Just to add to Scroggs posting, here are some more detailed reasons why the cost of aircraft rental and instruction is higher in Europe and the UK than in certain other parts of the world...
- High duty on AVGAS (80p+ a litre as opposed to <40p).
- High cost of land (= higher aerodrome and parking fees).
- Low aircraft utilisation rates due to weather.
- Costly spare parts due to the distance from aircraft manufacturers.
- High cost of compliance with JAA/CAA bureaucracy and the government insistance that the CAA is self-funding via its fees.
- High cost of living and high social costs means a higher cost of labour (instructors, engineers, ops and admin personnel, and doctors!)
- No support or subsidy at the local level means that airports have to charge high parking and landing fees and often have poor facilities.
- VAT is chargeable on rental or training rates.
- All the above factors conspire to make GA a small marketplace, which removes savings due to scale and so compounds the high prices.
Now the US has plenty of space, subsidised airports, a subsidised FAA, good weather (in the South), less regulation, low social costs, most of the world's GA manufacturers and few taxes on flying. It is therefore not surprising that there is lots of GA and it is generally the cheapest in the world.
Other countries (Canada, Oz, NZ, SA) have some but not all of these factors so are cheaper than Europe.
cheers!
foggy.