A very interesting thread.
Nick makes some very good points about the cost for the all-round Category A performance and how we really don't have many engine failures any more.
There is another side to the equation that has been sort of hinted at, and that's the long-term effects of having over-powered, over-engineered airframes. What's the long term cost in terms of reduced maintenance, increased dispatch reliability and so on?
As an example, a certain Russian made co-axial machine was reported to have an airframe life of 6,000 hours. Now well past that, it has no signs of any airframe fatigue issues, despite being operated at maximum weight all the time while hauling logs. I remember seeing it in the hangar next to another type (nameless) used for logging that was stripped to the bones and undergoing the annual stop-drill every crack and replace certain airframe structural components dance.
I remember seeing the overhaul facility in St. Petersburg (Russia, not FL) for Mi-8 and Mi-17. They got overhauled every 1500 hours, and the comment from the workers was that if the helicopter hadn't crashed, they never ever saw any airframe damage or fatigue issues on them.
If your engines are used to the maximum all the time, what percentage of those engines make it to their TBO? If you let them work at reduced power settings, what is the savings if they routinely make TBO and don't require any maintenance?
Fuel burn is only part of the issue - the difference between 1,000 lb/hr and 800lb/hr in gallons is 30 gallons -at $4 per gallon, that $120 per hour in direct operating costs (maximum). That works out to less than 2 hours of maintenance / overhaul cost (perhaps even less than that), and doesn't even consider the cost of an airframe out of service...
Someone must have some idea of the relative cost of this sort of thing....
And for bpaggi:
It's OK to say you would never go for Airline B, but that assumes you have some say in which airline you are taking. If it's your company that books all the travel for you, and you have no say in the matter - what then?