Most operators can tell you their hourly cost within a minute. Most of those figures are direct cost with the fixed side missing, which makes them useful for deciding whether a leg is worth flying and useless for deciding whether the aircraft is worth keeping.
Both numbers are worth having. They are not the same number.
The two numbers
Direct cost per hour. Fuel, landing and handling, per-hour maintenance reserve, crew cost for the trip. What one more hour of flying costs you.
Break-even per hour. Direct cost plus the annual fixed costs divided by the hours you actually expect to fly. What the aircraft has to earn to justify existing. The specific aircraft is assigned on confirmation, based on passenger count, baggage and the destination field.
The gap between them is wide at low utilisation and narrow at high, and that gap is the entire argument for filling the calendar rather than raising prices.
The two lines operators leave out
The maintenance reserve. Not what you spent on maintenance last year — what the next scheduled event will cost, divided by the hours until it. Operators who use last year's spend get a low number in a good year and a shock in the year the inspection falls.
And the hours they did not fly. Fixed costs divide by actual hours, not target hours. An aircraft planned at four hundred hours and flown at two hundred and forty has a break-even nearly double what the spreadsheet said.
That second line is why the figure needs rebuilding annually against what happened, not against what was planned.
What the number is actually for
Not for pricing. We show a "from" price per route; the final fare depends on the date, the group and the baggage, and is confirmed in writing before booking. A price built up from break-even ignores what the market pays, and a market that pays less than your break-even is telling you something about utilisation, not about what to charge.
It is for three decisions. Whether to take marginal work in a thin month — anything above direct cost contributes, even below break-even. Whether the aircraft earns its place at all. And whether the next aircraft can be afforded, which is the same sum run on a machine you do not own yet.
Where the figure misleads
On short legs. A Tortuguero transfer of 53.4 nautical miles bills perhaps half an hour of flying and consumes a morning. Hourly break-even says it is profitable; the day says otherwise.
For work that occupies a day, run the same sum per aircraft-day and compare. Operators who price by the leg and measure by the hour rarely notice the days they lose money on.
Rebuilding it honestly
Once a year, with the quarterly review. Four inputs: last year's actual hours, last year's fixed costs, current direct cost, and the next scheduled maintenance event with its date. AeroRide invoices and charges directly from the site; you receive your receipt in the name of the person or company you give us on confirmation.
A Drake Bay run of 83.5 nautical miles flown thirty times gives you a real contribution figure rather than an assumed one. Build the number on what the aircraft did, and it survives a bad quarter. Build it on what you hoped, and the bad quarter is where you find out. Operators we bring on evidence current certification, insurance and fleet documentation before receiving a first assignment.
Questions we get asked
What is the difference between direct cost and break-even?
Direct cost is what one more hour costs. Break-even adds fixed costs divided by the hours you actually fly.
Which lines get left out?
The forward-looking maintenance reserve, and the hours not flown — fixed costs divide by actual hours, not target ones.
Should I price from break-even?
No. A market paying less than your break-even is telling you about utilisation, not about what to charge.
What is the number for?
Three decisions: whether to take marginal work, whether the aircraft earns its place, and whether the next one is affordable.
Where does it mislead?
On short legs that bill half an hour and consume a morning. Run the sum per aircraft-day as well.
How often do I rebuild it?
Annually, on actual hours and the next scheduled event — not on last year's maintenance spend.
Let us talk
Operators we bring on evidence current certification, insurance and fleet documentation before receiving a first assignment.