bb, your figures are good but you did not include the Shorts. You have used 3 Metro's, while Sunshine operate 2 Metro's and 1 Shorts.
So using the same 4500 flight hours per year and split 3 ways we get 1500 hours per aircraft, or 3000 hours in the Metro's and 1500 hours in the Shorts.
2 x Metro @ 3000 hrs/year (at $600 p.h.) DOC= $1.8m
1 X Shorts @ 1500 hrs/year (at $800 p.h) DOC = $1.2m
Total DOC for both types per year = $3.0m
Now 3 x E120 @ 3850 hrs/year (at $800 p.h) DOC =$3.08m
The extra lease cost would only be on 2 aircraft as the Shorts and the E120 lease cost are similar and would already be included in the companies current calculations. 2 x $15k extra per month would be $360,000 per/year.
The total per year extra over the current fleet (2 X Metro, 1 X Shorts) would be $444,000 per year, $36,667 per month, $9167 per week or $1310 per day. If the average 1 way airfare is $150 or $300 return you would only need an extra 4.4 (say 5) passengers per day. So if Sunshine are turning away 5 passengers per day then the E120 might be the way to go.
Once again this does not include the savings gained in less checkies. If the checkies get 10% more than a captain and lets say the base pay for a captain is $50000 the checkies pay would be $55000. If the company current has 1-3 checkies per aircraft type(2-6 in total), this number could be reduced to 2-3 in total and provide a saving of up to $15000 per year. It's not a huge saving, but it is a saving.
With regard to fuel, companies will only have a fixed cost on their fuel price if it is purchased from their primary supplier ie BP. If the out port is Mobil, they maybe able to negotiate a lower price than "joe public" buys it at, but it will still won't be at the same price they pay for it from their primary supplier. A small regional or large charter company may pay 40-60 cents/ ltr from their primary supplier, but it fuel is purchased from another supplier than this it could cost them 60 cents - $1.00 /ltr. Qantas regionals may have a fixed price at all their ports, but this is due to Qantas's purchasing power. Smaller companies don't have this luxury.
If the company had to purchase fuel at the out port everyday, and they only fly this route once per day with at total distance between A and B of 240nm or 480 nm return. Using block fuel burn only (no reserve's) the Metro burns apporx 700 lbs/hr or 391 lts/hr with a Tas 240 kts. On the flight from A - B would take 1 hour and the fuel cost (fuel price @ 40c /ltr) for this sector would be $156.40. On the return flight (also 1 hour) B-A (fuel price 60c /ltr) the fuel cost would be $234.60. Total cost for the return trip would be $391.00 If you operate an E120 on the same return flight using a burn of 900 lbs/hr or 502 lts/hr and a TAS of 260 kts. The return flight would take 1.9 hours and if the fuel is purchased at A (@ 40c /ltr) the total fuel cost for the return flight would be $381.52 or approx $10 less per trip than the Metro. If the same flight was done in the Shorts with a fuel burn/hr of 1100 lbs and a TAS of 190 kts the return flight would take 2.5 hours. With the Shorts carrying return fuel (@ 40c /ltr)the total fuel cost would be $614.52, which is $233 more per trip than the E120. So the total fuel costs per year on this route for each aircraft would be:
Metro: $142,715
E120: $139,255
Shorts: $224,300
So although the E120 and the Metro are similar there is a big difference is between the Shorts and the Metro.
Last edited by OZ Junglejet; 1st Dec 2003 at 09:09.