SiliconBeat

Symantec’s chief executive, John Thompson, joined an exclusive group of Silicon Valley chief executives whose companies now use aircraft they own or control for business use, according to the company’s proxy filed with the SEC Monday.

In May, Symantec entered into a “”dry-lease agreement” for an aircraft with a company owned by Thompson, under which it will pay $1,250 per flight hour, plus variable operating costs of Thompson’s business travel on this aircraft.

Under this agreement Thompson will no longer be using the company’s aircraft for his personal use, a benefit worth an average of more than $162,000 in each of the last four years, as the company will instead be paying to use Thompson’s jet for its business use.

The board assures us that “the amounts billed by Mr. Thompson’s company for our use of the aircraft are at or below the market rates charged by third-party commercial charter companies for similar aircraft.”

Among other chief executives who lease back their own jets to the companies they run: Larry Ellison of Oracle and Steve Jobs of Apple.