Why Warren Buffett owns a private jet

Since the financial crisis and when the leaders of the Big Three automakers showed up in Washington DC in private jets in order to ask for bailout money from Congress, general aviation and private jets, especially those owned or used by corporate leaders, have received considerable flak from politicians and other critics.

Nevertheless and in the video (which, for good reason, is actually being used as an advertisement for CharterJets.com), Warren Buffett explains why he owns and uses a private jet. In short, Buffet says that having a private jet makes his life better and easier as he needs to do a considerable amount of traveling as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

Its also worth noting that when Buffett bought a Bombardier Challenger 600 over 20ago, he named it the “The Indefensible” due to his past criticisms of such purchases that were made by other corporate CEOs. However and after he started using a private jet for awhile, he realized its value as a business tool. Hence, he renamed his aircraft: “The Indispensable.” (For more on the positive case for business aviation, see No Plane, No Gain.)

In fact, to coin a phrase, he liked it so much he bought the company. Sort of. In fact, Berkshire Hathaway owns NetJets.

So the next time you hear politicians or critics complain about corporate bigwigs owning or using private jets, think of the reasons why Warren Buffet has chosen to own and use one.

http://www.forbes.com