Aircraft ownership cost calculator

Depreciation is the value the aircraft loses: a cost of the investment, not a payment, so the calculator keeps it apart. Fixed costs are paid every year whether the aircraft flies or not: insurance, hangarage, the annual inspection or ARC, subscriptions such as navigation databases and charts, and administration. Variable costs grow with every flight hour: fuel and oil, the 50- and 100-hour inspections, and the reserves for the engine and propeller overhaul. The more hours an aircraft flies, the more its fixed costs are spread, so the all-in cost per hour falls as utilisation rises.

Engine manufacturers set an overhaul interval in hours and a calendar limit in years, and whichever comes first applies. Lycoming and Continental publish 12 years for most engines. An engine with a 2,000-hour interval that flies 100 hours a year would need 20 years to reach it, so the 12-year limit comes first and the reserve is a cost per year rather than a cost per hour. The calculator applies that rule for you and says which limit it used.

Most partnerships split the fixed costs equally between the owners and charge the variable costs per hour each owner actually flies. The per-owner view of the calculator shows exactly those two numbers: a fixed share per year and a variable rate per flight hour.

Only the part of the rental rate above the variable cost per hour contributes to the fixed costs. The calculator shows that contribution margin, how much of the fixed costs it covers, and the number of rental hours per year at which the rental income pays for all fixed costs.

Yes. The calculator downloads any scenario as an Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx), free and without signing up — use the Excel button next to PDF, or Spreadsheet under the result. Every total in it is a formula over the inputs and cost lines: change the number of owners, the hours flown, the rental hours or any cost line, and the five-year result, each owner’s fixed share per year and month and the all-in cost per flight hour recalculate. A cost line keeps the category it was downloaded with, so if you change the hours a lot, check in the calculator whether an overhaul reserve moves between fixed and per hour.

Of the 33 types in this calculator the cheapest to operate are the Comco Ikarus C42, the Tecnam P2008 JC, the Tecnam P2002 Sierra, at €138 ($145 at a US price level), €150 ($152 at a US price level), €150 ($152 at a US price level) per flight hour all in at 100 hours a year — all three are Rotax-powered two-seaters that burn under 20 litres an hour. A four-seat trainer such as the Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP costs €283 ($274 at a US price level) per hour, a Cirrus SR22 €460 ($440 at a US price level), and the Cirrus Vision Jet €1,551 ($1,709 at a US price level). Those figures cover fuel, oil, maintenance, the overhaul reserves, hangarage, the annual inspection, subscriptions and administration, but not depreciation or insurance, because both follow the price you paid rather than the type.

They are indicative. Engine overhaul intervals come from the engine manufacturers’ published schedules and fuel flows are the published best-economy figures at about 65% power from the aircraft handbooks (long-range cruise for jets and turboprops), so a trip with taxi and climb burns somewhat more. Overhaul reserves are priced at what the overhaul will cost when it is due, with overhaul prices rising about 5% a year. Prices — overhauls, maintenance, insurance, hangarage, subscriptions — differ per country, shop and airframe, so they are planning assumptions — in euros at a European price level, or in US dollars at a US price level, depending on the region you pick — that you should replace with your own quotes. Every figure in the calculator can be changed. The data was last updated on 2 November 2026. All prices exclude VAT; insurance includes premium tax and fuel its excise, which owners cannot reclaim. Tax treatment is not included.