Turbinehead
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Netjets to open new hangar at Westchester airport
By CAREN HALBFINGER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: November 24, 2003)
HARRISON — NetJets Inc. has been flying under the radar of most Westchester residents since 1986, when the company began selling jet shares and its aircraft first taxied into Westchester County Airport.
That's unlikely to change even in May, when the leader in fractional-jet ownership will open its newly leased airport hangar for business after a $3.5 million renovation.
And that's just the way NetJets and its owner-customers want it. Privacy and pampering are the company's watch words. NetJets ferries corporate executives to hush-hush merger and acquisitions talks, takes professional golfers to the links and shields celebrities from nosy paparazzi.
Even the aircraft — which range from a seven-passenger Cessna Citation V Ultra to a 19-seat Boeing Business Jet the size of a 737 — are anonymous. The only way to identify them is by their call numbers, all of which end in QS.
"The kind of service we sell is extremely premium," said Jim Christiansen, NetJets' vice president of national accounts. "Most of our customers are some of the hardest-driven leaders in business and entertainment. This allows us to control the owner experience."
To date, NetJets' aircraft have been based at Signature and Avitat, two aviation servicing companies with their own hangars on opposite sides of the county airport. NetJets passengers were met by NetJets staffers, but waited in a common lounge alongside other air charter passengers. That just wasn't good enough.
So when the new hangar opens, here's what you probably won't see, but the fabulously wealthy will.
NetJets clients drive up and punch a unique access code into a keypad to gain entry to the property. If their plane is ready, they can drive directly to it on the tarmac, where bags will be whisked from the trunk to the hold. Favorite food and beverages will await them on board. Upon their return, their car will be freshly washed and warmed up.
While waiting for other passengers to arrive, owner-customers can drive around to a canopied entrance, where NetJets staffers will unload their suitcases. They'll then enter one of several VIP rooms, where they can work, relax or snack until departure.
NetJets guards its customers' privacy so thoroughly that the company is unwilling to identify clients for testimonials. With corporate excesses grabbing headlines, companies that use NetJets to augment their own fleets stay tight-lipped. Still, several celebrities have gone public with their use of NetJets, including California's new governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis players Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Warren Buffett liked flying with NetJets so much he bought the company, now a division of Berkshire Hathaway, in 1998.
For all the secrecy, word still gets around. NetJets would rank as the nation's fifth largest airline if it were a commercial carrier, Christiansen said. The company's 500 aircraft will make more than 250,000 flights to more than 140 countries for 3,000 customers this year, an average of 685 daily flights, he said. Westchester County Airport accounts for roughly 6,000 inbound and outbound flights combined a year, he said.
Because NetJets guarantees its customers the right to fly anywhere with as little as six hours notice, the company's flights often violate the county's voluntary flight curfew. The midnight to 6:30 a.m. curfew is intended to give airport neighbors time for peaceful sleep. From January through September 2003, 244 NetJets flights broke the voluntary curfew, an average of 27 a month. NetJets will not break the curfew to reposition aircraft, but will do so if customers insist on flying during those hours, Christiansen said.
"The reason our numbers are higher than everybody else is our fleet is bigger than everybody else," Christiansen said. "We do our best to dissuade them, and if we can, we do. The fact is, we can't tell them no because it's a voluntary curfew, but we turn ourselves inside out not to do it."
Karen Schultz, a West Harrison resident and co-chairwoman of the Sierra Atlantic airport committee, said she was dismayed to learn NetJets was taking over the former Air National Guard hangar, most recently home base for the Seagram's and Vivendi fleets.
"Their whole business is at the whim of customers," she said. "This could be at the tragedy of the community and the (Kensico) reservoir. Why make it more convenient for NetJets or any other company to fly at night when we have a voluntary curfew for night flights? If business is good, won't they have more flights? Six thousand planes seems quite enough. There's no checks and balances on this."
Larry Salley, the county's transportation commissioner, said Westchester must balance the airport's long-term financial viability with the county's environmental good-neighbor policy.
"Some of their customers have not been such great neighbors," Salley said. "They fly at the whim of their customers, and if they don't fly, they'll just go to somebody else. They've notified 350 of their most frequent fliers out of White Plains of our voluntary curfew policy. They've done what's within their power to do."
Christiansen said the company did not intend to make the county airport its hub — its business simply doesn't work that way. What it wants to do is enhance the services provided to choosy clientele.
"We're not doing this for expansion," Christiansen said. "We've gotten big enough here. But business is business. We're hoping for growth."
By CAREN HALBFINGER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: November 24, 2003)
HARRISON — NetJets Inc. has been flying under the radar of most Westchester residents since 1986, when the company began selling jet shares and its aircraft first taxied into Westchester County Airport.
That's unlikely to change even in May, when the leader in fractional-jet ownership will open its newly leased airport hangar for business after a $3.5 million renovation.
And that's just the way NetJets and its owner-customers want it. Privacy and pampering are the company's watch words. NetJets ferries corporate executives to hush-hush merger and acquisitions talks, takes professional golfers to the links and shields celebrities from nosy paparazzi.
Even the aircraft — which range from a seven-passenger Cessna Citation V Ultra to a 19-seat Boeing Business Jet the size of a 737 — are anonymous. The only way to identify them is by their call numbers, all of which end in QS.
"The kind of service we sell is extremely premium," said Jim Christiansen, NetJets' vice president of national accounts. "Most of our customers are some of the hardest-driven leaders in business and entertainment. This allows us to control the owner experience."
To date, NetJets' aircraft have been based at Signature and Avitat, two aviation servicing companies with their own hangars on opposite sides of the county airport. NetJets passengers were met by NetJets staffers, but waited in a common lounge alongside other air charter passengers. That just wasn't good enough.
So when the new hangar opens, here's what you probably won't see, but the fabulously wealthy will.
NetJets clients drive up and punch a unique access code into a keypad to gain entry to the property. If their plane is ready, they can drive directly to it on the tarmac, where bags will be whisked from the trunk to the hold. Favorite food and beverages will await them on board. Upon their return, their car will be freshly washed and warmed up.
While waiting for other passengers to arrive, owner-customers can drive around to a canopied entrance, where NetJets staffers will unload their suitcases. They'll then enter one of several VIP rooms, where they can work, relax or snack until departure.
NetJets guards its customers' privacy so thoroughly that the company is unwilling to identify clients for testimonials. With corporate excesses grabbing headlines, companies that use NetJets to augment their own fleets stay tight-lipped. Still, several celebrities have gone public with their use of NetJets, including California's new governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis players Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Warren Buffett liked flying with NetJets so much he bought the company, now a division of Berkshire Hathaway, in 1998.
For all the secrecy, word still gets around. NetJets would rank as the nation's fifth largest airline if it were a commercial carrier, Christiansen said. The company's 500 aircraft will make more than 250,000 flights to more than 140 countries for 3,000 customers this year, an average of 685 daily flights, he said. Westchester County Airport accounts for roughly 6,000 inbound and outbound flights combined a year, he said.
Because NetJets guarantees its customers the right to fly anywhere with as little as six hours notice, the company's flights often violate the county's voluntary flight curfew. The midnight to 6:30 a.m. curfew is intended to give airport neighbors time for peaceful sleep. From January through September 2003, 244 NetJets flights broke the voluntary curfew, an average of 27 a month. NetJets will not break the curfew to reposition aircraft, but will do so if customers insist on flying during those hours, Christiansen said.
"The reason our numbers are higher than everybody else is our fleet is bigger than everybody else," Christiansen said. "We do our best to dissuade them, and if we can, we do. The fact is, we can't tell them no because it's a voluntary curfew, but we turn ourselves inside out not to do it."
Karen Schultz, a West Harrison resident and co-chairwoman of the Sierra Atlantic airport committee, said she was dismayed to learn NetJets was taking over the former Air National Guard hangar, most recently home base for the Seagram's and Vivendi fleets.
"Their whole business is at the whim of customers," she said. "This could be at the tragedy of the community and the (Kensico) reservoir. Why make it more convenient for NetJets or any other company to fly at night when we have a voluntary curfew for night flights? If business is good, won't they have more flights? Six thousand planes seems quite enough. There's no checks and balances on this."
Larry Salley, the county's transportation commissioner, said Westchester must balance the airport's long-term financial viability with the county's environmental good-neighbor policy.
"Some of their customers have not been such great neighbors," Salley said. "They fly at the whim of their customers, and if they don't fly, they'll just go to somebody else. They've notified 350 of their most frequent fliers out of White Plains of our voluntary curfew policy. They've done what's within their power to do."
Christiansen said the company did not intend to make the county airport its hub — its business simply doesn't work that way. What it wants to do is enhance the services provided to choosy clientele.
"We're not doing this for expansion," Christiansen said. "We've gotten big enough here. But business is business. We're hoping for growth."
