Baswell - you're right there
- I went with the prices quoted off the Shell website to get a feel for the total costs involved in the heavy metal ops and the relative change in fuel prices that would occur if I towed a 747 up to the gate and said "fill 'er up". Another example would be a PA-28 , expect a wet hire rate of around $200 per hour, maybe more, maybe less depending on where you go. (Plus ~$20 of GST) As nitpicker330 observed, 35L/h will cost you an extra $1.77 per hour - or just under 30 seconds of the hourly rate of the aircraft. You can easily save well more than this 30 seconds/$1.77 by leaning the engine out a bit rather than leaving it at full rich, picking an optimal cruising altitude or just navigating a bit more accurately! (not having a go at anyones nav skills, this was just my experience!)
Unfortunately when I was training the cost of hiring an aircraft tended to go up by $5 or $10 per hour easily every 6 months or so without the slightest hint of a carbon tax, so I would expect most people will not notice any real difference - this time the newsletters and invoices will explain the truly unfortunate and entirely unavoidable government-inflicted price rise (sarcasm alert) as due to the carbon tax, as opposed to whatever it was 6 or 12 months ago...maintenance costs, increased airways charges, pilots drinking the alcohol out of the standby compasses?