Cessna C 208 Cargo airliner
 

Hello guys,
I come from Congo Brazz and was interested in starting a small cargo liner operating Cessna Caravans. First plane would be a leased C 208 (i can get it for around 40K US in Kenya).. I intend to charge about 2.00 US per Kg carried. The only thing i don't have a clear picture of is the operational costs involved in regards to maintenance & fuel burn.. Help on this would be enormously appreciated.

Hi there,

I can send you a C208 POH if you want. A few years back I consulted on a project where I did a feasibility study on C208 ops. Feel free to send me a PM if you want to discuss further.

Rgds
GT

We did calculations for a small Caravan operations a while ago and ended up in costs (TCO) at roughly USD 1,000 per flight hour, but without pilots salary and profit earned. A single pilot may add USD 50 and to cover the ordinary risk of aircraft operations you need 30% uplift, USD 1.400 per flight hour. With the Caravan able to carry 490 Kg full fuel, I come to almost USD 3,00 per Kg and flight hour. If you have 30-40 minutes one way, all fine, but will you also be able to get 100% cargo load? At 75% load factor you are at USD 4,00 per Kg, at 66% already USD 4,50 ... I don't know rates at your area, but when I was hauling cargo in Africa we had bigger aircraft and typical rates of R17 to R22 per Kg (USD 1,25 to 1,50). We couldn't have done with a Caravan.