COLUMBUS, Ohio — NetJets, the private aviation company that runs the world’s largest private jet fleet, announced Monday, November 2, that it will expand its global headquarters campus in Columbus by 365,000 square feet, a project the company says will add roughly 800 jobs in central Ohio by the time it is complete in early 2029.
The expansion centers on the company’s existing campus at 4111 Bridgeway Avenue, near John Glenn Columbus International Airport. Two new buildings will rise there in phases over the next several years, adding office space and a dedicated training center for NetJets crews and employees, according to the company’s November 2 press release, reported by The Columbus Dispatch.
The roughly 800 new positions would lift NetJets’ central Ohio workforce from about 2,400 employees today to about 3,200, cementing the company as one of the region’s largest private employers in the aviation sector. Aviation International News, which also covered the announcement on November 2, reported the same hiring target and the early 2029 completion goal.
In its release, the company said 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,” language reported by The Columbus Dispatch. NetJets sells fractional ownership shares in private jets, allowing owners to buy a portion of an aircraft and fly on demand rather than owning a plane outright.
The Columbus campus is the operational heart of that model. Flight crews cycle through Columbus for training, aircraft are dispatched and serviced through the company’s network from the headquarters, and the new dedicated training center is designed to give that steady flow of pilots and staff a purpose-built home instead of borrowed space.
Columbus developer Daimler and Cleveland architectural firm Vocon are working with NetJets on the expansion, Aviation International News reported. The project will be built in phases over the coming years and remains subject to legal and regulatory approvals, so construction timelines could shift as permits move through the city.
NetJets said the project would not be possible without support from local, state and national partners, naming the City of Columbus, the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, JobsOhio and the Federal Aviation Administration in its release. JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development corporation, routinely partners on headquarters expansions of this scale, though the company did not disclose any incentive package in its announcement.
The announcement adds to a busy stretch for aviation and aerospace investment around Columbus. The region’s airport authority continues to plan around growing cargo and passenger operations on the city’s east side, and defense aviation work near Dayton keeps expanding as well — including the Air Force Propulsion Industry Day set for November 9 near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
It also lands in a central Ohio economy that keeps adding consumer-facing employers alongside the white-collar growth, from aviation headquarters to new retail entries such as Dutch Bros Coffee’s first Columbus drive-through on West Broad Street, which opened this week.
For Columbus, the stakes go beyond the 800 jobs themselves. Headquarters expansions signal that a company expects to keep its decision-making, training and high-wage professional roles in the region for decades. NetJets has operated its global headquarters from Columbus for years, and the decision to grow the Bridgeway Avenue campus rather than build elsewhere keeps that anchor in place through at least the end of the decade.
What happens next: the phased project moves through legal and regulatory approvals, with construction expected to unfold over the coming years and the new buildings targeted to open in early 2029. Hiring tied to the expansion is expected to build toward the full 800 additional positions as the campus is completed.
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