Aircrafts Cost Calculation (Price per hour)

[Aviatoreq]

Hello Everybody.

Please tell me how Flight Schools in Europe calculate price per hour for each aircraft in details? Where operational costs are ending and where profit is beginning ?

Currently for European Market what are actual prices per hour for following standard training aircrafts like (without fuel):
- Diamond Katana DA20
- Cessna 172 SP
- Piper Seneca V

Thank you for your help.

Greetings
Luke

[gordonquinn]

I think it will be hard for anyone to give you a remotely accurate answer Luke, there are so many factors to consider.

For example, you haven’t mentioned the age of the aircraft you ask about, this affects more than the purchase cost, remember to consider maintenance, fuel consumption, insurance. Then remember things like hangarage can vary wildy depending on location and quality.

Some more info and there will most likely be a few people who can give you an idea on some figures, but with the info you have given, any figures would not be reliable.

[Aviatoreq]

Expected not older than 10 years each one.

[M-ONGO]

https://www.conklindd.com/Page.aspx?hid=794

[phiggsbroadband]

Hi Luke, it all depends upon how much your plane is used. FTOs have the
advantage that they can fly up to say 6 times a day. So the annual and 50hour costs are spread over many flights. Also Insurance can be factored in.

If your plane's Annual costs £4000 and you only fly it for one hour a year, then it gets very costly. Some ex military Jet owners can fall into this category.

Costs such as the 50hour service (maybe £200.) can be divided by 50 to get the cost per hour, just as the cost of the engine (maybe £16000.) can be divided by about 2000 to give that cost per hour.

Fuel charges are easy, by comparison.

I think from an economics point of view, the actual cost of the airplane can almost be ignored, with interest rates being as low as they are, you might get back more than you paid for it, if you sell in ten years time.

[Storkeye]

I'm in a similar boat, in that I'm looking to purchase a simple SEP, PA28, 172 or similar and I am just starting to gather costs to calculate costs per hour. So far I have the following in my spreadsheet...

Purchase Price: doesn't really matter as it holds it's value pretty well and as phiggsbroadband has said, it can be ignored.

Running Costs:

Yearly Costs
Parking: from £1,500 per year - tarmac
Service: Annual: £4,000 approx
Insurance: £3,000 per year approx

Hourly Costs
Service: 50 hr = £ 200
Service: 150 hr = £ 500
Fuel: Estimated 40 litres per hour: £79.20
Engine: 2000 hrs = £16,000

Therefore prices can be calculated as follows:

Hourly: £90.80
Monthly Costs: £708.33

The difficult calculation is guessing how many hours per year the aircraft will be flown. Therefore to fly it at 1 hour per month will cost the owner £799.13 per hour. Or fly 100 hours per month will cost just £97.88 per hour.

Am I even close? Have I missed anything? :confused:

[dont overfil]

Storkeye,

I've been there and done it with an Archer and your figures look pretty close. Maybe the insurance could be less but that depends on the pilots and the declared hull value.

If you do the graphs you will see that around 350 hours per year is where the hourly costs start to come down.

Edited to add one further thought. The later build Cessnas with fuel injection are considerably more economical. The difference between a 150hp M model and a 180 hp S is 10 ltrs per hour.

D.O.

[jxk]

You need to factor in an engine top overhaul at 1000hrs, then 'new' engine after 2000 hrs also don't forget that you will probably need a repaint after 15 years. I liked the reply on another forum when someone asked what he could get for £20-30K, the reply; 'is that per year or for initial purchase'!

[Storkeye]

d.o. that's why I looked at the cirrus range. Great speed and fuel economy, but expensive 'chute replacement every 10 years and a 15 hr conversion limits the market at our club a bit.

jxk, so I can update my spreadsheet, what sort of costs would a TO and respray be? Guessing is fine! :p

[jxk]

jxk, so I can update my spreadsheet, what sort of costs would a TO and respray be? Guessing is fine! TO = £3/4000 Paint = £12/15000 obviously will vary with aircraft type:)