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Warren Buffett Private Jet: "The Indefensible" and the NetJets Bet

Warren Buffett named his corporate jet "The Indefensible" in a 1989 shareholder letter, then Berkshire bought NetJets in 1998 for $725 million. The record.

By Wijet EditorsUpdated

At a glance

Warren Buffett and private jets, on the record

Corporate jet
"The Indefensible"
Named in Berkshire's 1989 shareholder letter
Price in the letter
$6.7 million
A used jet, bought after selling one that cost $850,000
NetJets
Acquired in 1998
$725 million, equal cash and stock, per Berkshire's 1998 letter
Aircraft on the FAA registry
None found
Searches for "Buffett" and "Berkshire Hathaway"
Checked
November 6, 2026

Warren Buffett’s private jet story is better than the tail-number hunt that brings most people here. It starts with a joke in a shareholder letter and ends with Berkshire Hathaway owning NetJets, the best-known fractional jet company in the country.

The short answer

Not in the way most searchers mean. Berkshire Hathaway owns NetJets, and in its 1998 letter Buffett wrote that he had sold the Berkshire plane and now flew with NetJets for business and personal trips. Earlier, in 1989, he bought a corporate jet and called it “The Indefensible.” We found no aircraft in the FAA registry under his name or Berkshire’s.

Does Warren Buffett have a private jet?

He did own one. In the 1989 Berkshire Hathaway letter, Buffett wrote that the company had sold the corporate jet it bought for $850,000 three years earlier and bought another used jet for $6.7 million. The letter does not name the aircraft model.

What he flies now

Buffett’s 1998 letter says he sold the Berkshire plane and now flies with NetJets crews for both business and personal travel. He also described how his family had bought a quarter share of a Hawker 1000, 200 hours a year, before the acquisition. So the practical answer is that he flies NetJets, the company his firm owns.

What the registry shows

On November 6, 2026 we searched the FAA registry for “Buffett” and “Berkshire Hathaway” and found no aircraft. Tail numbers that circulate online as “Buffett’s jet” do not hold up either: the ones we checked are a reserved number attached to no aircraft and a 1976 Cessna 182, a four-seat piston plane owned by an unrelated private person.

“The Indefensible”: the 1989 letter

The 1989 letter is the primary source for the jet’s name, and it reads like Buffett at his driest. He suggested naming the plane “The Charles T. Munger,” and his partner objected, countering with “The Aberration.” The letter says they finally settled on “The Indefensible.”

Why it was indefensible

Buffett joked that if Berkshire’s net worth grew at its current rate while the cost of replacement jets rose about 100 percent a year, the jet could eventually consume the whole company. He compared his own attitude to St. Augustine’s prayer, “Help me, Oh Lord, to become chaste - but not yet.”

The later rename

“The Indispensable” is widely repeated as a later rename. We could not find a letter that records it, so the most we can say is that he is often said to have renamed it.

A different view, years later

In a 2009 CNBC interview covered by AIN, Buffett said that Berkshire “has been better off by me having a plane available to go and do deals.” AIN described the aircraft as a Bombardier Challenger 600. He called it “a big mistake to start demonizing anybody in this game.”

Why Berkshire bought NetJets

Berkshire’s 1998 letter describes a $725 million deal for Executive Jet Aviation, the company behind NetJets, paid in equal amounts of cash and stock. Berkshire consolidated the company from August 7, 1998. Buffett presented himself as an enthusiastic customer first: his family flew about 900 hours on roughly 300 trips on that Hawker share before the purchase.

The fractional model

NetJets sells shares in specific aircraft rather than whole planes, so an owner buys flight hours without carrying a jet’s crew and hangar costs. Our guide to NetJets cost explains how that pricing works.

Why it suited a company like Berkshire

For a business that wanted a plane available when a deal needed one, a fractional share avoids owning and staffing an aircraft. That is our reading of the logic, not a quote from Buffett.

How many jets is that?

According to Private Jet Card Comparisons, NetJets reported a fleet of 845 jets across NetJets and NetJets Europe as of March 2026, citing a fleet update on the company’s own website. That number moves as aircraft arrive and retire, so read it as a snapshot.

What a NetJets share or card costs

Costs depend on the aircraft class and the hours you buy. If you want to fly private without a share, a jet card is the lighter commitment. See our guides to NetJets cost and jet card cost.

How we checked

We read the 1989 and 1998 Berkshire Hathaway letters on berkshirehathaway.com and AIN’s 2009 report on the CNBC interview. On November 6, 2026 we searched the FAA registry by owner name for “Buffett” and “Berkshire Hathaway” and by N-number for the two tail numbers most often attached to him online.

Aircraft can be registered to companies and trusts, so no result under a famous name does not prove the person has never owned one. Here the letters, not the registry, tell the story.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many jets does Warren Buffett own?
We found none registered under his name or Berkshire Hathaway's in the FAA registry. Berkshire owns NetJets, which operates a large fleet, and his 1998 letter says he sold the Berkshire plane and flies NetJets. Aircraft can be held through other entities, so the registry is not the whole answer.
Does Warren Buffett own NetJets?
Berkshire Hathaway owns NetJets. Its 1998 letter describes the $725 million acquisition of Executive Jet Aviation, paid in equal amounts of cash and stock. Buffett's stake is therefore indirect, through his holding in the company.
Does Warren Buffett fly private?
Yes. His 1998 letter says he sold the Berkshire plane and flies with NetJets for business and personal trips. Earlier, according to the 1989 letter, the company owned a corporate jet he named "The Indefensible."

See all celebrity private jets, including Jeff Bezos.

Sources

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