sosouth,
I think you'll find near 1000 hrs a year is fairly normal for a freight aircraft (that was what I was talking about) and that is doing one run, not day and night. It is less than 4 hrs a day. I wouldn't call 1000hrs a year wearing out your aircraft, considering RPT aircraft do in the order of 2-3000 hrs per aircraft per year.
If you are only getting 400hrs a year, no wonder, utilisation is the key to any profitable aviation business as it greatly reduces your fixed costs. If you compare your fixed costs @ 400hrs p.a. with 1000 hr p.a., your fixed costs are a massive 60% less on 1000hrs p.a. than 400hr p.a.
There is actually contract freight work out there, unfortunately they are just few and far between.
As JetA_OK says, there are freight operators that are successful and these guys are the ones that actually do things properly. They keep their aircraft in good order, and most importantly actually employ their drivers full-time and pay the award. And because of this, their employees hang around and are not constantly looking for and out. I beleive this actually saves them a lot of money, and not trying to save $$ by simply not paying the award. It says alot.
Although I do agree with you with respect to the bank/freight forwarders being completely non-committal in terms of contracts. However it is just as much the fault of the companies undercutting the competition and making no money (eg Cirrus) and then dragging the others down with them just to stay afloat that has created this environment in the industry.