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NetJets, the corporate aircraft unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, said on Thursday it bought Marquis Jet, which offers cards that let business travelers use the NetJets fleet.



Terms were not disclosed. Founded in 2001, Marquis provides cards that offer access to NetJets planes 25 hours at a time.

NetJets is run by David Sokol, who also chairs Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy unit and is widely considered a top candidate to eventually succeed Buffett, 80, as Berkshire's chief executive.

Speaking on CNBC television, Sokol said Buffett is for now "in great shape" and "not going anywhere." Sokol also praised Todd Combs, named on Oct. 26 to run some Berkshire investments, saying the hedge fund manager should do a "great job."

Buffett installed Sokol at NetJets in August 2009 to slash capacity and a $1.9 billion debt load after difficult economic conditions curtailed business travel.

NetJets swung to a profit in the April-to-June quarter, and Berkshire has said it expects the unit to remain profitable. Last month, Brazil's Embraer agreed to sell as many as 125 planes to NetJets.

Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Berkshire [BRK.A* 122900.0* * 1095.00* (+0.9%) * ] is expected to report third-quarter results after U.S. markets close on Friday. It has roughly 80 operating units and tens of billions of dollars of common stock investments.

Past V1

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USMCFLYR

A new aircraft fleet added to the sizable fleet already?
Would this be a replacement for some of the older/smaller Cessna fleets already on property?

USMCFLYR

kingairfun

Replacement a/c..with maybe 25% going to NJ Europe...These Phenoms aren't slated to be on property until 2013, so by then they may end up being growth a/c given the rate of new owners DS claims in the CNBC video today.

Not sure how it will work out. But I'm thinking that if NJA gets enough interest from perspective buyers, they will still get rid of the small cabin a/c as planned. But may try to accelerate the orders they have planned for a couple years from now in the other cabin classes.

UCLAbruins

I think that was a great move and the next logical step. Things are looking up a bit, hopefully things continue to imrpove so we can bring those furloughed guys back, and maybe even hire a few.

On a related note, Netjets reported a profit of $44 million for the third quarter 2010. The total yearly operating profit so far is $158 mil.

kingairfun

Hopefully the pt.135 shares can be priced more closely to what other companies/charter advertise. By elliminating the middle man, (Marquis), NJA can price those cards at wholesale and win some business.

Either way it has definitely been a 2 week period of announcements, and from the outside looking in they seem to be fairly good. Along with the CNBC interview where DS basically had to say that demand/sales have been on the up and up, my mood has been atleast somewhat enhanced.

Still not expecting recall for another 2-3-4 years, but it's better than the 8-9-10 many of us were afraid of.

johnso29

Nice to see some more positive news for NetJets guys. Hopefully the recalls will be back soon.

UCLAbruins

Could you apply at Netjets Middle East or EJM and work there until you're recalled??? is that allowed??

AKASHA

I think its too late for that. The fractional model is dead.

Lazyb757

Yeah...

Do you study for random drug tests too.