A Bloomberg report shows how tracking your private jet by tail number can make it easy for competitors, spouses, and media to gain intelligence about your not so private flights. What should you do?
“The technology to track these aircraft is cheap and widely available” – David White, vice president of business development at Cirium
Among the many reasons private jets make sense for companies and high net worth individual, you can exclude keeping your travels private, at least if you own a private jet. And forget blocking. It is about to become much more difficult.
The ability to track tail numbers back to the owning company or individual can tip off competitors about possible mergers and acquisition activity you are pursuing. Tracking can also be used by spouses trying to suss out if their partner is having an affair. It is often used by reporters researching stories as well.
For example, Bloomberg this week reported, “In April, a stock research firm told clients that a Gulfstream V owned by Houston-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. had been spotted at an Omaha airport. The immediate speculation was that Occidental executives were negotiating with Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to get financial help in their $38 billion offer for rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Two days later, Buffett announced a $10 billion investment in Occidental.”