Aviation - 4th June 2009
An interesting interview on CNBC this week by Richard Santulli, founder chairman and CEO of NetJets.
Lots of ground covered, but some of the notable points:
- Santulli being touted as a possible successor to Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway
- NetJets’ flown hours down about 26% YTD versus prior year
- NetJets’ revenues track the stock market, whereas jet sales track corporate profits
- Consistent use of the industry’s key messages about the value of business aviation (1.5 million US employees, $150bn contribution to US economy, low jet utilisation by actual CEOs versus other employees)
- A business jet takes you where an airline can’t: 90% of all US scheduled flights go to 70 airports, but last year NetJets flew to 2,600 airports in the US and connected over 60,000 unique city pairs
- NetJets is seeing a bigger impact in the recession on business usage (down 30%) than personal usage (down only 8%)
- Neatly turns President Obama into a role model for NetJets customers by praising his recent use of a Gulfstream instead of the costlier Air Force One!
