Just when we thought Google's digs couldn't get any swankier, news comes that the search engine is building its own airport.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, a deal is in the works to create a privately funded airport adjoined to the Mineta San Jose International Airport. That's basically Wi-Fi distance from Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
Signature Aviation and Blue City Holdings (the companies in charge of Google's fleet) are looking to build the 29-acre, $82 million facility in San Jose to house Google aircraft along with the companies' other corporate and private clients.
Google Air
The blueprints for the private airport include an aircraft servicing facilities, an executive terminal, hangers and ramp space for giants aircraft such as Boeing 737s and 767s.
Rent for the airfield will run the two companies $2.6 million annually, and the proposed lease will last for 50 years. Similar leases normally last for about 20 to 30 years, so hopefully Google will be happy with its future plane parking lot.
Google's fleet is currently hanging out at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View. The company had previously offered to pay for restorations of NASA/Ames' Hanger One located in the airfield in exchange for use of two-thirds of the facility's space. But it's too early to tell what this new deal will mean for that arrangement.
The proposal is set to go to the San Jose city council's Airport Competitiveness Committee later this month. then it will be up for a vote from the full council in April. If the deal gets approved, the airfield will take about two years to build.
And maybe after that, Google will tackle building its own moon base.
