The Anthony Cumia Show - June 12, 2025


Aviation's Golden Era ｜ 06-08-25

Hosted by
Anthony Cumia
Mentioned
John F. Kennedy Airport Donald Trump Elon Musk Warren Buffett Anthony Crazy Eddie Jim Jacobs John Keats John John Santulli Mach
Karine Jean-Pierre’s Exit and the Truth She Skipped ｜ 06-08-25 The Anthony Cumia Show ｜ 06-15-25

Episode Stats


Length

20 minutes

Words per minute

137.34

Word count

2,817

Sentence count

228

Harmful content

Toxicity

7

sentences flagged

Hate speech

18

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

On this minicast, John Katz sits down with his good friend and former business partner, John Sulli, to talk about his career in the aviation industry. John has been involved in the airline industry for a long time and has a lot of experience in the commercial airline industry. He talks about how he got started in the industry and how he was able to build one of the most successful airline companies of all time.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
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00:01:00.080 Listen, all you New Yorkers.
00:01:02.580 You mean taxi?
00:01:04.000 Okay, that you want to look around.
00:01:05.300 This is the 77 WABC
00:01:08.360 minicast.
00:01:10.900 John Katz.
00:01:12.680 I am here.
00:01:13.820 There he is. How you doing, boss?
00:01:16.100 Good. I am older than you,
00:01:17.820 so I remember those days.
00:01:19.640 Yes, well, you know, I'm not
00:01:21.880 that much of a kid i do remember the great old days of the concord amazing airports like the
00:01:29.860 twa terminal at kennedy uh the wonder of flight it was just an amazing thing and now it just seems
00:01:38.120 like you know trash whatever wants to walk on the plane wearing pajamas but uh i was talking about
00:01:45.640 Trump wanting to bring back supersonic transport, some type of travel like the Concorde was.
00:01:52.180 And then I was wondering if you, being involved in British Airways, a terminal at Kennedy, was it, had any experience?
00:02:01.960 I've been in the aviation business for 40 years.
00:02:06.140 I started back in 1977.
00:02:08.740 and the company that eventually became NetJets,
00:02:14.240 I started the company along with Jim Jacobs
00:02:17.740 and when we sold this to Santulli,
00:02:21.700 that turned it into NetJets
00:02:23.420 and then turned it into Warren Buffett buying it.
00:02:29.620 We had like 48 jets at that time
00:02:32.600 and then Warren Buffett turned it into 800 jets.
00:02:37.940 So you were involved, obviously, you just explained, in the aviation industry.
00:02:44.880 But I was talking about the supersonic transport, the Concord British Airways.
00:02:50.660 We're getting there.
00:02:51.580 All right.
00:02:52.460 That's the corporate jet part of it.
00:02:54.560 And I used to fly all those jets.
00:02:56.240 When I quit flying, I had 4,000 hours of jet time.
00:03:01.180 Oh, so you actually flew also.
00:03:03.680 You didn't just, business-wise, own these companies.
00:03:08.180 You flew jets?
00:03:09.980 Absolutely.
00:03:11.160 And in 1983, we bought Capital Airlines, which was one of the leading airlines in the country in 1983-84.
00:03:25.760 And we operated it.
00:03:28.940 Our headquarters was out of Smyrna, Tennessee.
00:03:32.840 We flew to Europe.
00:03:34.780 We flew to the Caribbean.
00:03:35.960 We flew transcontinental, San Francisco, Los Angeles.
00:03:41.140 We had mostly in those days, and that's 43 years ago.
00:03:46.900 My gosh.
00:03:47.200 Amazing.
00:03:47.920 Amazing.
00:03:48.360 And we had a great, it was a great airline.
00:03:54.260 And then what happened was People's Express entered our markets.
00:03:59.840 Oh, I remember People's Express.
00:04:01.740 Yes.
00:04:02.100 And that was one of the big frauds of the day.
00:04:04.680 Right, low-cost air, and it was a total scam.
00:04:09.600 It was a total scam.
00:04:11.780 They were cooking the books, selling cheap tickets,
00:04:16.980 and at the end of the day, they kept losing a lot of money,
00:04:22.960 but they made believe they were making money
00:04:26.160 and keep raising a lot of public money just to keep growing.
00:04:29.820 Right, like Crazy Eddie, like Eddie Antner.
00:04:31.940 He did the same thing, puff up the books, make it seem like you've got a great company,
00:04:36.440 and you're taking money out of it, but nobody's going in.
00:04:40.460 Nobody's going in.
00:04:41.840 And eventually they all have to blow up. 1.00
00:04:45.380 Yes, damn it. 0.99
00:04:47.300 These guys just keep doing that because of the fact that sometimes they hope that a miracle will happen. 1.00
00:04:55.000 Right, right.
00:04:56.120 And they'll make it.
00:04:57.360 Somehow, what, you're going to win lotto and be able to infuse that money into your company?
00:05:02.480 John, I've got to ask you something, because obviously you're involved very heavily into aviation and the businesses.
00:05:11.460 What happened over the course of the years that made it where we had, it was so luxurious, it was amazing.
00:05:19.500 The cart would come by and they'd carve off filet mignon to you.
00:05:24.700 Anthony, let's start off.
00:05:26.660 Let's start off first with the Concorde, because, you know, I was driving back from Long Island.
00:05:35.620 I was listening to you all the way.
00:05:37.700 Thank you.
00:05:38.400 You got my attention on the Concorde.
00:05:39.940 Oh, the boss is listening to me.
00:05:42.160 Jesus.
00:05:43.540 And half the British Airways terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport was ours.
00:05:50.020 So we had reciprocal agreements with British Airways.
00:05:53.640 So it was Capital Airlines was our company.
00:05:56.660 And we operated DC-8s, DC-10s, Airbus 300s, and I used to fly some of them, but I didn't fly them for passenger runs because I wasn't qualified to fly them, but I flew them on maintenance runs.
00:06:14.200 Okay, yeah, yeah, you got to take it somewhere for work, you would fly it, yeah.
00:06:18.880 Yeah, and the same thing with the other company, we called it United Jet Fleet before it became NetJets.
00:06:26.660 And we flew, you know, I used to fly them, but not on paid revenue flights.
00:06:32.400 I used to fly them for our own flights.
00:06:37.360 And now, the Concorde, it went into production, I'm trying to remember, and I think it first
00:06:46.280 flew in 1976, I believe.
00:06:51.920 It was a centennial year here in the United States.
00:06:55.700 Very big, patriotic.
00:06:57.360 It was a great airplane.
00:06:58.360 It was a great airplane.
00:07:00.120 It flew anywhere from 61,000 to 63,000 feet.
00:07:06.520 It flew at Mach 2.01 to 2.03, which meant twice the speed of sound.
00:07:15.520 And we made JFK Airport to London in three hours and 11 minutes.
00:07:23.820 And Air France would do it from New York to Paris in like three hours and 15 minutes at 63,000 feet.
00:07:36.660 And it was a great airplane.
00:07:39.220 And that technology is 50 years old.
00:07:43.040 So I am very, very upset that we have gone nowhere in 50 years.
00:07:51.220 So President Trump, you know, who I know for a long time, and he's always been in aviation.
00:07:57.660 I've always been in aviation.
00:07:59.820 He bought one of the shuttles, and he was operating the shuttle at one time from New York to...
00:08:11.220 Oh, the Trump?
00:08:11.860 Yeah, the Trump shuttle is huge.
00:08:14.780 And I was supposed to buy the Pan Am shuttle.
00:08:18.960 But that's another day.
00:08:23.940 So what do you think about this, though, that Trump...
00:08:26.360 Aviation has not gone far enough in the last 50 years.
00:08:31.420 And the same thing with our space race.
00:08:33.500 Our space race, we are trying to fall behind.
00:08:36.440 And we, you know, when they created the space shuttle, to me, knowing aviation and loving aviation, that was a big fraud.
00:08:47.220 Oh, I thought it was going to be the greatest thing.
00:08:50.740 I thought it was going to be the greatest jump leap for mankind in space flight.
00:08:57.260 It was.
00:08:57.820 It was.
00:08:58.560 Nothing.
00:08:59.920 It was a waste of time and money after Apollo.
00:09:03.720 And 50 years.
00:09:04.820 And we went to the moon in 1969, and we haven't been back since.
00:09:11.800 So technology has not moved anywhere.
00:09:15.400 But you know what?
00:09:16.140 We've done, John, we've done a lot with autonomous and technologically.
00:09:22.080 You see what Elon's done with the spacecraft that he could bring back, the booster, and it doesn't cost as much.
00:09:30.240 And I think that's a big thing, but I think we wasted so much time and resources on the shuttle program and not just pursuing going to Mars.
00:09:40.780 Yeah, we did nothing in 50 years, which is so disappointing.
00:09:46.920 And now that they want to create another supersonic transport.
00:09:51.340 Yeah, what do you think about that?
00:09:52.640 The technology now is moving forward, and they're trying to be able to do it with no sonic booms.
00:09:59.500 Now, how do you do that?
00:10:01.160 It's just nature.
00:10:03.140 If something goes beyond the speed of sound.
00:10:06.560 Maybe it's the design of the aircraft.
00:10:09.260 Maybe it's a, I don't know.
00:10:10.820 I haven't been able, I haven't been up to it lately.
00:10:13.920 But it's a very disappointing design because I looked into part of it.
00:10:19.740 Those airplanes are not as fast as the Concorde.
00:10:23.840 And they should be able to make them faster and better.
00:10:26.920 and not just another, just nothing.
00:10:31.980 I mean, New York, London on the new one is maybe four hours,
00:10:36.680 which is, you know, you want to be able,
00:10:39.700 you can do hypersonic jets right now
00:10:42.540 and you can do New York, Hong Kong in three hours, four hours.
00:10:49.100 Now that's technology.
00:10:50.920 That's insane, right.
00:10:52.000 And we should be at that point.
00:10:53.060 We should be at that point right now.
00:10:54.860 Why aren't we?
00:10:56.120 What happened?
00:10:57.080 What happened?
00:10:58.920 Well, you know, back in the 1950s and 60s
00:11:04.280 when we started to design...
00:11:06.240 The good old days, John. 1.00
00:11:07.400 You know, we had the German scientists.
00:11:12.080 Yes.
00:11:12.580 The German scientists, the German Jewish scientists
00:11:15.960 were so much more advanced than our people were.
00:11:22.020 They were a smart bunch.
00:11:23.640 When they died off, guess what?
00:11:27.200 We got nothing.
00:11:28.620 We got nothing.
00:11:30.960 Yeah, Operation Paperclip really did help our aviation industry and the military.
00:11:39.860 As far as rockets go, obviously, I mean, Wernher von Braun was the key to the Apollo space program.
00:11:48.280 And there just doesn't say, where are these?
00:11:49.980 And I think I think Elon Musk is brilliant, but I think it's more the people he hires.
00:11:56.000 And we don't have that one that one person that just knows so much about this that can put us over the top anymore.
00:12:04.960 That's that is the problem. Yeah, it's a problem.
00:12:09.240 And we need good leadership. Look, yes, Trump is a smart guy.
00:12:16.620 I think he's on the right track.
00:12:19.020 I'm 100% supportive of him.
00:12:21.240 Absolutely.
00:12:22.100 And Elon Musk, he's a smart guy, but even his father said.
00:12:29.080 I don't know if you saw the article.
00:12:30.300 I did, yes.
00:12:31.140 I saw that today, yep.
00:12:33.220 And, you know, my comment on the article was, father knows best.
00:12:39.340 From the old days.
00:12:41.040 Yeah, your father knows.
00:12:42.360 And he should quit.
00:12:43.740 Look, Elon Musk doesn't need the drugs.
00:12:46.600 He doesn't need the alcohol.
00:12:48.220 The one thing you know about President Trump, he doesn't do alcohol and he doesn't do drugs.
00:12:53.580 Right, right.
00:12:54.160 He's a clean guy.
00:12:56.220 I love him.
00:12:56.920 So I'm betting on Donald Trump.
00:13:02.340 Well, the way I say it, you need a strong United States president to save the free world.
00:13:13.160 Yeah.
00:13:13.740 always it's always been that way and that's what we're doing and it's not an easy job and it's not
00:13:19.380 some embrace and that's what we're seeing now it's not easy to change the course of a country
00:13:27.820 that has been on the wrong path for so many years so donald trump can't just do this and make people
00:13:35.140 think oh everyone's gonna like this it's not the way it is would have gotten if harris would have
00:13:40.760 gotten elected oh god please i am scared crapless i can't this country would not have made i have
00:13:48.520 nightmares i got nightmares thinking about that oh my god i mean it was it was so bad yes i mean
00:13:57.080 we were being invaded you know yes literally yeah immigration yes i was i was me i was vice
00:14:07.980 chairman of ellis island i worked with uh lee itoka uh on ellis island foundation with bill
00:14:15.560 forgazi on ellis island foundation and we believe in immigration immigration yes invasion no legal
00:14:24.400 merit-based legal merit-based immigration i think it is a wonderful thing for this country it has
00:14:32.500 fallen so far away from that that we we are just letting in people that are so detrimental 1.00
00:14:39.780 to this country well yeah i can't understand why i can understand if they snuck in migrants that 0.99
00:14:48.080 wanted to work hard like ellis island yeah there you go came to ellis island don't forget we wanted
00:14:54.320 his two brothers had to sign in a dotted line that if he didn't pay the bills his brothers 0.87
00:14:59.760 inside them yeah cosign yeah they had a cosign for people letting these migrants in and and 0.95
00:15:07.640 letting the criminals in yep what what what was what was the biden people doing we have to find 0.50
00:15:14.360 out who at the white house was pressing those buttons allowing criminals in into our cities 0.52
00:15:21.500 our states and i can understand and inviting the migrants in because what the democrats wanted
00:15:28.560 They were falling short of congressional votes in New York, Illinois, California.
00:15:35.980 So they brought in the census, congressional votes.
00:15:39.380 Yeah, they need the census to show that there's people that are Democrats.
00:15:46.620 Yeah, that's the only reason they were doing this.
00:15:50.880 But, Anthony, bring in the migrants that want to work hard. 0.99
00:15:54.880 Why bring in the criminals? 0.92
00:15:56.180 else i i guess because they could make it seem like they're catering to the criminals and the
00:16:02.400 criminals will vote for i don't know john it's insane it's an insane thing it's so destructive 0.92
00:16:09.480 to this country and all they do is crow about how they're pro-american and how trump is a nazi 0.98
00:16:15.820 and he's a fascist and he's destroying this country and all they've done is attempted to 0.93
00:16:21.760 destroy every aspect and every institution that makes this country great they tried to destroy 0.95
00:16:28.960 america yes they tried to do it with invasion not in the immigration they tried with fentanyl
00:16:36.600 they were killing a hundred thousand americans a year disgusting and what they're doing to our 0.84
00:16:41.660 institutions yep uh you know uh they like there's 400 000 chinese students but you know who puts 0.59
00:16:52.020 them in the communist party and they pay their tuition and if they if they don't obey the 0.71
00:16:59.840 communist party guess what their mother dies oh yeah yeah no they're they're brutal over there
00:17:06.020 Do you think, John, do you think we're somehow at war with China right now?
00:17:11.140 Because I think we're at war.
00:17:12.900 Maybe there aren't missiles and bullets flying, but I think China is warring with us. 0.53
00:17:18.720 They steal our intellectual property. 0.98
00:17:20.920 They deposit fungus and diseases upon the world. 0.96
00:17:25.940 Why the hell isn't the rest of the globe attacking China, maybe not militarily, but economically and every other way, or maybe militarily? 0.97
00:17:39.520 I don't know. 0.84
00:17:40.100 It really seems to me like China is at war with us, and we're doing nothing about it.
00:17:45.800 This is a different kind of war.
00:17:48.680 This is an economic war.
00:17:50.340 This is invasion versus versus nuclear bombs.
00:17:58.420 What they want to do, you know, what they want to do is take control of our country without anything. 0.70
00:18:11.020 Right. Without firing a shot.
00:18:12.380 And the American people, and I don't understand the Democratic Party.
00:18:20.100 You know what I say on my show?
00:18:22.280 I don't care if you're Democrat.
00:18:24.000 I don't care if you're Republican.
00:18:26.020 You should want the best for America.
00:18:31.440 For the country.
00:18:32.600 That's being pro-American, right.
00:18:35.300 And the same thing.
00:18:36.100 in New York City, New York State, New Jersey, what's best for our state, what's best for our
00:18:42.920 cities. And it's just horrible what's going on. You're right. If I see a Republican doing something
00:18:50.040 that I feel is detrimental to my county, to the city, to the state, I don't care what the party
00:18:58.220 line is. I'm going to say this is not good for the people of this county or community or city
00:19:05.560 or state and and for some reason we've gotten so jaded where it doesn't matter if it's your party
00:19:12.380 you have to back it no matter what they're doing and that's destroying this country and then let's
00:19:19.180 take these these smart uh federal judges what the heck are they doing oh destroy again they're
00:19:28.700 supposed to be smart guys the democratic u.s senators i i said the other day why do you want
00:19:36.080 the criminals to come back yep you know why i i don't understand it are they america are they
00:19:43.300 americans or are they uh you know on somebody else's side it makes it makes no sense john
00:19:48.980 john you know that you own this station and you know that we have to take breaks right
00:19:54.880 Well, you've got to take that break when you've got to take it.
00:19:57.620 I hear you, my friend.
00:19:59.400 But I enjoyed talking to you, and let's do it again soon.
00:20:02.880 Let's do it, man. I love it.
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