Hi SAS,
Well, I see the cost of the lesson as a whole package - unlike most of the aviation industry!
(I loved the beer advert spoof of Ryanair where the beer was 40p a pint, plus glass hire charge, alcohol duty, VAT, glass washing charge, beer mat fee, etc etc etc.)
All I mean is that when, as a flying school, you have to price flights you have to factor in all the costs - such as fuel, depreciation, staff, etc etc.
But give the customer one price. Not some low figure that gets inflated with VAT and landing fees etc.
I am fortunate in owning my own airfield, so I can choose not to charge landing fees. However, I still have to put an element in the flying lesson costs for grass cutting and cost of capital!
My point is that, as an instructor, there are a finite number of hours you can work in a year.
Whether you get paid a salary, a daily rate, or by the flying hour, there is a minimum you need to earn to pay your family's bills.
If that sum is 80k a year, you'll never make ends meet as an instructor.
If it is 10k a year, then you could be saving some useful cash every year if you earn 20k!
I, personally, think flying instructors should be able to earn the national avergae wage (about 22K).
So, in trying to ensure that the people who work for me can earn that sort of living, I start from 500 hours flying a year and work from that to come up with my hourly rate at which there is money left to pay for aircraft, fuel, repairs etc.
What I don't do is work out what is the maximum the market can bear and look at how little I can pay for all my costs, which is how many traditional GA flying schools take as the basis for their operations.
It works, as long as you don't mind the high staff turnover. But my margins as a flying school operator and airfield operator are so tight that I can't afford to have aircraft doing nothing because I don't have the staff (CFS comes to mind last summer!)
Indeed, my Ikarus has been out of service for four months due to pathetic customer service at Aerosport and it has cost me 15 quid a day in lost income from the captial invested in it!
Then there is the profit on each flying lesson that would have helped pay the airfield bills.
I appreciate microlighting is very different. Instructors often own their own aircraft - and then go off flying in them for fun at the end of a busy day! Schools often operate their own airfields, or lease hangers that they then sublet. Students often buy their own aircraft, and the school can get a commission from the manufacturer for sales.
None of that is very common in GA.
But what is vital to all flying is good customer expereinces.
Since there is a shortage of instructors, to be a good school you have to retain staff - because that is what students overwhelmingly want, continuity of instruction.
To keep staff, you have to pay them a living wage.
So, am I in business for me? Or am I in business for my staff - to keep them earning a living wage? Or am I in business for my customers - providing them what they want?
Fortunately, I believe - and it seems to work - that if you get the second two right, then the first will work.
But gosh, it is hard!
Now off to try and sort out paypal payments for our new venture:
www.hovercraft scotland.com
If they won't let you fly anything else, then why not come and fly these!
ps Strathaven fly-in will be the Sunday of the English August Bank Holiday weekend - to tie in with the balloon festival. But we plan a few more too.