Jetcraft Owner Featured on CNN’s Passion to Portfolio

Jetcraft Owner and Chairman Jahid Fazal-Karim spoke with Anna Stewart on for CNN’s Passion to Portfolio segment. Below is a transcript of the interview. The full interview can be seen here.

Anna Stewart: It’s one of their latest and most prized assets – a $30 million plane that offers the very latest in luxury. This is absolutely stunning and I’m loving it’s designed by Fendi?

Jahid Fazal-Karim: That’s right, these owners tend to have their favorite brands on the plane so I guess this was custom made for that airplane when they bought it. As you can see this airplane, it’s a five year old airplane, is in pretty good shape for five years old. We sold this airplane when it was new and now we’re buying it back.

Anna Stewart: Jahid Fazal-Karim is the owner of Jetcraft, a business which buys and sells private jets. For him it’s the realization of a long held dream.

Jahid Fazal-Karim: My passion for aviation has been there since I was a little boy because I had two uncles that were actually pilots. They took me on their plane and I just loved it, I just loved airplanes. It was fascinating. I was always fascinated with birds, how they can fly, to me it’s like a miracle.

Anna Stewart: The people that you meet on a daily basis, these clients, these multi-millionaires who want private jets, are they all passionate about aviation as well?

Jahid Fazal-Karim:  Aviation for them depends, some of them are really passionate about aviation because I have clients that are actually pilots. They own their own plane so they fly them, they are passionate about planes because they love to fly them. But a lot of them they don’t really care about the plane, for them it’s a business tool. They just buy a plane because it’s time, we sell time. People ask me what do you really sell? At the end, we sell time – that’s what we sell. If you’re going to buy a private jet it’s because your time is so valuable.

Anna Stewart: The company has produced a report forecasting their outlook for the aviation market between 2015 and 2024. They project a downturn in 2022 and forecast 8,755 aircraft representing $271.1 billion will be delivered in the 10 year period they’re looking at. As part of its expansion plans Jetcraft has just opened an office in London.

Jahid Fazal-Karim:  For us it’s a platform in London, it’s an international platform. Everybody comes to London, we have a lot of clients that actually show up here. A lot of the Middle Eastern clients come to London in summer so there is always something happening here and it’s a great place for us to do business.

Anna Stewart: When time allows, Fazal-Karim makes sure he’s fit and ready for whatever challenges come with the business. Balancing work and life can at times be tricky but he’s confident that he’s made the right career choice.

Jahid Fazal-Karim:  For me work is not work, I don’t feel like I’m working. I tell people sometimes, they ask, do you go on vacation? I don’t go on vacation much because I get bored on vacation you know, my life is a vacation in a way. I love what I do so I wake up in the morning and I don’t feel like I have to wake up today and work. I wake up in the morning and think let’s go sell some planes and buy some planes.

Anna Stewart: What started as a childhood passion for planes has turned into a multi million dollar business. Anna Stewart, CNN, London.