NetJets says will expand its Columbus work force
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
NetJets Inc., which popularized the business model of allowing individuals and companies to share the ownership expenses and use of aircraft, is planning to add at least 810 jobs during the next five to six years to the work force at its Columbus operations hub.
The private jet company, which has operations at Port Columbus International Airport, also has committed at least $200 million to build a planned campus and flight safety facility in Columbus, said Richard Santulli, chairman and chief executive officer of NetJets, who founded the company in 1986. That will allow NetJets to consolidate employees there from scattered locations, Santulli said. NetJets has about 2,000 employees in central Ohio.
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"I couldn't be more happy to stand up here today and make the announcement that we are staying in Columbus, Ohio," Santulli said at a Columbus news conference. "We have committed to build a world-class facility right here so that all of our world-class NetJet employees will be back together once again."
The company reportedly had been evaluating whether to move its Ohio operation to Florida, North Carolina or Texas, before Ohio and local governments offered millions of dollars worth of tax breaks to NetJets.
NetJets is to receive government assistance worth a total of $67.6 million in tax abatements, job creation credits, workforce development grants and other direct assistance, said Keith Dailey, a spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland. That includes $37.4 million from Ohio, $22 million from Columbus and Franklin County, and $8.2 million from the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, Dailey said Wednesday.
The governor said he is delighted with NetJets' plans. Strickland noted NetJets' legacy of pioneering the fractional, or shared, ownership of business jets to make them affordable for a broader audience.
"With innovative companies like NetJets here, I think I can safely say the future of aviation and the future of Ohio are inseparable," Strickland said.
Santulli credited retail executive Les Wexner, Ohio and Columbus city officials for working with him to lobby NetJets management to remain in Columbus. Wexner, founder of The Limited retail store chain, encouraged a deal by hosting key officials at his suburban Columbus home for dinner that included Ohio State University figures including football coach Jim Tressel, Santulli said.
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman said the NetJets expansion could increase the operation to 1,000 outgoing flights daily, with 700 or so aircraft bound for destinations around the world. That will help create additional jobs and boost efforts to attract new businesses to Columbus, Coleman said.
The company was founded in 1986. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett bought control of the company in 1998 through his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. holding company. NetJets is part of a family of companies that include Executive Jet Management, Cincinnati, and international flight operations.
NetJets is part of the potential job market for graduates of Sinclair Community College's aviation programs for training pilots and aircraft dispatchers, so the NetJets expansion is a positive development, said Walt Davis, chairman of Sinclair's aviation technology program.
"It's a great piece of news. It's close enough to us that it can really make a difference," Davis said.
Regional airlines, including PSA Airlines and Comair which coordinate their air service with larger carriers such as Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, have been eager to hire the pilot and dispatcher students from Sinclair, Davis said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
