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Comment by shiroiushi | Hacker News Reader

Probably a smart move. Plus, it might have made sense financially: does the guy really fly around so much to make it financially worthwhile to own a jet, instead of just chartering flights as needed? Chartered planes are in the air as much as the owner can rent them out (minus maintenance time), but private planes frequently sit around unused, missing out on potential revenue.

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> does the guy really fly around so much to make it financially worthwhile to own a jet

I would guess yes.

I would guess no. Maybe when he was younger and more active, but these days I don't believe he's flying somewhere every single day or so. If you have a plane and it isn't flying every single day that it's capable of doing so (i.e. not undergoing maintenance), then you're wasting money on it.

He retired recently from Amazon and due to that it could have been another reason why he downsized.

For the times he lived in at his peak, I can see the argument. But I don't know in this day and age if any milllionaire+ that isn't on tour can justify doing that much movement.

Private jets while they can be used for fun are also an extremely fast way to get from point a to point b without many transfers or lines. If you have a bunch of people, resources, or facilities that are hard to get to you are saving hours of time of your day and especially if you could do the meeting in the Air so yes there is a business cost and justification.

Private planes do sit unused but, if you use them frequently enough it starts to make sense to use especially since you can reliably get features that a charter plane doesn't like a tv, many people on the plane, places to sleep.

Televangelists complaining they need a third jet makes me wonder if it's just rationalizing after the fact. Or subconsciously some kind of flex.

But if you own it, you get to write off its deprecation, maintenance, etc on your taxes!

As does the Charter company. What is your point?

If I’m a billionaire, I’d rather have the tax write off and own the jet, even though I probably ultimately would save money by chartering.

Also who wants to sit in a jet seat that someone else has sat in. Gross.

> Also who wants to sit in a jet seat that someone else has sat in. Gross.

It's a finite world and we all share it. You're going to be drinking water someone else drank and breathing air someone else breathed. Cleaning is cheaper than making something unique to everyone of the eight billion people in the planet.

If everyone lived like spoiled billionaires the world would be a hell scape within a month, just based on air quality.

So buy a chartered plane company. No one will know which airborne plane in your fleet is yours or if you're even in the air and you get the tax write offs plus the profits from the company.

> if you own it, you get to write off its deprecation, maintenance, etc on your taxes!

This is true of any capital asset. Broadly speaking, buying crap you don't need because you think it's a tax deal is a hobbyhorse of the middle class. Not the wealthy.

except motor vehicles (in many tax jurisdictions)

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