Originally Posted by
His dudeness
And your NetJets employee number is ?
You tell me! Used to work for a large m/x company for a couple of years. Yes, NJ was one of the customers but so were loads of other large and small operators with various business models as well as corporate and private owners. I saw the down times, delayed flights as well as the eye-watering bills they had to pick up. Need a loaner while your engine is at the shop for weeks and weeks? Have fun, the costs are obscene. Mandated SB's and upgrades can get very interesting too. For privately owned machines most findings came from the a/c not flying enough. Corrosion, erosion, seized bushings, dried out seals, cracked tires, etc. etc, etc. You can't pull an aircraft out of the hangar once a month and expect everything to work perfectly. Buying a freshly painted mid-size bizjet from the 80s for one or two m$ might seem like a great deal to an outsider. But paying for keeping it airworthy is no fun. Embrace for impact during your first m/x event, especially if you want to get it done properly. There are good reasons why large operators sell their planes after the extended warranty runs out.
Even if I had all the money I'd still prefer charter or fractional ownership at fixed cost and availability, hands down. Probably much nicer to arrive at the GAT in one of their 2yo planes than sitting next to the peasants in first class on an airline because your personal 30yo aircraft is AOG somewhere.
Just like with boats, the best two days of aircraft ownership are the one where you buy it and the one where you sell it.