At what distance does it become economical...?

AggieMike88 said:
For my current commercial pilot gig, I am flying various doctors from KADS and KTKI to airports in East Texas and SE Oklahoma. The aircraft is a Bonanza A36 that is working well for hops of these distances.

At the different airports, I see the small King Airs, the Phenoms, and the smaller Citations.

And as I wait for the doctors to finish their day, I dream about what it would be like to be PIC of those aircraft.

So that brought the question... Super short hops like I'm doing (80-100NM) doesn't work for the cabin class twins, KA's, and jets. But at what distances (one way) does each type start making it worth operating?
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Hi Mike,
Gig'em Aggies!!!

Fun Job!!

Like others have said above. The value of the persons time and if they need to be some other place to do their work. Example Doctor, Lawyer, Oil man. They want to get anywhere fast and work while they are in the air.
 
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It’s all about time and money. What is, say, 15 minutes, worth to your pax. I cannot believe any turbine powered plane can beat your piston over such a short flight. A Baron might be 40gal for 1 hr trip. A King Air might get you there maybe 10 mins faster for twice the gallonage. A Mustang might get you there 15-20 mins faster than the Baron for 3x the fuel.

If they have longer trips besides this, then it’s worth a rethink. But every engine more than one, and any turbine, really ups the ante. Plus FBO fees skyrocket once you go above light twin piston.
 
Never, unless you have a lot of monies.
 
Depends upon where you live. For example, if I have to go from Casper, Wyoming (CPR) to Grand Junction, CO (GJT), that commercial flight from CPR is $500 plus and includes a layover in DEN or SLC. But in my 182, I can be there in less time (2 hours direct) and the round trip fuel cost is going to be around $300. Sure, I can get in my pickup and go, but that's a 6 hour drive one way that'll cost about $200 in gas round trip.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Aircraft almost never make direct financial sense. It's an expense, it's a perk, it's a luxury, or more important, it's a time machine. What is time worth, and at what distance does the additional speed make a real difference? 80-100 miles in a Bonanza versus a King Air, the difference is measured in minutes, maybe even single digits door to door. Even driving isn't a huge difference if all and mostly direct interstate.
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I can fly from Reno to Ft. Worth in 8 hours with a brief stop in New Mexico. I can’t do that in my car.
 
It all depends on what the passengers time is worth. Recently we did Dallas-Waco-Laredo-McAllen-Dallas in our Citation in one day. How many days would it have taken for them to drive or fly the airlines? Sometimes on the site tours we will drop the pax on one side of town and pick the up on the other. On site tours we will hit 3-5 towns in a day. I will admit most of our trips are to one town and back. Around 95% of our airplane use is for the company. When I started with this company, we had a King Air 300 but it would not do the longer trips as a day trip.
 
Driving 1 hour in traffic:
1. Cost of ammunition
2. Bail
3. Lawyers
4 Lost income due to #3 and jail time

Flying 20 minutes:
1. Fuel
2. Prorata share of what I'm already spending for the plane for the 20 minutes of flying.
3. Euphora caused by flying.

Not seeing an actual choice here.
 
Wouldn't be much faster than a Bonanza, and certainly not as expensive as a king air. But a Seneca would be an awfully nice ride for a job like this. If only for the shoulder room.
 
A typical trip for me is 500+ nm. Say PBI to RDU.

Breakdown in time and money of options is:

Mooney 5 hrs $216 (avgas, free parking)
Delta 6 hrs $800 (leaving car in airport parking or using Uber)
Drive 11 hrs $92

Assumptions:
$4 gas, $6 avgas, departure/destination is not a big city but a town 45 minutes away, so Mooney isn’t flying to a big expensive airport, does not including depreciation of car/plane, no rental cars.

So I can save 6 hours of driving for an extra $24, I’d call that economical.
Commercial isn’t even a consideration since trip is relatively short and expensive because of it’s last minute and I didn’t choose the cheapest days (weekday travel).
 
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