Buffett Jets Chief Says U.S. Leads Private-Flight Rebound
Press release from the issuing company
Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
The U.S. is leading a recovery in demand for private flights while Europe remains weighed down by economic weakness, the head of billionaire Warren Buffett’s jet-management company said.
“The U.S. from our perspective is coming back and doing relatively well,” Jordan Hansell, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A)’s NetJets, said by phone yesterday from Geneva, where he is attending the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition. “Europe has remained difficult.”
NetJets caters to wealthy individuals and business clients who take a stake in planes in exchange for flight hours. When the U.S. financial crisis sapped luxury flying, the company cut jobs and planes before embarking on $17.6 billion of orders starting in 2010 on a bet that the market would recover over the coming decade.
The number of new NetJets owners increased 55 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, Hansell said. Regarding the U.S. market, he said: “I wouldn’t say it’s a huge upswing, but it’s year over year over year, from 2009, been an improvement.”
