Google founders pay million dollar parking fee

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin park their jet just a stone's throw from their offices, paying 1.



3 million dollars a year for rights at a federally maintained airfield, The New York Times reported Thursday.



Why put up with bothersome local traffic when you can shell out a princely sum for takeoff and landing rights just a few minutes from your office?

The Google duo pay for their Boeing 767-200 and two Gulfstream jets to be housed and operate at Moffett Field "an airport run by NASA that is generally closed to private aircraft," the paper said.

How could the big-wigs have landed such a deal?

"Officials at the Ames Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the agency signed a unique agreement last month that (in addition to the fee paid) allows it to place scientific instruments and researchers on planes used by the Google founders," the Times reported.

"NASA gets to collect scientific data on some flights of those jets, which in addition to the Boeing 767-200 includes two Gulfstream Vs."