NetJets to Add 800 Jobs in 365,000-Square-Foot Columbus Headquarters Expansion

NetJets, the private aviation company that describes itself as the operator of the world’s largest private jet fleet, will expand its global headquarters in Columbus with a project adding more than 365,000 square feet and roughly 800 jobs, the company announced in a media release on Monday, November 2. The expansion will grow the company’s campus at 4111 Bridgeway Avenue, adjacent to the north side of John Glenn Columbus International Airport, according to The Columbus Dispatch’s reporting on the release.

The new space will be split between two buildings and will include additional office space and a dedicated training center for NetJets employees, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The project also includes a new parking garage and expanded dining and event facilities, according to the company’s release as reported by The Dispatch.

The roughly 800 new positions would be added to the company’s existing Columbus workforce of about 2,400 employees, The Columbus Dispatch reported — a total of about 3,200 Columbus employees once the expansion is complete, a figure also reported by ch-aviation in its November 3 coverage. NetJets said in its release that the project is “enabling us to better meet the rising demand and evolving expectations of NetJets Owners while accommodating future growth and maintaining our position as the worldwide leader in private aviation,” according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Airport leaders welcomed the decision as a long-term commitment to the region. “NetJets has been an integral part of John Glenn Columbus International Airport for more than 60 years, and the company’s decision to expand its global headquarters here is a tremendous vote of confidence in Columbus and the bright future of the Columbus Region,” Daren Griffin, president and CEO of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, said in a statement released November 2 and reported by The Columbus Dispatch.

NetJets said the project could not be possible without local, state and national support, naming the city of Columbus, the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, JobsOhio and the Federal Aviation Administration, among others, in its release as reported by The Columbus Dispatch. The development is being carried out in partnership with Daimler Group and Volconn, Private Jet Card Comparisons reported in its November 2 coverage, noting that Daimler Group previously completed NetJets’ current headquarters in 2012.

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, according to Private Jet Card Comparisons, and has been headquartered in Columbus for more than 60 years. Rather than opening a satellite office, NetJets is adding office and training capacity at the same Bridgeway Avenue campus that anchors its global operations, next to the airport it has called home for decades.

Construction is expected to wrap up in early 2029 if legal and regulatory approvals go according to plan, The Columbus Dispatch reported. “Construction is expected to proceed in phases over the coming years and is subject to securing final legal and regulatory approvals,” a NetJets spokesperson said in the release quoted by Private Jet Card Comparisons.

The expansion follows a nearer-term investment at the same campus: it comes just a few months after the renovation of NetJets’ Flight Center opened in June with upgraded technology, The Columbus Dispatch reported. It also adds to a recent run of growth at the airport, where JetBlue recently returned to Columbus after 18 years with daily Fort Lauderdale flights.

What we know — and what we’re still waiting on

Confirmed from the company’s November 2 release and the reporting cited above are the project’s size — more than 365,000 square feet across two buildings — the roughly 800 jobs expected on top of the existing 2,400 Columbus employees, the Bridgeway Avenue location, the training center, parking garage and dining and event upgrades, and the early 2029 target if approvals proceed as planned. Not yet announced are a breakdown of the 800 jobs by type or pay, a hiring start date, a construction start date, or a total dollar investment for the expansion — details that should not be assumed until the company or its development partners release them.

For Columbus, the practical impact begins well before the buildings open: a phased, multi-year construction project of this size on the north side of the airport means years of construction work and, eventually, hundreds of additional employees commuting to and doing business around the airport corridor every day. It also locks in an anchor employer whose operations are tied directly to the airport’s future — the point Griffin’s statement, reported by The Columbus Dispatch, made in calling the decision a vote of confidence in the region.

NetJets’ own framing in its release — meeting rising demand from its owners while accommodating future growth, as reported by The Columbus Dispatch — suggests the Columbus workforce, not just the buildings, is what the company is trying to expand.

What happens next is the approvals process. Because construction is subject to final legal and regulatory approvals and will proceed in phases, according to the NetJets spokesperson quoted by Private Jet Card Comparisons, the milestones to watch are those approval decisions, any construction timetable from the company and its partners Daimler Group and Volconn, and the first hiring announcements tied to the new training center and office space. If those steps stay on schedule, the expanded headquarters — and its roughly 3,200 Columbus employees — will be in place by early 2029.

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