NJASAP COMMUNICATION ARCHIVE
MEDIA + NEWS RELEASE GALLERY
NJASAP to host Wall Street Informational Picket on Thursday,
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 13, 2023
WHO
The NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) represents the professional interests of the 3,100-plus pilots who fly in the service of NetJets Aviation, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK) subsidiary.
WHAT
Informational picketing by NetJets pilots and their families outside the New York Stock Exchange
WHERE
The New York Stock Exchange, 20 Broad St., New York, NY
WHEN
Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, from 1330ET to 1730ET
WHY
Despite the sustained pilot labor crisis, NetJets executives have not taken meaningful steps to attract and to retain talented pilot personnel, putting the brand's status as the global leader in private air transportation at risk.
Indeed, as the pilot shortage tightens its grip on the marketplace, NetJets' competitive position continues to diminish: In a recent survey, 72% of pilots in their first year of service with NetJets do not view the Fractional as a career destination carrier.
NetJets pilots will earn, on average, 60% of what their peers at some low-cost carriers will earn across a 30-year career. At a time when carriers are aggressively competing for and recruiting pilot talent, what will compel the best aviators to choose NetJets that refuses to make appropriate competitive adjustments?
Rather than compete for talent, NetJets has opted to avert a hiring crisis by lowering minimum flight time standards. Unsurprisingly, new hire pilot experience at NetJets has plummeted 77% since 2018 – a shift NJASAP attributes to the brand's decision to downplay the sustained pilot labor crisis.
NJASAP views this head-in-the-sand stance as unfathomable – especially when we stand ready to partner with management to recapture NetJets' former cache, benefiting all Berkshire Hathaway stakeholders.
NJASAP members are picketing to inform the public of the ongoing labor dispute and their concerns with NetJets' training deficiencies as well as to show the NetJets Executive Management Team that the pilots support their Union's efforts.
It's No Secret
“Flying for NetJets was once a highly prized job opportunity discussed by pilots in crew lounges across the country. It had an air of illustriousness that exuded first class and refinement. That status has vanished, and those conversations have long since ceased.”
These are the parting words of a pilot-peer who intended to spend his career here at NetJets, but left after four years of long duty days, short overnights and a lack of the support. Today, NJASAP has featured highlights from our departing colleague’s story in The Wall Street Journal.
His story highlights several very sad truths – chief of which is this: NetJets has lost its competitive edge, and executives seemingly have no interest in restoring it.
I never wanted to work for an airline .…
Low pay + long duty days at NetJets do not equal a winning combination. When professional pilots have their choice of career destination carrier, talented aviators will not stay with one that refuses to compete for their services. As the pilot shortage continues, the grass is indeed greener – much, much greener – on the other side. Pilots departing NetJets are confirming as much …
Experience Matters
A 77 percent decrease in new hire pilot experience across a five-year period is a steep decline – especially when our newest peers will be expected to perform flight operations in the world’s most demanding environment within 90 days of arriving at #OnlyNetJets. And they will do this without the benefit of a training program specifically tailored to meet their instructional needs.
Experience matters in aviation, an occupation in which the margin for error is very slim. Until NetJets takes definitive steps to compete for their talent, the industry’s best and brightest aviators will view the Fractional as a place to build time before taking their experience + professionalism to a career destination carrier.
A Place to Build Time - Not a Career
NetJets: A Place to build time - not a career ...
In today's edition of The Wall Street Journal, NJASAP emphasizes the extraordinary skill and expertise required of a NetJets pilot to provide the safety, reliability and luxury experience for which NetJets Owners pay a premium. If NetJets intends to maintain a pilot force with unmatched experience and proficiency in today’s increasingly competitive environment, it must take bold steps. Otherwise, it risks becoming a stepping stone for professional aviators.
Low Wages + Long Schedules: A Losing Combo
In today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, NJASAP offers an observation and poses a thought-provoking question …
Flying for NetJets demands extraordinary skill and expertise, but low wages and long schedules have diminished the Fractional’s competitive edge for the nation’s best pilots. Who will choose NetJets when superior wages, benefits and working conditions are readily available elsewhere?
Click here to view today's WSJ content ...
To date, NetJets has chosen not to respond in a meaningful way to the ongoing pilot labor crisis - a decision NJASAP views as having very serious implications for the brand. The demanding nature of the NetJets operational environment requires skilled aviators on the flight deck. However, with its competitive edge dulled, what motivation do top-tier aviators have to choose or to remain at NetJets? Read more here ...
Training Deficiencies lead to Class Action
NetJets pilots fly in one of the world's most complex and dynamic operational environments, which makes crewmember training vital to their preparation to conduct such operations. This critical importance of pilot training compelled NJASAP to file a Class Action Grievance earlier today to address systemic deficiencies that have decimated the NetJets training program.
New Hire Experience Plummets
Rather than compete for top pilot talent as the pilot labor crisis continues, NetJets has opted to lower minimum flight time standards, filling new hire classes with pilots who have less experience. Despite the experience deficit, NetJets has not modified its training footprint to better prepare our newest aviators for the rigors of what is arguably the world’s most dynamic operational environment. This is, at its core, a disservice to our newest pilots, their colleagues on the flight deck and the owners and customers who pay a premium for the NetJets product.
In contrast to Part 121 management teams that have taken aggressive steps to hone their competitive edge, NetJets has eschewed the need to restore the brand’s reputation as a career destination carrier that is positioned to attract and to retain pilot talent.
In today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, NJASAP points out NetJets executives’ decision to lower experience requirements for incoming aviators to avoid the ramifications of the ongoing pilot labor crisis. Click here to view NJASAP's content ...
Why Choose a Carrier That Refuses to Compete?
When asked about NetJets at the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders’ Meeting, Vice Chairman Charlie Munger said, “You can argue it is worth as much as any airline now …” NJASAP agrees, but we wonder: When NetJets pilots will earn, on average, 60 percent of what pilots at some low-cost carriers will earn across a 30-year career, why stay at NetJets? Pilots have their choice of carriers: Why choose one that refuses to compete for the brightest and the best pilot talent in the marketplace?
This is a question NJASAP asks in today’s content published in The Wall Street Journal; click here to view the ad …
NJASAP Hosts Largest Picket in NetJets History
COLUMBUS - The NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) hosted the largest informational picket in NetJets history this past Saturday outside the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders' Meeting in Omaha; NJASAP represents the 3,000-plus pilots who fly in the service of NetJets Aviation, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary (NYSE: BRK.A). An extraordinary demonstration of Membership solidarity and resolve, the event drew more than 800 off-duty pilots and their family members from across the United States. // Click here to read the full news release ...
In preparation for the Omaha 2023 Informational Picket, NJASAP issued an advisory to share its purpose for hosting the event. Click here to read the Media Advisory ...
Berkshire Hathaway Meeting // Ad Series
May 7, 2023
During a season in which both new and tenured aviators have their choice of carrier across the Part 121 space, why choose NetJets when regional, low-cost and mainline carriers have all surpassed the fractional in career earnings? Consider this: A NetJets pilot will earn 56 percent of what a pilot employed by a low-cost carrier, like JetBlue, can expect to earn throughout a 30-year career. By burying its head in the sand amid a sustained pilot labor crisis, NetJets executives have put the brand’s ability to attract and to retain talented, experienced aviators at risk. | Click here to view the ad ...
May 6, 2023
The 2022 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Annual Report emphasizes the importance of recruiting and retaining qualified, competent personnel, pointing out the failure to maintain an experienced, talented workforce could have negative implications for the conglomerate and its subsidiaries. While NJASAP unreservedly agrees, the same cannot be said of NetJets executives who have yet to take bold steps that will position the brand to attract and to retain pilot talent amid a sustained pilot labor crisis. The world’s most dynamic and complex operational environment demands top pilot talent. | Click here to view the ad ...
May 5, 2023
Offering service to more than 5,000 airports across 200-plus countries, the NetJets operational environment is arguably the world’s most complex and demanding system. Talented, experienced aviators are essential to delivering the level of safety and service for which NetJets owners and customers pay a premium. NetJets executives, by choosing not to take bold steps to hone its competitive edge amid the sustained pilot labor crisis, may have jeopardized the brand’s ability to attract and to retain the caliber of aviation professional required to meet this objective. | https://qrco.de/bdrWQS
Berkshire Emphasizes Experience + NJASAP Agrees
Berkshire Hathaway executives recognize the importance of recruiting, training and retaining qualified and competent managers and personnel. The same, however, cannot be said of the executives managing NetJets Aviation, Inc., a Berkshire subsidiary. Rather than take bold steps to attract and to retain talented aviators amid a sustained pilot crisis, executives have opted to ignore the reality staring them squarely in the face.
In today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, NJASAP emphasizes its agreement with Berkshire’s comments regarding the importance of properly trained personnel and managers to the conglomerate. The Union suggests NetJets executives, by turning a blind eye to the realities of the sustained labor shortage, have put the brand’s status as the global leader in fractional air transportation in jeopardy – a move that is very much at odds with the observation featured in Berkshire Hathaway’s 2022 Annual Report; see page K-25.
Gag Orders top Bold Steps to Reinforce Competitive Edge
At a time when mainline and regional carriers are taking proactive steps to attract and to retain pilot talent, NetJets executives have, instead, opted to issue a GAG ORDER to prevent NJASAP members from simply directing NetJets owners and customers to this website. In today's edition of The Wall Street Journal, NJASAP writes an open letter to NetJets clientele to address this very regrettable move on the brand's part.
How sad that NetJets management views silencing crews as a more valuable use of its time than honing its competitive edge amid a sustained pilot labor crisis.
Career Destination or Stepping Stone?
The job of being a NetJets pilot is not for the faint of heart: It demands extraordinary skill, expertise and passion for the craft. In today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, NJASAP speaks to this awesome responsibility that takes a NetJets pilot to 20 times as many airports – several of which are uncontrolled fields in remote locations with unique risks – as their Part 121 peer.
NetJets has a responsibility to ensure our pilot group is comprised of talented aviators, and right now, NJASAP believes the Executive Management Team has significant work to do in that regard. For NetJets to maintain a pilot force with unmatched experience and proficiency in today’s increasingly competitive environment, it must take bold steps. Otherwise, it risks becoming a stepping stone for the next generation of aviators.
TRUE TO FORM
Executive NetJets management has its head in the sand
Late Tuesday afternoon, the NetJets CEO penned a letter to share his thoughts on the status of the labor-management relationship and the now-suspended mid-term bargaining initiative. NJASAP President Capt. Pedro Leroux authored a response that was shared with the Membership yesterday afternoon ...
It took three pickets with many more to come (#OMAHA23), mobile and stationary billboards deployed in Columbus and beyond, an owner-facing website, a lanyard campaign and an ad in The Wall Street Journal, but it would seem NJASAP has finally gotten the AWOL CEO’s attention. There is quite a bit to wade through in his Tuesday evening letter – a correspondence that was obviously written to divide and conquer – a tired tactic of a management-led FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) campaign.
We won't sit idly by ...
The NJASAP Membership is watching as our mainline and regional peers ratify one collective bargaining agreement after another that resets the bar for wages, benefits and working conditions across the industry. This moment of unprecedented gains is in direct response to the continued tightening of the pilot labor market – a reality the NetJets Executive Management Team (EMT) has yet to acknowledge. NJASAP does not share management’s laissez-faire attitude toward this moment, and we will not stand by meekly, watching the career destination we have built mutate into a pilot proving ground for the nation’s legacy carriers. We have earned far better than that, and we are using this first advertisement in The Wall Street Journal to remind our owners they are paying a premium for a luxury service that is quickly reaching a crossroads.
The ad represents the culmination of more than 16 months of fruitless conversations with an EMT that has turned a deaf ear and blind eye to the crisis that is the pilot labor shortage. Certainly this is a mystery to us because management has audacious plans for the business from the standpoints of hiring 800-plus pilots and adding ~180 aircraft to the fleet through 2024. While NJASAP supports and applauds smart growth, we cannot understand how management expects to achieve its lofty ambitions without taking the steps to secure the pilot workforce required to support the robust operation it envisions. #NotCompetitive