
We can fly to more than 5,000 private airports in the U.S., compared with the 450 airports used by commercial carriers. There isn't a "most-popular" destination - so far this year, we've flown into 962 airports in 62 countries.
HOW'S BUSINESS?
Our gross revenue growth was 25 percent last year - we're approaching $500 million in revenues. We employ 645 people, including 350 at Lunken. We're looking to grow our staff as much as 20 percent in the next year. We're working with local universities and the city of Cincinnati to hire pilots, sales associates, administrative and finance staff plus aviation professionals, such as dispatchers and schedulers. Our fleet has 116 jets - 40 percent more than this time last year. We're targeting to manage 200 jets by 2010.
