Plane Conversations

Private Aircraft cost more to maintain per seat mile than airliners. Is it worth the expense and what do you get for the extra money?

In a previous post I described the two basic components of aircraft maintenance programs:

1. Aircraft are maintained under inspection programs that are required based on flight time (utilization)
2. Aircraft are maintained under inspection programs that are required based on calendar age (chronological)

You can see that there is a variable cost component to aircraft maintenance (flight hour driven inspections) and a fixed cost to aircraft maintenance (calendar driven inspections).

I also stated in the previous post that a typical airliner may fly ten hours or more every day of the year. The more typical utilization on the private jet may range from 200 to 600 hours per year depending on the owner and type of use (business versus personal).

The maintenance requirements on private jet aircraft are heavily weighted towards calendar items because the manufacturer really doesn’t know when they sell the aircraft how many hours the owner is going to use it. In our industry we call these programs “low utilization maintenance programs.” We look at items on aircraft on a calendar basis.  Most inspections don’t reveal problems early on in the life of private jets because the accumulated use has not taken its toll on the inspected areas.   These inspections drive up the costs of maintenance per flight hour simply because they are calendar driven and have to be spread over fewer hours. Whether you own or charter a private jet the costs to maintain it are going to be more than the airliner on a per seat basis; thus, the cost of use is higher. There are many other factors that drive the economics of private jet operational costs versus the airliner but we are just considering maintenance in this post.

Here is the Upside

The private jet you are considering climbing aboard has gone through more inspections in relation to the time flown than the airliner you flew in last week. Additionally, the private jet has lived a much more pampered life, usually spending its non-flying time inside a building (aircraft hangar) out of the weather as opposed to spending its days and nights out on the tarmac in the weather. Would you rather fly on an aircraft with 35,000 flight hours or one with 3,000 flight hours? I am not insinuating that the 35,000 hour airliner is not safe. I ride on them all the time, as do you, and they are safe, but they’ve had a much harder live than the 3,000 hour privately owned aircraft.

On the horizon I believe the costs of maintenance of private aircraft will go down as technological innovation will bring more reliability and lower repair costs for aircraft components. We are already seeing this in new generation aircraft in things as simple as the use of LED lighting to replace old style light bulbs.

All machines wear over time and use. Use is usually harder on the machine than time. The private jet gets less use than the commercial airliner. The expense of maintaining the private jet is always going to be higher than that of the airliner due to the inspection requirements based on time and use. Is it worth the extra money? I think so, but I happened to be biased in my thinking as an insider. Most seasoned owners of private jet aircraft would agree that it is worth the extra costs. The care of an aircraft becomes more personal to you when you own and fly on the same aircraft all the time.  What do you think?

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