Google Asks “Why Fly Private When You Can Fly Private – Out Of Your Own $82M Airport?”

Google’s executives could soon be enjoying their own private airport space ahead of winging their way to various far-flung locations around the world, according to a news release from the Mineta San Jose International Airport (via MercuryNews). Signature Flight Support, in tandem with a company called Blue City Holdings which represents Google’s fleet of personal aircraft, will likely be awarded a 50-year lease on San Jose Airport’s West Side, in order to build a 29-acre, $82 million facility to house Google’s executive aircraft and those of other clients.

In the news release, the airport expresses its intent to recommend that Signature be granted the lease, which will see it construct a “full-service, world-class fixed base operation” on the site. The physical facility itself should occupy over 270,000 square feet on the 29 acre plot, according to the proposal, and will include an executive terminal, hangars for storing aircraft, ramp space capable of accommodating large business jets and aircraft maintenance facilities. In exchange, Signature and its partners will pay $2.6 million in annual rent, a minimum of $400,00 in fuel fee revenues, minimum annual taxes of $70- to 300,000, around 200 jobs during the construction phase, 36 jobs directly on premises and around 370 total jobs created.

Google’s fleet of aircraft included eight private jets spread across Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt alone, according to news revealed back in December 2011, owned and operated by an independent company formed by the three executives apart from Google. Google almost definitely has more aircraft than that overall at this point, and establishing their own close-to-hand place from which to operate, maintain and store those means of transportation likely just makes more sense at this point that whatever other arrangements they previously had in place.