What a $75 Million Airplane Actually Costs to Own

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

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊

YouTube: https://youtu.be/BKC-6UlXtBw

𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒

• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery

• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery

• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com

• Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery

• Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery

• Merge—The leading provider of customer-facing integrations and agentic tools for frontier LLMs, Fortune 500 organizations, and B2B SaaS companies. Visit https://merge.dev

Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!

https://www.sourcery.vc

Disclosure

Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.