I seriously doubt that a business class ticket to egypt will cost anywhere near 25k€
But neither will the marginal cost of flying in a TBM.
And one has to work on the marginal cost when looking at the cost of the next flight.
Peter wrote:
But neither will the marginal cost of flying in a TBM.
Probably not. But as a rough guess assume 1800NM one way, which is 6h at 300kts. So that’s 12h in total. From what I’ve heard an hour in a TBM costs slightly north of 1k€, so we’re looking at say 15k€, plus all the taxes.
At spamcam price, I am willing to compromise. In the SET price range, I’m not. I would not accept a plane where you need blankets on the rear seat, where things are of bad quality, always a long squawk list, etc. It would have to be a really good package.
It’s clear that GA is always a lot more expensive than CAT. It would be mad if it wasn’t like that (but it was like that 30 years ago). The convenience can be higher but it needs to be seen in relation to the cost and time saved.
My main mission is flying to my company in Egypt every month which is 1700 NM (1520 NM to the immigration stop until we might eventually become a port of entry). With a fuel stop in e.g. Belgrade it’s 1230 NM. There is CAT 3-5 times a week non stop at 250-600€. That’s makes it just about the least GA suitable mission imaginable 
My other frequent trip is to my company in Belgium. Ghent, one of the largest towns but no GA airport near. Trip from the next GA fields (Kortrijk, Oostend, Antwerp) takes as long as from the CAT terminal in Brussels. I have 6 scheduled CAT flights to Brussels and I live next to the metro taking me into the airport terminal. Again, not ideal for GA.
But you can’t carry “anything” on an airliner. Being able to take a ton of stuff can add a lot of value. Also you can potentially cost share.
Also a TBM costs way less than €1k/hr. I don’t have recent info but last I heard for the marginal cost was €500/hr. A Jetprop was about 1/2 of that, but that one hides other differences e.g. big maintenance savings.
I do not believe these numbers. A JetProp cannot be flown for € 250/ h, no way. I know two people who have one and fly them a lot, and both are N reg, and both pay more than i pay for the Cirrus.
AdamFrisch wrote:
then count the hours you lose by going to some godforsaken hub or stand in some godforsaken easyJet line or all the time you waste
But when I’m piloting, I can’t make money. On long trips, a lot of the time will be spent by checking instruments, making sure everything goes as planned. That’s throwing productive time out the window – I’m not having fun, I’m not learning anything.
I don’t like inconveniences of CAT, but I can do some work and some of the inconvenience can be removed for a bit of money. For example, I don’t have to stand at a belt waiting for my luggage. I can wait in a lounge or go home and have it delivered. Just like I don’t have to wait in lines, a car can pick me up, drop me at a dedicated entrance with dedicated security etc. and another car can then take me from a lounge to a plane. These services depend on airport, but they are available. It’s annoying that such services aren’t available everywhere but even more annoying is that within EU there isn’t even proper business class. It’s more like tarted up economy class.
Alexis,
he is talking strictly only the variable costs. Fuel and little else, because even maintenance is a fixed number, to a high degree (especially if you are under Part 91).
The problem however with calculating only marginal cost for each trip is that at the end of the year, you still haven’t covered your fixed costs.
AdamFrisch wrote:
But if you bill yourself out for X amount per hour, then count the hours you lose by going to some godforsaken hub or stand in some godforsaken easyJet line or all the time you waste – add that to your airline price, and you will come out ahead.
It all depends on where you live and where you go. For me, CAT is almost always faster than GA because I live close to a good airport, don’t need a car or taxi to get there. If I lived in some godforsaken place which happens to have a good GA airport (which godforsaken places tend to have because there it actually makes sense), the situation might be totally different.
Achim you are probably a 10 hour trip in a TBM return to/from Egypt so clearly more expensive than even business class. And for you it sounds like it makes sense to fly CAT.
I can’t do mine CAT easily at all and so it makes sense.
@Martin – I like flying myself. Interesting you say you wouldn’t.
@ boscomantico
okay that was a misunderstanding. € 250 for variable cost is possible … but I don’t calculate that way. I only calculate total cost. Or I don’t calculate at all and just spend the money as long as I have it. It just makes no sense to calculate only one part of the cost to make it look nicer :-)
