The Anthony Cumia Show - June 09, 2025


John Catsimatidis | 06-08-25


Episode Stats


Length

20 minutes

Words per minute

138.28

Word count

2,778

Sentence count

221

Harmful content

Toxicity

8

sentences flagged

Hate speech

21

sentences flagged


Summary

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

In this episode of the Anthony Cumia Show on the Red Apple Podcast Network, John Katz joins me to talk about his career in the aviation industry. John has been involved in the airline industry for over 40 years and has a lot of experience in the supersonic transport industry. He has also been involved with some of the most successful companies in the world, including British Airways, JetBlue, and NetJets.

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 .
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00:00:59.480 Join me.
00:01:00.760 It's the Anthony Cumia Show on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:01:06.820 John Katz.
00:01:08.340 I am here.
00:01:09.760 There he is.
00:01:10.540 How you doing, boss?
00:01:12.080 Good.
00:01:12.560 I am older than you, so I remember those days.
00:01:15.600 Yes, well, you know, I'm not that much of a kid.
00:01:19.480 I do remember the great old days of the Concorde, amazing airports like the TWA terminal at Kennedy, the wonder of flight.
00:01:30.800 It was just an amazing thing. 0.78
00:01:33.100 And now it just seems like, you know, trash, whatever wants to walk on the plane wearing pajamas.
00:01:39.560 But I was talking about Trump wanting to bring back supersonic transport, some type of travel like the Concorde was.
00:01:48.140 And then I was wondering if you, being involved in British Airways, a terminal at Kennedy, was it, had any experience?
00:01:57.940 I've been in the aviation business for 40 years.
00:02:02.080 I started back in 1977.
00:02:05.780 And the company that eventually became NetJets, I started the company along with Jim Jacobs.
00:02:13.680 and when we sold this to Santulli, that turned it into NetJets
00:02:19.360 and then turned it into Warren Buffett buying it.
00:02:25.560 We had like 48 jets at that time, and then Warren Buffett turned it into 800 jets.
00:02:33.800 So you were involved, obviously, you just explained, in the aviation industry,
00:02:40.020 industry but i was talking about the the supersonic transport the concord british airways we're
00:02:46.740 getting there all right that's the corporate jet part of it and i used to fly all those jets
00:02:51.940 when i quit flying uh i had uh 4 000 hours of jet time oh so you actually flew also you didn't just
00:03:00.520 business-wise, own these companies.
00:03:04.140 You flew jets?
00:03:05.900 Absolutely.
00:03:06.420 And in 1983, we bought Capital Airlines, which was one of the leading airlines in the country
00:03:18.380 in 1983-84, and we operated it.
00:03:24.920 Our headquarters was out of Smyrna, Tennessee.
00:03:28.800 We flew to Europe.
00:03:30.740 We flew to the Caribbean.
00:03:31.920 We flew transcontinental, San Francisco, Los Angeles.
00:03:37.060 We had mostly in those days, and that's 43 years ago.
00:03:42.860 My God.
00:03:43.860 Amazing.
00:03:44.320 And we had a great, it was a great airline.
00:03:50.200 And then what happened was People's Express entered our markets.
00:03:55.980 Oh, I remember People's Express.
00:03:57.700 Yes.
00:03:58.080 And that was one of the big frauds of the day.
00:04:00.640 Right, low-cost air, and it was a total scam.
00:04:05.560 It was a total scam.
00:04:07.720 They were cooking the books, selling cheap tickets,
00:04:13.000 and at the end of the day, they kept losing a lot of money,
00:04:18.920 but they made believe they were making money
00:04:22.120 and keep raising a lot of public money just to keep growing.
00:04:25.760 Right, like Crazy Eddie, like Eddie Antner.
00:04:27.880 He did the same thing, puff up the books, make it seem like you've got a great company,
00:04:32.380 and you're taking money out of it, but nobody's going in.
00:04:36.400 Nobody's going in.
00:04:37.800 And eventually, they all have to blow up.
00:04:41.340 Yes.
00:04:41.620 These guys just keep doing that because of the fact that sometimes they hope that a miracle will happen.
00:04:50.960 Right, right.
00:04:52.060 And they'll make it.
00:04:53.320 somehow what you're going to win lotto and be able to infuse that money into your company
00:04:57.960 john i gotta ask you something because obviously you you involved very uh heavily into aviation
00:05:05.640 and and the businesses what happened over the course of the years that made it where we had
00:05:12.500 it was so luxurious it was amazing the the the cart would come by and they'd carve off filet
00:05:19.460 and yawned to you.
00:05:20.640 Anthony, Anthony, let's start off first with the Concorde.
00:05:27.140 Because, you know, I was driving back from Long Island,
00:05:31.520 and I was listening to you all the way.
00:05:33.640 Thank you.
00:05:34.240 And you got my attention on the Concorde.
00:05:35.880 Oh, the boss is listening to me.
00:05:38.080 Jesus.
00:05:40.540 And half the British Airways terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport was ours.
00:05:46.000 So we had reciprocal agreements with British Airways.
00:05:49.460 So it was Capital Airlines was our company, 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.
00:06:10.160 Okay, yeah, yeah, you got to take it somewhere for work, you would fly it, yeah.
00:06:14.840 Yeah. And the same thing with the other company, we called it United Jet Fleet before it became NetJets. And we flew, you know, I used to fly them, but not on paid revenue flights. I used to fly them for, you know, for our own flights.
00:06:31.740 and now the concord it yes it went into production i mean i'm trying to remember
00:06:39.840 uh and i think the first flew in 1976 i i believe and it was a centennial year here in
00:06:50.000 in the united states very big patriotic great airplane yes great airplane it flew
00:06:56.580 anywhere from 61,000 to 63,000 feet.
00:07:02.020 It flew at Mach 2.01 to 2.03,
00:07:08.740 which meant twice the speed of sound.
00:07:11.720 And we made JFK Airport to London in 3 hours and 11 minutes.
00:07:19.580 And it made Air France would do it from New York to Paris
00:07:25.020 Paris in like three hours and 15 minutes at 63,000 feet and it was it was a great airplane
00:07:34.660 and that technology is 50 years old yeah so I am very very upset that our we have gone nowhere
00:07:45.060 in 50 years so President Trump you know who I know for a long time and he's always been in
00:07:52.600 aviation i wrote aviation uh he uh he um uh bought uh one of the uh the uh shuttles and he was
00:08:03.200 operating the shuttle at one time from you know new york to oh the trump yeah the trump shuttle
00:08:09.080 and i was supposed to buy the pan am shuttle uh and but that's another another another day
00:08:17.500 uh but uh uh so what do you think about this though that trump has not gone far enough
00:08:24.540 in the last 50 years i think same thing with our space race our space race we are trying to fall
00:08:31.800 behind and we are you know when when they created the space shuttle to me uh knowing aviation and
00:08:40.420 loving aviation that was a big thought oh i thought it was going to be the greatest thing
00:08:46.460 I thought it was going to be the greatest jump leap for mankind in space flight.
00:08:53.220 It was.
00:08:53.780 It was.
00:08:54.160 It was.
00:08:54.620 Nothing.
00:08:55.860 It was a waste of time and money after Apollo.
00:08:59.420 And 50 years.
00:09:01.280 And we went to the moon in 1969, and we haven't been back since.
00:09:07.620 So technology has not moved anywhere.
00:09:10.820 But you know what? We've done, John, we've done a lot with autonomous and technologically.
00:09:18.040 You see what Elon's done with the spacecraft that he could bring back, the booster, and it doesn't cost as much.
00:09:26.500 And I think that's a big thing.
00:09:27.900 But I think we wasted so much time and resources on the shuttle program and not just pursuing going to Mars.
00:09:35.560 yeah we we did nothing in 50 years yeah so disappointing and now that they want to create
00:09:44.380 another supersonic uh transport yeah what do you think about that now is moving forward and
00:09:51.120 they're trying to be able to do it with no sonic booms now how do you do that it's just uh it's
00:09:58.380 nature if something goes beyond the speed of sound design maybe it's the design of the aircraft
00:10:04.980 Maybe it's a I don't know. I haven't been able I haven't been up to it lately, but it's it's a very disappointing design because I looked into part of it.
00:10:15.720 Those airplanes are not as fast as the Concorde and they should be able to make it faster and better and not just another just nothing.
00:10:27.780 I mean, I think New York, London on the new one is maybe four hours, which is, you know, you want to be able, you can do hypersonic jets right now, and you can do New York, Hong Kong in three hours, four hours.
00:10:45.060 Now, that's technology.
00:10:47.040 That's insane.
00:10:47.620 And we should be at that point.
00:10:49.000 We should be at that point right now.
00:10:50.820 Why aren't we?
00:10:52.040 What happened?
00:10:53.020 What happened?
00:10:53.760 Well, you know, back in the 1950s and 60s, when we started to design the good old days, John, you know, we had we had we we had the German scientists.
00:11:08.080 Yes. The German scientists, the German Jewish scientists were so much more advanced.
00:11:16.560 Oh, yeah.
00:11:17.220 They were a smart bunch.
00:11:20.420 When they died off, guess what?
00:11:22.600 We got nothing.
00:11:24.560 We got nothing.
00:11:26.960 Yeah, Operation Paperclip really did help our aviation industry and the military.
00:11:35.820 As far as rockets go, obviously, I mean, Werner von Braun was the key to the Apollo space program.
00:11:44.220 And there just doesn't say where are these.
00:11:45.940 And I think Elon Musk is brilliant, but I think it's more the people he hires.
00:11:51.620 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.
00:12:00.820 That's that is the problem. Yeah, it's a problem. And we need good leadership.
00:12:08.620 Look, yes, Trump is a smart guy. I think he's on the right track. I'm 100 percent supportive of him.
00:12:17.180 Absolutely.
00:12:18.060 And Elon Musk, he's a smart guy, but even his father said, I don't know if you saw the article.
00:12:26.260 I did, yes.
00:12:27.100 I saw that today.
00:12:27.920 Yep.
00:12:29.180 And you know, my comment on the article was, father knows best.
00:12:35.280 From the old days.
00:12:37.000 Yeah, your father knows.
00:12:38.280 And he should quit.
00:12:39.860 Look, Elon Musk doesn't need the drugs.
00:12:42.620 He doesn't need the alcohol.
00:12:44.160 The one thing you know about President Trump, he doesn't do alcohol and he doesn't do drugs.
00:12:49.520 Right, right.
00:12:50.120 He's a clean guy.
00:12:52.180 I love him.
00:12:52.860 So I'm betting on Donald Trump.
00:12:58.360 Well, the way I say it, you need a strong United States president to save the free world.
00:13:09.120 Yeah.
00:13:09.960 Always.
00:13:10.720 It's always been that way.
00:13:11.560 That's what we're doing.
00:13:12.300 And that's what we're doing.
00:13:13.060 And it's not an easy job, and it's not something to embrace, and that's what we're seeing now.
00:13:20.100 It's not easy to change the course of a country that has been on the wrong path for so many years.
00:13:28.320 So Donald Trump can't just do this and make people think, oh, everyone's going to like this.
00:13:33.680 It's not the way it is.
00:13:34.880 If Harris would have gotten elected, I am scared crapless.
00:13:41.520 I can't.
00:13:42.060 this country would not have made
00:13:44.140 I have nightmares
00:13:44.840 I got nightmares thinking about that
00:13:47.420 oh my god
00:13:48.920 I mean it was so bad
00:13:51.880 yes
00:13:52.620 we were being invaded
00:13:55.500 you know
00:13:56.620 yes literally
00:13:58.100 yeah immigration yes
00:14:00.960 I was
00:14:01.780 I was me
00:14:02.880 I was vice chairman of Ellis Island
00:14:05.040 I worked with Lee Itoka
00:14:07.320 on Ellis Island Foundation
00:14:09.220 I worked with Bill Fugazi 1.00
00:14:12.000 on the ellis island foundation and we believe in immigration immigration yes invasion no
00:14:19.240 legal merit-based legal merit-based immigration i think it is a wonderful thing for this country
00:14:27.700 it has fallen so far away from that that we we are just letting in people that are so detrimental
00:14:35.740 to this country.
00:14:37.820 I can't understand why. 1.00
00:14:39.900 I can understand if they snuck in migrants 0.98
00:14:43.580 that wanted to work hard like Ellis Island. 1.00
00:14:46.160 Yeah, there you go.
00:14:47.060 My father came to Ellis Island.
00:14:48.720 Don't forget, we wanted,
00:14:50.900 his two brothers had to sign in a dotted line
00:14:53.640 that if he didn't pay the bills,
00:14:55.260 his brothers would sign him.
00:14:56.660 Yeah, co-sign.
00:14:58.040 Yeah, they had a co-sign for people. 1.00
00:15:00.600 Letting these migrants in 1.00
00:15:02.200 and letting the criminals in. 1.00
00:15:05.400 Yep.
00:15:05.740 What was the Biden people doing?
00:15:09.460 We have to find out who at the White House was pressing those buttons, allowing criminals in into our cities, our states.
00:15:18.240 I can understand inviting the migrants in because what the Democrats wanted, they were falling short of congressional votes in New York, Illinois, California. 0.87
00:15:31.320 Yeah, they need the census to show that there's people that are Democrats. 0.68
00:15:42.700 Yeah, that's the only reason they were doing this. 0.85
00:15:46.840 But Anthony, bring in the migrants that want to work hard. 0.99
00:15:50.920 Why bring in the criminals? 1.00
00:15:53.200 I guess because they could make it seem like they're catering to the criminals
00:15:57.900 and the criminals will vote for them.
00:15:59.860 I don't know, John. 0.91
00:16:01.320 It's insane. It's an insane thing. It's so destructive to this country.
00:16:06.820 And all they do is crow about how they're pro-American and how Trump is a Nazi and he's a fascist and he's destroying this country. 0.92
00:16:14.620 And all they've done is attempted to destroy every aspect and every institution that makes this country great. 0.98
00:16:23.220 They tried to destroy America. They tried to do it with invasion, not immigration. 0.99
00:16:31.040 They try with fentanyl.
00:16:32.660 They were killing 100,000 Americans a year. 1.00
00:16:35.180 Disgusting. 0.97
00:16:36.240 And what they're doing to our institutions. 0.98
00:16:39.020 Yep.
00:16:39.260 You know, there's 400,000 Chinese students. 1.00
00:16:46.980 But you know who puts them in?
00:16:48.920 The Communist Party.
00:16:51.020 And they pay their tuition.
00:16:52.920 And if they don't obey the Communist Party, guess what?
00:16:58.360 Their mother dies.
00:16:59.380 Oh, yeah, yeah. No, they're brutal over there. Do you think, John, do you think we're somehow at war with China right now? Because I think we're at war. Maybe there aren't missiles and bullets flying, but I think China is warring with us.
00:17:14.580 They steal our intellectual property. 0.98
00:17:16.940 They deposit fungus and diseases upon the world. 1.00
00:17:22.460 Why the hell isn't the rest of the globe attacking China, 0.97
00:17:29.820 maybe not militarily but economically and every other way, 0.67
00:17:34.120 or maybe militarily?
00:17:35.480 I don't know.
00:17:36.060 It really seems to me like China is at war with us,
00:17:39.860 and we're doing nothing about it.
00:17:41.600 This is a different kind of war.
00:17:44.580 This is an economic war.
00:17:46.300 This is invasion versus nuclear bombs.
00:17:54.420 What they want to do, you know, what they want to do is take control of our country without anything. 0.68
00:18:06.980 Right, without firing a shot.
00:18:08.320 And the American people, and I don't understand the Democratic Party.
00:18:16.040 You know what I say on my show?
00:18:18.220 I don't care if you're Democrat.
00:18:19.960 I don't care if you're Republican.
00:18:21.960 You should want the best for America.
00:18:27.360 For the country.
00:18:28.540 That's being pro-American, right.
00:18:31.240 And the same thing.
00:18:32.060 In New York City, New York State, New Jersey, what's best for our state?
00:18:37.860 what's best for our cities and uh it's just horrible what's going on you're right if i see
00:18:44.500 a republican doing something that i feel is detrimental to to my county to the city to the
00:18:51.800 state i don't care what the party line is i'm gonna say this is not good for the people of
00:18:58.920 this county or community or city or state and and for some reason we've gotten so jaded where
00:19:06.100 it doesn't matter if it's your party you have to back it no matter what they're doing and that's
00:19:12.120 destroying this country and then let's take these these smart uh federal judges what the heck are
00:19:21.040 they doing oh destroy again they're supposed to be smart guys the democratic u.s senators
00:19:29.020 I said the other day, why do you want the criminals to come back?
00:19:34.020 Yep.
00:19:34.500 You know?
00:19:34.900 Why?
00:19:35.400 I don't understand it. 0.79
00:19:37.660 Are they Americans or are they on somebody else's side?
00:19:43.240 It makes no sense, John. 0.95
00:19:45.040 John, you know that you own this station and you know that we have to take breaks, right?
00:19:50.840 Well, you've got to take that break when you've got to take it.
00:19:53.640 I hear you, my friend.
00:19:54.940 But I enjoyed talking to you, and let's do it again soon.
00:19:58.820 Let's do it, man.
00:20:00.020 I love it.
00:20:01.160 It's the Anthony Cumia Show on the Red Apple Podcast Network.