Company Had Been Buying Discount Fuel From The Military Since 2007

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will find the cost of flying their fleet of corporate jets and helicopters to be more expensive after a deal that allowed them to buy deeply-discounted fuel from the Pentagon through NASA expired August 31.

The arrangement was made back in 2007, when the internet entrepreneurs' airplane management company H211 cut a deal with NASA to base their fleet at Moffett Federal Airfield. The former Navy airbase is the closest airport to Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters. While the strip is closed to nearly all non-governmental traffic, H211 was allowed to base their seven jets and two helos there for about $1.3 million in rent each year.

But part of the deal was also the ability to buy jet fuel at the former base. That agreement stated that the fuel was only to have been used when the jets were performing scientific flights and other NASA-related transport. NASA called the arrangement an "innovative public-private partnership" that got them use of Google's Alpha jet which the agency used to measure things like atmospheric ozone and greenhouse gasses.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google's sweetheart deal on fuel came to an end August 31. H211 executive Kenneth Ambrose told the paper that the company bought the only fuel that was available at Moffett, and that their lease, for which they are paying full retail price, does not include ground support for their aircraft they would get if they hangared them at a commercial airfield.

Pentagon records show that the fuel purchased by H211 ... about 2.3 million gallons since 2009 ... was billed at about $3.19 per gallon. The going average since 2009 has been $4.35 per gallon, according to Fred Fitts, president of the Corporate Aircraft Association.

Since being cut off at Moffett, H211 has been buying fuel at other locations and landing their planes at the former Navy base with partially full tanks. A NASA spokeswoman said the agency is working with H211 to resume fuel sales, but at a "fair market price."

The original agreement was discovered during an ongoing audit by NASA's Inspector General. Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican, has called for an audit by the Pentagon IG to see if Google got a deal that "isn't available to other businesses."

(Moffett Field pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.dodig.mil