I strongly suspect insurance is cheaper here than the US...as to most of the rest of the cost increases they can be attributed to normal inflation on top of very unfavourable exchange rates....the only thing which might mitigate exchange rates to some extent would be local parts manufacture on a large scale...but then we don't have enough aircraft here for it to be very profitable so export markets would be essential and then we'd end up paying Oz$ equivelent to internation US$ prices anyway so I can't see huge savings.
An example in my aircraft maintenance over the years;
I paid $40k for a very good engine overhaul using new Millenium cylinders...similar in the US would have been USD20k but then at the time the AUD was worth USD0.50. I think in reality the job in the US is cheaper because my 'Big Mac' theory of relative currency value says in these kinds of comparisons AUD$1.00 very nearly equals US$1.00....a Big Mac costs $5.00 in each country
....and 5 pounds in the UK
With many parts you can actually, and most people do actually, buy aftermarket at much cheaper prices...locally manufactured transparencies in Oz are just as good and lots cheaper than importing from the US...except windscreens which I couldn't get locally.
When we were planning the C Check for the Falcon Corporate jet I was fly in Singapore the savings possible by flying it to Oz were huge because we would have been paying the same hourly labour rate as a number but in OZ$ not USD...even after ferrying it was going to save 100k or some such. The rate at the time was as above...1USD=AUD2.00.
An interesting thing I have noticed is as I have slowly fixed up my Bonanza over the years...new windows, interior upgrades, new radios, GPS etc more people have wanted to fly it...and that at a higher hourly rate which has reflected higher fuel prices etc...I now get an average of about 10 hrs a month utilisation at a rate that actually covers all costs...except perhaps a little unsceduled maintenance but even then it probably averages out OK.
If/when it starts to average more than 10 hrs a month
it would start to show a little profit. EDIT: Note that I mean it covers costs/hr going forward...aircraft ownership is not a good investment...it's about the dumbest thing you can do with money...like boats...but you're a long time dead and it's fun...why leave too much to your kids?
Utilisation is the single biggest factor in hourly running costs...the difference between 10 hrs a month and 20 is huge!!! One of the things that makes operating an aircraft like a C210 through a charter company lease back not very likely these days is too may aircraft doing it...you'll get an operator promising the world utilisation wise and usually average way less...maybe half sometimes...and that just tears you to pieces on the hourly rate they feel is the maximum they can pay.
These days when someone suggests putting my aircraft back in Darwin with a suggested monthly utilisation/hourly rate I just say "GAURANTEED IN WRITING?" and they quickly start umming and ahhing....if the work was there and so steady they'd buy the aircraft off you instead of wanting to rent it at a rate that hasn't been appropriate to the utilisation for 20 years.
I have said before and it is true...traditional GA is dying because boating is more fun for the average punter....swap rundown aeroclubs with nearly no-one there and no facilities for a meal/drink etc with yacht clubs equiped with great restaurants/bars and days on the water with neked wimin
and it is obvious.