What a $75 Million Airplane Actually Costs to Own
20 June 2026

What a $75 Million Airplane Actually Costs to Own

Sourcery

About

We are in the middle of the largest wealth creation event in modern history. SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, Cerebras, Cursor, and more are heading to public markets or trading in secondaries, minting more millionaires and billionaires than ever on over $4 trillion dollars in expected liquidity. 

Flying private is one of the first things people want after a liquidity event, and it pulls them straight toward $75 million jets, often skipping every step the industry is used to.

Israel ‘Izzy’ Slodowitz is the Founder of Craft, a Part 135 charter operator that also flies supplemental lift for NetJets, Flexjet, and Wheels Up. He turned that flying fleet into something most operators can't offer: an exchange fund built for the founders and early employees whose wealth is locked in a single stock. It takes in that concentrated position tax-deferred and backs it with real aircraft, not the self-storage and real estate that prop up legacy funds. Members diversify out of one position, defer the tax, and keep access to the planes.

I joined him on one of their Challenger 350’s from Van Nuys to San Francisco to break down what this wave means for private aviation. Who is buying, what it really costs, why jets are appreciating for the first time, and why a generation whose net worth is locked in stock needs a structure the legacy ownership models were never built to offer.

In this episode:

    The new-money buyer and the coming aircraft shortage

    Jet categories and prices, from light jets to the Global 8000

    Buy vs charter vs jet card vs fractional, and when each makes sense

    Full cost of ownership: depreciation, pilots, maintenance, and downtime

    Exchange fund model and why an operating business changes the tax math

    Bonus depreciation, the 2025 tax bill, and the recapture trap

    Starlink, hidden fees, safety standards, and selling a jet in under an hour

Video also features Captain Raz Matus.

Craft: flycraft.com


Israel Slodowitz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/israel-slodowitz 


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