#45 | David Henry: From Radio Sales to $20 Million Jets

A private jet is not a luxury purchase, it is a time-value-of-money decision. Here is what flying private actually costs, all in.More on David Henry and this episode: thedealtablepodcast.com/episodes/david-henryDavid Henry spent 18 years at CBS Radio in Dallas-Fort Worth, ultimately as senior vice president, before he started selling aircraft. He is not a pilot. He left after a student in the class he taught at SMU asked a question he could not answer: what happens to all those radio towers once phones are 5G?This is the most transparent conversation about private aviation economics the show has had. Real numbers, not brochure language. What a turboprop runs against a midsize jet. What Dallas to New Orleans costs round trip, everything in. Why ownership carries roughly $800,000 a year in fixed overhead before you buy the plane and before you burn a gallon of fuel. How charter, fractional and outright ownership actually compare, and why family offices keep choosing pay as you go over a five year fractional contract.Then the part nobody publishes. The operator who books your jet, quietly swaps it for a cheaper one and calls it a mechanical. The catering order that never made it onto the plane in Kentucky. The liability you take on when you let a friend just pay for the fuel and pilots. Why buyers sign NDAs to keep a tail number quiet, why someone once sat at Love Field with binoculars, and why charter became the anonymous option for executives who would rather not be tracked.David Henry is the founder and CEO of Vue Jet, a Dallas based private aviation brokerage and worldwide charter company that buys and sells aircraft and sources flights from thousands of vetted operators. Before aviation he spent 18 years at CBS Radio in Dallas-Fort Worth. He is a graduate of the SMU Cox School of Business and teaches a private aviation seminar, "Jets for Dummies," for Tiger 21 and R360.KEY MOMENTS00:00 Three ways to fly, and the real math05:20 What COVID did to private aviation08:42 Charter costs, turboprop to Gulfstream09:34 Dallas to New Orleans, all in10:58 The industry's gotchas17:01 The student who asked about 5G24:44 $800,000 a year before fuel32:28 The liability of lending your jet38:50 Tracking tail numbers to front-run deals50:21 The debit account modelNewsletter: thedealtablepodcast.com/connectVue Jet: vuejet.comLane Carrick on selling a business, The Optima Advantage: amzn.to/48nLElWFollow The Deal Table: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, XThe Deal Table is hosted by Ryan Harper and Lane Carrick, filmed in Dallas, and produced by Harper Belmont Media.Sponsored by Capital Southwest and Security National Bank.