Operating Costs
 

Hey friends,

I'm trying to calculate the operating cost for a sample trip for a school project. It's a day trip on an ACMI lease: ARN-GOT-ARN. Please correct my errors and let me know if I'm forgetting something.

The aircraft I've chosen for the sample is an Avro RJ70 (with 80 pax), that burns 2200 liters of fuel with MTOW (so I've been told). I've also added an ACMI block hour cost of 2000 EUR. No catering on board.


BLOCK HOUR COST
One way distance: 213.31NM = 43 min

I add an extra 17 minutes for diversion to alternate =
total 1 hour one way.

The total number of block hours is hence 2.
Total cost 4000 EUR.


FUEL COST
2 hours flying = 4400 liters of fuel.
(How much extra should I add for two take offs?)

In Sweden the price for one liter of fuel is approximately one dollar, which equals 0.7 EUR.

Total cost 3080 EUR


NAVIGATION
Eurocontrol two hours approx 300 EUR

Total cost 300 EUR


AIRPORT CHARGES
ARN 1400 EUR (80 pax)
GOT 1200 EUR (80 pax)

Total cost 2600 EUR


HANDLING
ARN 500 EUR
GOT 400 EUR

Total cost 900 EUR


GRAND TOTAL 12'580 EUR

Then there is of course per diems to the crew but that is quite a small figure. What else am I forgetting or is there something above that is simply incorrect?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Why are you adding the flight time for the alternate? One would presume that you won't divert.

Thank you Mutt for your response,

Should I really calculate on exactly the amount of fuel I need to go to my destination? What if the airport is closed for whatever reason or there is a storm? Shouldn't safety always be number one?

Any thoughts on my calculations in general?

ACMI is normally block time so include taxi time, base trip cost on fuel burn from engine start to engine shut down (again include taxi fuel both ends) at planned destination.

As you have it this is an ACMI which would be a total monthly (at a minimum) commitment for the aircraft by another operator (normally) .
If it was a charter the price will be much higher for a one off trip to cover eventualities such as divert, delays etc and for the airline profit margin !!

Thank you,

How much extra should I add for each take off fuelwise?

Mutt was not suggesting you don't need to plan and take fuel for the alternate as you do, you do not however need to factor in the aircraft cost for going to the alternate as this will 99.9 times out of 100 not be a factor. Such as you wont factor in landing and handling at the alternate as a cost. As it is the operating cost for a single trip you want, the diversion will only be a cost if you divert, which is very unlikely. I have diverted once in over 4000hrs of flying and as it was a closure due to security reasons we held for a while also, something that happens a lot before the divert decision is made even if it is due to marginal weather, second approach before divert is also common. If it is marginal weather you would also be carrying extra fuel to allow for holding so you hopefully don't need to divert as things slow down when the weather is bad. A storm should not mean you have to divert on a short sector, the fuel penalty for carrying extra gas is very small so many operators going to where there are storms forecast would have at least 30mins extra before they got towards min divert fuel.