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 …
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.
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 ...
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 ...
WHO
The NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) represents the professional interests of the 3,000-plus pilots who fly in the service of NetJets Aviation, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK) subsidiary.
WHAT
Informational picketing by as many as 1,000 NetJets pilots and their family members.
WHERE
CHI Health Center, 455 N. 10th St., Omaha, Nebraska
WHEN
Saturday, May 6, 2023, from 0600LT to 1600LT
WHY
About NJASAP
Founded in 2008 as an independent labor advocate, the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) represents the professional interests of the 3,000-plus pilots who fly in the service of NetJets Aviation, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary. For more information, please visit our web sites, www.njasap.com and www.genuineqs.com, or find us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/njasap, Instagram, www.instagram.com/njasap, and Twitter, @njasap.
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 Hathaway emphasizes importance of qualified, competent personnel in Annual Report
COLUMBUS – While Berkshire Hathaway understands the importance of recruiting and retaining qualified, competent personnel across its family of companies, it would seem the same cannot be said of the executives managing its subsidiary, NetJets Aviation Inc. The 3,000-member pilot group represented by the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) has grown increasingly concerned as the luster that once distinguished NetJets as a career destination for top pilot talent continues to fade.
The immediacy of these concerns motivated NJASAP to share an excerpt from the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report in the Wednesday, March 29, 2023, edition of The Wall Street Journal. The 2022 report says, in part, “We need qualified personnel to manage and operate our various businesses. ... Our inability to recruit, train and retain qualified and competent managers and personnel could negatively affect the operating results, financial condition and liquidity of our subsidiaries and Berkshire as a whole.”
“NJASAP agrees with Berkshire Hathaway,” NJASAP President Capt. Pedro Leroux said. “Qualified, competent personnel are vital to the financial health and viability of any business, but especially to an air transportation provider.” NetJets owners and customers pay a premium for the safety and service that has long distinguished the brand: Maintaining that reputation requires a skilled, experienced pilot labor force that has developed the technical know-how to support the world’s most demanding operational environment.
“To date, NetJets has chosen not to take 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,” Leroux said. “To take a head-in-the-sand stance amid an escalating pilot labor crisis is almost unfathomable – especially when NJASAP stands ready to partner with management to recapture NetJets’ former cache, benefiting all Berkshire stakeholders.”
A more comprehensive discussion of NJASAP’s concerns as well as the content published in The Wall Street Journal is available at www.GenuineQS.com
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, a BRK subsidiary. In the April 28, 2023, edition of The Omaha World-Herald, NJASAP calls for NetJets to take bold steps to attract and to retain talented aviators amid the sustained pilot crisis.
In the April 21, 2023, edition of The Omaha World-Herald, NJASAP denounces NetJets executives’ decision to issue a GAG ORDER that forbids Union members from directing NetJets owners and customers to GenuineQS.com. Sadly, NetJets management views silencing crews as a more valuable use of its time than honing its competitive edge amid a sustained pilot labor crisis.
In the April 14, 2023, edition of The Omaha World-Herald, NJASAP speaks to the extraordinary skill and expertise required of a NetJets pilot. A NetJets pilot flies to 20 times as many airports – several of which are uncontrolled fields in remote locations with unique risks – as their Part 121 peer. 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.
In the March 31, 2023, edition of The Omaha World-Herald, NJASAP emphasizes that low wages and long schedules at NetJets have diminished the fractional’s competitive edge amid a sustained pilot labor crisis. When talented pilot professionals have their choice of carriers – both mainline and regional – who will choose NetJets when superior wages, benefits and working conditions are readily available elsewhere?
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.
As the sustained pilot labor crisis tightens its stranglehold on the industry, NJASAP shares a powerful video that not only emphasizes the truth of the continuing crisis, but also celebrates the power of lawful collective activity: NJASAP members are undeterred in their efforts to restore the luster that once distinguished NetJets as a career destination carrier.
Watch it here ... https://bit.ly/42sv0Nw
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.
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.
COLUMBUS – The pilot shortage continues to tighten its grip on the marketplace, and yet the NetJets Executive Management Team refuses to take proactive steps to attract and to retain increasingly scarce pilot talent – a misstep that has emerged as a foremost concern for the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP). A professional labor advocate, NJASAP represents the interests of the 2,900-plus pilots who fly in the service of NetJets Aviation Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) subsidiary.
“We are watching management teams across the industry – from legacy carriers to ultra-low-cost carriers – take bold steps to reinforce their competitive footing for top pilot talent,” NJASAP President Capt. Pedro Leroux said. “We fear NetJets’s intransigence on this industry-shaping moment will have very serious consequences for the brand’s ability to deliver the unparalleled safety and service product for which our customers pay a premium.”
Indeed, maintaining its status as a career destination carrier is vital to NetJets’s continued dominance as the global leader in the fractional air transportation sector – a position rooted in the promise of a safe, dynamic and reliable product. Providing service to more than 5,000 airports across 200-plus countries and territories around the globe confirms NetJets supports the most dynamic operational environment on the planet. Compare those statistics to the legacy carriers that provide service, on average, to 262 destinations.
“NetJets stands alone here,” Leroux commented. “The unsurpassed number and location of the airports that NetJets services requires a pilot force with unmatched experience and proficiency.” A NetJets pilot performs flight operations into 20 times as many airports as his or her major airline peer, demanding a far more expansive skill set developed across many years of practical application.
The calculus is simple, Leroux continued: “NetJets owners and customers deserve more than flying in the back of a flight school aircraft. Unless the fractional takes aggressive steps to pursue and to retain the best aviators in the marketplace, what was once the pinnacle of an aviator’s career will transition into a stepping stone toward the nation’s Part 121 carriers.”
Read the news release on PRNewswire.
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.
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
For more information, please visit WWW.GENUINEQS.COM ...
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