Over the last five years, two sets of flight trials in Sweden involving Scandinavian Airways System (SAS) Boeing 737s have demonstrated the feasibility of meeting time constraints, or controlled times of arrival (CTAs), in normal operations at a busy hub airport using contemporary flight management systems.

Richard Santulli’s announcement last week that he was resigning as chairman and CEO of NetJets Inc., the world’s largest operator of business jets, raised questions about Berkshire Hathaway’s commitment to the money-losing subsidiary and even the viability of the fractional aircraft ownership concept. Although Santulli cited his desire “to spend some more time with my young family and pursue other interests,” as the motivation for stepping down, others suggest NetJets’ recent fiscal performance might have been a factor.

Jake Cartwright believes that an elimination of depreciation and laying on of more government taxing mechanisms could be the death knell for what he calls the “marginal” aircraft owner.