Hailey, Idaho — Owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft will fly on the Gulfstream G650. So are PayPal CEOs Jeff Bezos and Dan Schulman. Approximately 470 jets are in operation and the retail price is approximately $ 75 million per jet.
Most days, those planes are scattered and carry industrial captains to conferences around the world. But during the week of July, some of them converge on a single 100-foot-wide asphalt runway next to the jagged hills of the Wood River Valley, Idaho.
The opportunity is the annual Sun Valley conference, a stiff neck jackpot hosted by the secret investment bank Allen & Company. Known as the “Summer Camp for Millionaires,” the conference begins Tuesday this year and brings together industry giants and their families. Some are being watched over by local babysitters who are bound by nondisclosure agreements. Between organized hikes and fly fishing in past rallies, there were sessions on creativity, climate change and immigration reform.
For decades at these secluded rallies, CEOs and Chairman of the Board have been trading to shape the television we watch, the news we consume, and the products we buy. I did. Near the 9th hole on the golf course, the general electric manager has expressed interest in selling NBC to Comcast.Where is it Bezos met the owner of The Washington Post Warren Buffett was at the center of the discussion before agreeing to buy the paper, and as Disney pursued plans to buy ABC.
It’s also the biggest week of the year for Chris Pomeroy, director of Friedman Memorial Airport and responsible for keeping all moguls moving smoothly.
A few months before the meeting began, Pomeroy was preparing to play a Tetris high-stakes 3D game on a multi-million dollar private jet as participants traveled to the resort town of Sun Valley. increase. Annual population of 1,800..
Over the last 24 hours of the meeting, more than 300 flights passed through Friedman Memorial Airport in Haley, a small town near Sunvalley, according to data from industry data firm Flightradar24. They ranged from small propeller planes to long-winged commercial jets. By comparison, two weeks ago, when Mr. Pomeroy gave me a brief tour of the airport, only 44 flights took off or landed in 24 hours, according to data companies.
“It’s empty now,” said Pomeroy, who smoothly steered the white 2014 Ford Explorer (which he calls the “mobile command center”) past the freshly paved asphalt belt. .. “But during the summer, and especially during the event, planes are parked everywhere here.”
Like the activities of the conference, the elements of the trip there are kept secret. Many of the flying jets are registered to obscure owners and limited liability companies, and some jets only blink passengers. For example, the jet that carried Mr. Kraft last year is registered with the “Aircraft One Trust,” according to Federal Aviation Administration records. The plane that Mr. Bezos flew is registered with the Seattle company Poplar Glen.
Representatives of Mr. Kraft and Mr. Bezos declined to comment. Bezos is not expected to appear in the Sun Valley this year, according to a pre-list of guests obtained by the New York Times.
Pomeroy plans well in advance to deal with the heavy air traffic caused by the conference. This is what he diagonally calls the “annual fly-in event.” Without proper organization, swarms of private jets can build up in the airspace around Friedman, causing delays and detours while pilots burn valuable fuel.
That was the case at the 2016 meeting, which coincided with Mr. Pomeroy’s first week of employment. That year, some aircraft swirled overhead or sat on the tarmac for more than an hour and a half, waiting for airspace and runways to open.
“I saw planes literally lined up to take off almost all the way from the north end of the field to the south end of the field,” Pomeroy said, referring to the 7,550-foot runway. “Pinch your nose all the way up the taxiway.”
After that episode, Pomeroy hired Greg Dier, a former FAA district manager, to help clean up the tarmac. The two teamed up with the FAA Hub in Salt Lake City to line up flights 300-500 miles from Sunvalley. On some flights, staging begins before the plane takes off.
“Previously it looked like an attack. Airplanes came from all points of the compass and everything was about to arrive here at the same time,” said Dyer, an airport consultant at Jviation-Woolpert. ..
Last year, delays were limited to up to 20 minutes, and commercial travelers did not miss a connecting flight due to the air traffic caused by the conference, Pomeroy said.
When moguls are forced to swirl in the air, they often hang around in great style. Buyers who are willing to pay tens of millions of dollars for luxury private planes are unlikely to buy an additional $ 650,000 to equip their aircraft with Wi-Fi, said one of the founders of Shelton Mindel. One Lee Mindel is inside a private jet in Gulfstream and Bombardier. Some owners have chosen custom-made tableware, V’Soske rugs, or other luxurious features from Muriel Grato in Paris, he said.
“If you have to ask how much it will cost, you really can’t afford it,” Mindell said.
David Jermac, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business, said corporate plight increased among a subset of executives who did not want to be restrained when commercial travel was delayed due to restrictions during the pandemic. .. He added that in the long run, paying the CEO on a jet trip may be cheaper than paying in cash.
“I think it was Napoleon who said,” I knew I could conquer the world when I realized that people would die because of a small colored ribbon, “Jermac said.
Excessive flights certainly raise practical concerns.. Haley residents, as well as nearby Ketchum and Sunvalley, have in the past complained about the noise generated by jets zooming in at Friedman Memorial Airport.
To address the complaint, Mr. Pomeroy and Friedman Memorial Airport authorities have shortened flights from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am, limiting the number of takeoffs and landings from the north in Haley’s small city.
Prior to the meeting, Pomeroy will write to the next pilot about what to expect and advise him to minimize noise.
“The overwhelming majority of users during this event respect our program and community, but a few who have explicitly ignored our program or neglected to educate themselves about our program. Only the operators leave a negative impression on us all, “Mr. Pomeroy wrote this year.
Allen & Company’s stingy for some meeting details extends to the airport. However, Pomeroy and his team have enough information to conclude when the moguls are arriving and leaving the town.
After next week’s smoothing, Pomeroy will begin the daunting task of leading a corporate giant from Idaho. In many cases, that means temporarily closing the airport until it arrives while the airport is in a hurry to depart for an hour.
The last jet was ready to depart, Mr. Pomeroy said, and he and his team sighed with relief.
“Then I’m ready to hit the river for a day or two for full-scale fly fishing,” he said.
