NetJets' parent Berkshire Hathaway earnings surge to $47.4 billion

Berkshire Hathaway, parent of NetJets and Executive Jet Management, saw its cash increase to a record $334 billion, according to a CNBC report on the conglomerate’s full-year 2024 results.

The results, released this morning, showed Berkshire Hathaway’s annual revenues increased to $371.4 billion.

That was up from $364.5 billion in 2023.

Full-year operating income increased 27% to $47.4 billion.

Operating income in 2023 was $37.4 billion

Berkshire Hathaway is the fifth-largest company on the Fortune 500.

The most significant contributor was insurance.

Insurance Underwriting contributed $13.7 billion in operating income.

Insurance Investment Income added $9.0 billion.

However, it was not all roses.

Buffett wrote, “In 2024, Berkshire did better than I expected, though 53% of our 189 operating businesses reported a decline in earnings.”

NetJets was mentioned 18 times in the report, although not in Buffett’s letter.

That’s the same as 2023, which includes many mentions as part of boilerplate commentary about the world’s largest private jet flight provider.

That’s still up from 13 mentions in 2022 but down from 21 in 2021.

What was up is employees at NetJets.

The headcount at NetJets increased to 9,106 from 8,349.

That’s a 9.1% increase.

That also compares to 6,476 employees at NetJets back in 2019.

However, it appears the new hires are likely staying busy.

NetJets, Inc., including flights by its Executive Jet Management aircraft management and charter arm, saw its U.S. flight hours grow by 9.2% to 665,349 flight hours.

READ: 2024’s 30 Biggest FractionalCharter Private Jet Companies Ranked

That’s more than the following six largest flight providers combined.

NetJets’ 9.2% gain in flight hours, 55,834 hours, alone would have ranked it the sixth-largest commercial private aircraft operator in the U.S.

As of February 2025, NetJets and NetJets Europe have 781 private jets in their fleet.

Overall, Berkshire Hathaway had 392,396 employees at the end of 2024.

Of that total, 27 were in Berkshire Hathaway’s corporate headquarters.

Flight Safety, also owned by Berkshire Hathaway, had 4,660 employees.

NetJets 2024 financial results

As usual, there were scant details about the actual performance at NetJets.

NetJets is part of the Service Group.

The largest businesses in the group are NetJets and FlightSafety, as well as TTI, a distributor of electronics components, per Berkshire Hathaway.

Service businesses include Dairy Queen, lease transportation equipment provider XTRA, and Business Wire, a local TV station in Miami, among others.

Service group revenues increased from $19.01 billion in 2022 to $20.59 billion in 2023 and $20.70 billion in 2024.

Aviation services revenues increased 9.1% year-over-year in 2024, per the report.

The gain in group revenues was “primarily due to an increase in the number of aircraft in shared aircraft ownership programs and increases in flight hours across NetJets’ various programs.”

In October, NetJets reported delivery of its 50th new private jet for the year.

At the time, NetJets President Pat Gallagher posted on social media, “The finest fleet keeps getting better! Proud to welcome our 50th brand-new aircraft of the year, pushing the value of NetJets’ 2024 deliveries to ~ $1.3b and counting. With each new addition, we’re increasing Owner access to top-of-the-line Jets and widening our ‘moat.’ Only NetJets!”

Service group pre-tax earnings fell for the second straight year.

Service group pre-tax earnings were $3.05 billion in 2022, $3.00 billion in 2023, and $2.31 billion in 2024.

Per the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report:

‘Service group revenues were $20.7 billion in 2024, a slight increase compared to 2023, reflecting revenue increases from aviation services businesses and IPS, partially offset by lower revenues from TTI and XTRA. Aviation services revenues increased 9.1% in 2024, while IPS revenues increased 14.4%. The aviation services increase was primarily due to an increase in the number of aircraft in shared aircraft ownership programs and increases in flight hours across NetJets’ various programs. The increase at IPS was primarily due to increased project volume.’

In its Q3 2024 filing, Berkshire noted, “Earnings from aviation services declined 17.5% in the third quarter and 11.9% in the first nine months of 2024 versus 2023, primarily attributable to increased costs of services, including higher maintenance, personnel and fuel costs and depreciation expense, as well as increased impairment charges.”

Last year, NetJets and NJASAP, the union representing its pilots, agreed to a pay package that will see a 52.5% increase in compensation over five years.

NetJets Operating Leases/Share Repurchase

For the past four years (that we could find), Berkshire Hathaway has published what is deemed to be NetJets’ operating lease and share repurchase liabilities.

Each year, they are presented for a five-year window.

“Certain other obligations are included in our Consolidated Balance Sheets, such as operating lease liabilities and shared aircraft repurchase liabilities of NetJets,” per the annual report.

The five-year forward totals have increased from $6.9 billion in 2021 to $9.9 billion this year.

Estimated payments are listed (table below) by Annual Report year at the top of the chart.

NetJets Operating Lease, Share Repurchase Liabilities (in $ billions)

Source: Berkshire Hathaway Annual Reports 2021 through 2024

Most recently, NetJets revamped its jet card lineup, adding more aircraft and creating two distinct products, as exclusively reported in Private Jet Card Comparisons. 

Berkshire Hathaway also set its annual meeting for May 2, 2025, in Omaha, Nebraska.