Billionaire Larry Ellison can now afford to fly commercial – on his own commercial airline, that is.<\/p>\n
The Oracle Corp chief executive on Wednesday added a small Hawaiian airline to his holdings, less than a year after he purchased the vast majority of land on the small Hawaiian island of Lana’i, off the coast of Maui.<\/p>\n
Island Air, a Honolulu-based carrier with a handful of island-hopping planes and about 245 employees, will not make any staff changes as part of the sale and will continue normal operations, the company said.<\/p>\n
“We are excited Mr. Ellison has acquired Island Air. He has the vision and resources to literally take Island Air to new heights,” said Les Murashige, Island Air president.<\/p>\n
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it was unlikely to financially strain the software mogul, who has an estimated fortune of $36 billion. Forbes Magazine recently named Ellison the sixth-richest man in the world.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for Ellison called the Island Air purchase “another major investment and commitment to Hawaii.”<\/p>\n
After Ellison bought 98 percent of Lana’i last year, he said he intended to turn the island into a “laboratory” for green living.<\/p>\n
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