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NetJets Staying Put, Expanding in Ohio
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: Speaking yesterday at the fractional provider’s Port Columbus (Ohio) Airport operations center, NetJets CEO Richard Santulli ended months of speculation by
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Speaking yesterday at the fractional provider’s Port Columbus (Ohio) Airport operations center, NetJets CEO Richard Santulli ended months of speculation by announcing that the company will be staying put in the Buckeye State. Despite fierce competition from cities such as Raleigh, N.C.; Orlando, Fla.; and Fort Worth, Texas, in the end NetJets decided to expand its existing facility in Columbus rather than relocate. “We are staying and expanding in Columbus largely because of our NetJets employees,” Santulli said. “Ohioans…bring a unique work ethic to their jobs [and] that means all of our employees go the extra mile for our owners.” Specifically, NetJets and sister company FlightSafety International will retain their 2,022 combined employees in Columbus, and the expansion effort will create an additional 810 jobs. The two Berkshire Hathaway companies, which are getting $67 million in incentives from state and local governments, expect to invest more than $200 million to build a “world class” campus, including the largest FlightSafety International training center in the world and an expansion of the NetJets operation center, which now controls 390,000 NetJets flights per year.