Larry Ellison buys airline
'Island Air' can ferry Oracle boss to private island
Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery
Oracle boss Larry Ellison's passion for investing in Hawaii has seen him acquire local airline Island Air.
Ellison last year acquired most of Hawaii's sixth-largest island, Lanai. Today he owns 98 per cent of the 141 square mile (365km2) lump of land.
Should the billionaire database guru desire to visit Lanai by air, he can now do so on flights direct from Honolulu or, if he fancies a slower journey, with a stop on Moloka'i.
Just how much Ellison paid to acquire Island Air is not known, but it could be less than the cost of a decent private jet as the company is not a titan of the skies. Last year it announced a plan to upgrade its fleet from from the turboprop DASH 8 to the turboprop ATR-42 and ATR-72, offering 40-52 and up to 78 seats respectively. Reports about the size of the company's fleet suggest it operates seven planes.
Bloomberg says none of the company's 245 staff will lose their gigs and that nothing will change at the airline.
So why has Ellison bought the company? A quick glance at available flights to Lanai suggests Ellison's new asset is one of just two carriers that fly to the island. And if one owns an island, one surely wants its value to be maintained by ensuring it is easily accessible. Throw in the fact that at 1500m Lanai's runway may be too short for Ellison's corporate jets and owning an airline that has easy access to the island looks a sensible strategy. ®
COMMENTS
Re: You're all missing the point
Did anyone check the island for dormant, hollowed out volcanos?
@Rampant Spaniel
If you think that pseudo-greenster LarrySan is looking to promote tourism, you don't know LarrySan. He's probably looking to keep as many people as possible out of his personal fiefdom ...
Beer country @TeeCee
"ISTR a quote that said something like in order to be considered a country you needed your own beer and your own airline."
I've seen this quote attributed to Frank Zappa, which runs something like:
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." --Frank Zappa
Colin
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