Buffett's Baby Is Taking a Bumpy Ride

[SheGaveMeClap]

So Netjets guys, what you think of Uncle Warren giving away your pension?

I'm just kidding, sort of. It's nice you got the raise that you did, but to fight hand and fist for three-plus years to get it was ridiculus. Especially since he just GAVE AWAY $37+ Billion dollars.

Flame away.....

 

[Hawk Driver]

So Netjets guys, what you think of Uncle Warren giving away your pension?

I'm just kidding, sort of. It's nice you got the raise that you did, but to fight hand and fist for three-plus years to get it was ridiculus. Especially since he just GAVE AWAY $37+ Billion dollars.

Flame away.....

Uncle Warren doesn't even give money to his OWN grandchildren, why would he bother giving away the money to us?

HD

 

[Publishers]

Flying more hours is not necessarily a good thing or even relative to profits. There is no question that use of outside charter operators diminished profits but that may be traced more to Marqui cards where a share generates much more use and customers that want to travel at the same time. Resellers usually are the result of your not selling enough of the kinds of shares you wanted to.

 

[WillFlyFoCookie]

I haven't been flying for NetJets very long but I'm certainly going to remain optimistic. I like working here very much and judging by so many of the smiling faces I've seen in indoc, recurrent, hundreds of FBOs everywhere and the Embassay Suites... I'm guessing there are a lot of people that feel the same. Attitude is everything and that will go a long way towards an even more successful future.

Based on my knowledge of NetJets and it's operations I'd say things are looking up and that 2006 will go down as a landmark year and in a good way at that.

Peace,

WFFC

 

[Publishers]

One should remain optomistic. There are so many outside and uncontrollable things that impact this industry, one would quickly go mad trying to deal with all the What If's. GA has been in an up mode and should continue on the path.
A big question mark in addition to what I said above is what the manufacturers are going to do. As Cessna, Raytheon, and Bombardier all have fractional operations, it remains to be seen what they do with their model.

 

[netjetwife]

Some of life's basic lessons apply to the NJA contract battle.

It costs more in the long run to keep sticking band-aids on a problem, rather than fixing what is broken. Time and again, across all industries and situations, it has been proven that dragging your feet just wastes time and money. The sell-offs due to labor strife and pre-booking (don't forget those) charter flights in anticipation of a strike and/or labor problems during the holidays, could have been avoided. Certainly, the infamous POSTA could have/should have been skipped. The NJ pilots have had to bear the brunt of far too many penny-wise/pound foolish schemes by management. It took them awhile but the pilots learned that bullying doesn't stop until you stand up to the bully.

Mr. Santulli recalled. "I should have hired 300 pilots, but no one knew what their contract would be. So I had airplanes and no pilots." The shortage is now over, NetJets said. That doesn't tell the whole story, does it? It is more accurate to say that they couldn't get enough experienced pilots to take the job at the low wages offered. Obviously, increased salaries made a difference as did the huge boost to job satisfaction. No surprise there--you get what you pay for.

Experience in life teaches us all that it's cheaper to do things right from the beginning. Cutting corners, taking short-cuts, applying band-aids just prolonged inefficiency. With increased wages came an increased need for efficiency. As Gunfyter pointed out, management is now applying themselves to addressing the problems that they were able to ignore while they underpaid the pilots. They are currently working with the union, instead of against the union, to achieve greater profitability. Tapping into the talent pool that exists in the pilot force --making the best use of available resources--is a smart, profitable thing to do. Likewise, increasing motivation rather than decreasing it, will give RTS the 100% he accused the pilots of withholding. Let's hope that management has finally managed to learn that you get better results from the carrot approach than you do from wielding a stick.
NJW

 

[CRAWDADDY]

Buffett only wants to kill the future. This thinking is so Seventies. Even Japan announced today that its population implosion represents its biggest crisis.

 

[lawfly]

So Netjets guys, what you think of Uncle Warren giving away your pension?

I'm just kidding, sort of. It's nice you got the raise that you did, but to fight hand and fist for three-plus years to get it was ridiculus. Especially since he just GAVE AWAY $37+ Billion dollars.

Flame away.....

There is no "pension" at NJA. (Do you know the difference between a 401k and a pension?) A "pension" provides an amount certain--usually a percentage of one's highest salary--typically for life, after "vesting", and based on years of service. The best examples outside of aviation are probably in the public sector (for example, CALPERS in California). Thoughtless post.
Regarding Publishers' inclusion of Raytheon and its fractional, the billion dollar Hawker 4000 order from NetJets should help Raytheon's financial position...

 

[Publishers]

While it is nice that Netjetswife gets to pontificate the platitudes, business is a long term affair and much remains to be seen. In the end, I doubt if the pilot salaries and contract negotiations mean much to the future as some other outside issues.
Raytheons getting orders from Netjets could hasten or delay the termination of Flight Options future.

 

[FAcFriend]

classic case of crossing the chasm-
difficult and tricky in all new industries-