Google keeps jets at NASA field

Mountain View, Calif. -- The founders of Internet giant Google have secured a deal with the U.S. space agency to keep three planes at a field near Mountain View, Calif.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration struck a deal with Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin that allows the pair to keep a VIP Boeing 767-200 and two Gulfstream V jets at Moffett Field, minutes from the Internet company's headquarters, Aviation International News reported Friday.

The deal requires the Google duo to allow NASA instruments and researchers to use the planes to collect scientific data in exchange for allowing the jets to be based at Moffett Field.

"Private operators are eager to fly out of Moffett," said Xojet Chief Marketing Officer Nick Solinger. However, he said further use of the field by private companies is unlikely due to strong community opposition that prevented the airport's expansion in the 1990s and "significant investment" needed to update the facility's hangers.

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Copyright 2007 by United Press International.