jdr7225

I am looking around for a friend who wants to purchase an airplane for his company. His travel would involve short trips on average 300-500nm. The airplane would need to hold him, and a co-worker and an average of 50 lbs. of baggage per person. He wants to keep the price below $200,000 and a low cost per hour.

Any suggestions would be great.

FX Bone Guy

Check out these links:
http://web.nbaa.org/public/ops/adm/f...03Excerpts.pdf
and
http://www.nbaa.org

pricey, but these guys are the experts...

Flight Department Essentials: Helping Your Business Take Flight is only $95.00 for NBAA Members and $250 for non-Members. This includes the resource CD-ROM containing operational information and many valuable NBAA guidelines.

Member discounts are available for single purchases of multiple copies, as follows: 10% discount – 5 to 9 copies; 15% discount – 10 copies or more. Discounts are not available for non-Members.

Non-Members are encouraged to join NBAA; information is available at www.nbaa.org/membership.

FlyerJosh

Define low cost per hour... it's all relative. For a student pilot, $50/hr is low (Cessna 152). For a small business, a Cirrus or Bonanza might be low cost per hour (150-200). For a turbine operator, a Citation or King Air might be low cost (800-1200). For an airline a CRJ or EMB 170 might be low cost (1200-2000).

It's all relative to many different factors. Acquisition costs are only a small portion of the expenses. When considering a plane, make sure that the buyer (your friend) is aware of as many of the costs possible. Here's some things that contribute:

Maintenance (100hr, annual, incidental, overhauls)
Fixed Costs (Hangar, tie down, charts)
Ramp fees/Parking fees
Flight Crew costs (if employing somebody) including benefits and per diem/expenses
Flight Training Costs
Insurance
Fuel costs
Annual increases in costs (adjustments)
Depreciation or Underutilization costs
Catering (if applicable)

You might consider suggesting that he/she take the time to have a study done to evaluate the cost-benefit ratio of aircraft purchase. It's definately not for everybody, but I don't know the circumstances of the situation. There are definitely some other factors that come into play:

Cruise speed
Needed aircraft performance (mainly dictated by the type of airports traveled to)
Onboard equipment and amenities
Useful load vs range
Fuel burn
Service ceiling
Weather capabilities (icing/IFR/Wx Radar)
Range (refuel or not enroute?)

Right off, it sounds like something in the used piston multi engine category might work out- take a look at something like an Aztec, Seneca, Baron.

Also might consider one of the beefier single engine pistons such as a Cirrus, Bonanza, Mooney, or Cessna 210.

As posted above, the NBAA is a great source of info about whether it is prudent to start an aviation department or purchase a company owned plane... it might be worth the money to purchase a copy of the "Travel $en$e" software from them and do the cost analysis.

http://web.nbaa.org/public/ops/adm/travelsense
http://www.aviationclassifieds.com