巴菲特致股东的信（1998年）⑤公务机航空公司

Executive Jet Aviation (1-800-848-6436)

To understand the huge potential at Executive Jet Aviation (EJA), you need some understanding of its business, which is selling fractional shares of jets and operating the fleet for its many owners. Rich Santulli, CEO of EJA, created the fractional ownership industry in 1986, by visualizing an important new way of using planes. Then he combined guts and talent to turn his idea into a major business.

公务机航空公司(EJA, Executive Jet Aviation Corp)

想要了解 EJA 的无限潜力，你必须要先了解其业务特性，它专门出售部分企业行政专机所有权给客户，并为众多所有人维护保养机队，EJA 的 CEO 理查德·桑图里(Richard Stantulli)设想了一种飞机使用的革命新方法，于是发挥其个人绝佳的胆识与才能让其创意成真，在 1986 年开创了公务机共享所有权这个新兴行业。

In a fractional ownership plan, you purchase a portion -- say 1/8th -- of any of a wide variety of jets that EJA offers. That purchase entitles you to 100 hours of flying time annually. ("Dead-head" hours don't count against your allotment, and you are also allowed to average your hours over five years.) In addition, you pay both a monthly management fee and a fee for hours actually flown.

按照公务机部分所有权计划，你购买的是 EJA 提供各系列飞机中所有权的一部分，比如说一架公务机 1/8 的所有权，这样你便可获得该飞机每年 100 个小时的飞行时数，但不包含飞机停机的时间，而且你还有权在五年内自由分配将这些时数，每个月要扣除一些管理费和按小时收取的飞行成本。

Then, on a few hours notice, EJA makes your plane, or another at least as good, available to you at your choice of the 5500 airports in the U.S. In effect, calling up your plane is like phoning for a taxi.

然后，你只要提前几个小时通知我们，EJA 就可以在全美指定的 5,500 座机场为你安排好飞机或者提供另一架同样好的飞机，换言之，这种便利性跟你打电话叫出租车一样的方便。

I first heard about the NetJets® program, as it is called, about four years ago from Frank Rooney, our manager at H.H. Brown. Frank had used and been delighted with the service and suggested that I meet Rich to investigate signing up for my family's use. It took Rich about 15 minutes to sell me a quarter (200 hours annually) of a Hawker 1000. Since then, my family has learned firsthand -- through flying 900 hours on 300 trips -- what a friendly, efficient, and safe operation EJA runs. Quite simply, they love this service. In fact, they quickly grew so enthusiastic that I did a testimonial ad for EJA long before I knew there was any possibility of our purchasing the business. I did, however, ask Rich to give me a call if he ever got interested in selling. Luckily, he phoned me last May, and we quickly made a $725 million deal, paying equal amounts of cash and stock.

我是在四年前头一次听说 Netjets(共享飞机所有权业务被称为 Netjets®，2002 年 EJA 公司更名为利捷航空Netjets)，是从我们旗下布朗鞋业经理人 Frank Roony 哪里听说的，Frank 常常使用这项服务，并对其相当满意，于是他建议我可以和 Rich 碰个面，看看是否让我的家人也加入。结果 Rich 前后只花了 15 分钟的时间，就说服我买下一架 Hawker1000 型飞机 1/4 的所有权(也就是每年 200 小时)，从此之后，我的家人在经过 900 个飞行小时，300 次旅程之后，亲身体到 EJA 是一个多么友好、高效与安全的运营方式，并毫无疑问地爱上它，所以在我知道我们有可能收购 EJA 之前很久，我就为 EJA 做了一次推荐广告。不过我确实跟 Rich 提到，如果他有意愿卖出的话，记得随时打电话给我，而幸运的是，Rich 真的在去年 5 月份打电话给我，我们很快就达成这笔 7.25亿美元的交易，其中现金与股票各半。

EJA, which is by far the largest operator in its industry, has more than 1,000 customers and 163 aircraft (including 23 "core" aircraft that are owned or leased by EJA itself, so that it can make sure that service is first-class even during the times when demand is heaviest). Safety, of course, is the paramount issue in any flight operation, and Rich's pilots -- now numbering about 650 -- receive extensive training at least twice a year from FlightSafety International, another Berkshire subsidiary and the world leader in pilot training. The bottom line on our pilots: I've sold the Berkshire plane and will now do all of my business flying, as well as my personal flying, with NetJets' crews.

EJA 目前已是这个行业规模最大的公司，拥有超过 1000 位的客户以及 163 架的飞机，(其中包含 23 架由EJA 自有或租来的核心飞机，约 14%，用来确保在订位需求最强劲时还能保持最高品质的服务)，安全性当然是任何飞行运营中最重要的考量，而 Rich 旗下 650 位的飞行员每年都要到飞安国际公司(伯克希尔旗下全世界最大的飞行员训练公司)接受至少两次广泛的飞行训练。对我来说我能做的都做了：我已经卖掉了伯克希尔的专机，现在将与 Netjets 的机组同事一起，完成我所有的商务和个人飞行。

Being the leader in this industry is a major advantage for all concerned. Our customers gain because we have an armada of planes positioned throughout the country at all times, a blanketing that allows us to provide unmatched service. Meanwhile, we gain from the blanketing because it reduces dead-head costs. Another compelling attraction for our clients is that we offer products from Boeing, Gulfstream, Falcon, Cessna, and Raytheon, whereas our two competitors are owned by manufacturers that offer only their own planes. In effect, NetJets is like a physician who can recommend whatever medicine best fits the needs of each patient; our competitors, in contrast, are producers of a "house" brand that they must prescribe for one and all.

在这个行业成为领导品牌是我们的一个很大优势，我们的客户因为我们遍布全美各地的机队而受惠，这使得我们可以提供无与伦比的服务，同时，我们受益于高网络覆盖率而大幅降低飞机停在地面的时间。另一个令客户无法抵挡的致命吸引力是我们提供了各式各样的飞机，从波音、湾流、Falcon、Cessna 到雷神，相较之下其它两家飞机制造商经营的竞争对手，只能提供自家生产的飞机。事实上，Netjets 就好象是一位医生，可以为每个患者提供其所需的所有药物。而我们的竞争对手，为所有客户提供的只有自家品牌。

In many cases our clients, both corporate and individual, own fractions of several different planes and can therefore match specific planes to specific missions. For example, a client might own 1/16th of three different jets (each giving it 50 hours of flying time), which in total give it a virtual fleet, obtained for a small fraction of the cost of a single plane.

实际上我们有许多客户，包含企业与个人，同时拥有不同种类的飞机部分所有权，以应付不同场合所需不同的机型，举列来说，一个客户可以拥有三种飞机各 1/16 的所有权(也就是每架各 50 小时的飞行时数)，这等于只要花一架飞机成本的一小部分，就拥有一个虚拟机队。

Significantly, it is not only small businesses that can benefit from fractional ownership. Already, some of America's largest companies use NetJets as a supplement to their own fleet. This saves them big money in both meeting peak requirements and in flying missions that would require their wholly-owned planes to log a disproportionate amount of dead-head hours.

更重要的是，不仅仅是中小企业可以从这种分享服务中受益，目前已经有一些大企业利用 Netjets 服务来补充自身机队调度的不足，这为他们节省了大量资金，既可以满足高峰时的飞行需求，又可以在飞机闲置时去执行其他飞行任务。

When a plane is slated for personal use, the clinching argument is that either the client signs up now or his children likely will later. That's an equation I explained to my wonderful Aunt Alice 40 years ago when she asked me whether she could afford a fur coat. My reply settled the issue: "Alice, you aren't buying it; your heirs are."

当一架飞机被用来仅供个人使用，有一个很大的争议那就是，要么是由现在的客户买单，要么是由其后代来买单。这也是我最敬爱的阿姨 Alice 在 40 年前，问我是否应该买一件貂皮大衣时，我回答她的话：“阿姨，你花的不是自己的钱，而是你的继承人的”。

EJA's growth has been explosive: In 1997, it accounted for 31% of all corporate jets ordered in the world. Nonetheless, Rich and I believe that the potential of fractional ownership has barely been scratched. If many thousands of owners find it sensible to own 100% of a plane -- which must be used 350-400 hours annually if it's to make economic sense -- there must be a large multiple of that number for whom fractional ownership works.

EJA 正以爆炸性的速度成长，1997 年，占全球公务机飞行订单的 31%，不过 Rice 与我都认为飞机共享所有权的潜力根本还未充分的被挖掘，如果目前有成千上万的人认为拥有一整架飞机 100%的所有权是明智的(从经济的角度，一家飞机每年必须使用 350-400 个小时)，那么一定有更多人需要拥有部分飞机的所有权。

In addition to being a terrific executive, Rich is fun. Like most of our managers, he has no economic need whatsoever to work. Rich spends his time at EJA because it's his baby -- and he wants to see how far he can take it. We both already know the answer, both literally and figuratively: to the ends of the earth.

Rich 除了身为一位杰出的经理人之外，本人也非常风趣幽默，就像是我们旗下大多数的经理人一样，Rich 根本就不需要靠工作来过活，Rich 之所以愿意全心全力地投入在 EJA，完全因为这是他的孩子，他想看看自己能够走多远，当然我们都已经知道最后的答案，不论是从文字上还是形象上都是永远。

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And now a small hint to Berkshire directors: Last year I spent more than nine times my salary at Borsheim's and EJA. Just think how Berkshire's business would boom if you'd only spring for a raise.

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另外给伯克希尔董事会们一个小暗示，去年我光是在波仙珠宝与 EJA 的花费就是我个人薪水收入的 9 倍以上，所以大家可以想象到只要给我一点小小的加薪，保证会对伯克希尔集团企业的生意有大大的提升。

Then, on a few hours notice, EJA makes your plane, or another at least as good, available to you at your choice of the 5500 airports in the U.S. In effect, calling up your plane is like phoning for a taxi.

* * * * * * * * * * * * And now a small hint to Berkshire directors: Last year I spent more than nine times my salary at Borsheim's and EJA. Just think how Berkshire's business would boom if you'd only spring for a raise.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

And now a small hint to Berkshire directors: Last year I spent more than nine times my salary at Borsheim's and EJA. Just think how Berkshire's business would boom if you'd only spring for a raise.