Hogprint said:
SeaSpray posted:
This begs a question.
Did NJI really NEGOTIATE for all they have or was that GIVEN to them?
Tribal knowledge says they were GIVEN most of that to spite a Union house from a union hating CEO.
If anyone can clear this up, I'm all ears.
I know the answer to this one.
The time is January 1995. NJA (EJA at that time) at the time was known for it's low pay and history of hiring turbo-prop regional pilots into jets (at least that was our conception at Gulfstream). These pilots were willing to accept the work rules, duty periods, gateways and poor compensation their union had negotiated for them in return for jet time. They were flying mostly Citation IIs.
Richard Santulli approached Teddy Forstman, the then current owner of Gulfstream saying he would like to start an international operations company using Gulfstreams. Forstman handed the deal to Bill Boisture, then President of Gulfstream, to make happen.
Subsequently, the initial contract between Gulfstream and NetJets was a Bill Boisture - Richard Santulli deal. Forstman and Santulli are too much alike to work together easily. Gulfstream provided the first three "core" aircraft because Santulli and Executive Jet were unable to capitalize them at that time. Because protecting their brand was paramount, Gulfstream made some conditions. For them to provide these aircraft and be part of the deal, it was agreed that only well experienced Gulfstream pilots would be hired for the new venture as safety was to be a key marketing point and EJI buyers would be guaranteed highly qualified, internationally experienced Gulfstream pilots.
It was originally determined that only captains with a minimum of 2,500 hours in Gulfstreams would be hired. To draw the kind of pilots desired, starting and subsequent salaries were set to be industry standard (and still are). Over time as the company matured the hiring practices allowed for the hiring of first officers.
The first EJI office was in the Gulfstream Customer lounge. Rick Schwartz, Ray Roberts and Peter Hanchak interviewed pilots
while Joe Murphy, the present NJI President, shuttled between Savannah and Montvale hammering out compensation, homebasing, organization, workrules and duty periods.
NJI continues to be an autonomous company with their own President, executive staff, maintenance and dispatch/scheduling operations.
At the Big G, we had a couple of 1/8th shares and under NJI's rules the owning companies' pilots can fly in command on NJI aircraft as long as they meet NJI qualification and experience requirements as well as passing written, oral and flight checks. As such, I flew as an NJI Captain on our share aircraft for over a year and got to know many of the line pilots very well. Some of them I had known previously from the Gulfstream Community at Andrews AFB. All were professionals. I also know the Okatie leadership group from Gulfstream's efforts in initially establishing the EJI program as well as from working special joint projects with them. At one time, we worked together to develop the Flight Operations Manual still in use at Gulfstream. Other projects included Special Terrain Critical Procedures such as the Cottonwood Two at Vail. I think I have a pretty balanced view of NJI and it is my observation that NJI pilots are a very happy group with the company that they built - just as it is.
GV
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