How much does it cost to rent an airplane?

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Dreampilot

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone and Happy new year,

I hope to start training for my PPL soon but just had a question and couldn't find a definite answer anywhere. How much does it cost to rent an airplane? Say I flew home from Buffalo to Albany for a couple days but only few the airplane for about 3 hours total time. Do FBO's charge extra usually to keep the planes overnight? If someone could provide some information on this, it would be great. Thanks
 
The cost depends on the airplane, a Cessna 152 can be as cheap $60 an hour wet. The wet rate is with fuel included and dry is just the airplane. If they charge overnight depends on the FBO but they don't usually as long as you fly it a certain number of hours for each day it's gone.
 
I've seen shady operations say that there is a 3 hour a day minimum, and if you are short (say 5 hours in 2 days) they will charge you the full rate for the extra hour. If this happens do everyone a favor and punch the guy in the face (i hate sleezballs that think "yay free money").

Now what is fair is a lower "penalty" rate, I've seen 15 and 25/hr at two different FBOs with this setup. Therefore if you do 5 hours in 2 days and they have a 3hr a day min, you pay an extra $15 or $25 for the one hour.
 
Andrew_VT said:
I've seen shady operations say that there is a 3 hour a day minimum, and if you are short (say 5 hours in 2 days) they will charge you the full rate for the extra hour. If this happens do everyone a favor and punch the guy in the face (i hate sleezballs that think "yay free money").

Now what is fair is a lower "penalty" rate, I've seen 15 and 25/hr at two different FBOs with this setup. Therefore if you do 5 hours in 2 days and they have a 3hr a day min, you pay an extra $15 or $25 for the one hour.
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I don't see the issue with beeing charged the full rate. If its a 3 hour min then that is what it is. They are a business trying to make money with their planes.
 
Yea, why should instructors and students sit on the ground without a plane to fly for someone who isn't fairly paying for the use of the aircraft. If you want to take a plane for extended times, join a club, buy a share or pay the fair rental cost of the aircraft you are using.
 
Champcar said:
I don't see the issue with beeing charged the full rate. If its a 3 hour min then that is what it is. They are a business trying to make money with their planes.
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Yes but why should they make 300% more money because the plane wasnt flown. The penalty rate should cover the business's lost profit, but thats one hour of fuel and engine time that the renter didnt use.

I know first hand that with the full rate situation all you have is a bunch of pissed off business pilots doing touch and goes for 2 hours at the end of their business trip so that the FBO dosent unfairly get a windfall (at least they'll get 2 more hours in their logbook that way)
 
If I owned an aircraft which I rented out for instruction and basic rental, I certainly would look at the average hours flown in that particular fleet. Say if I have 5 150's and on an average day the entire fleet flies about 20 hours. I'm going to ask for at least a four hour minimum per day.

In a training environment, I can't tell you how much of a pain in the rump it was when people would block out four days on some of the training aircraft to make a 45 minute flight to Fresno and then the aircraft would come bacck with only 2+00 on the hobbes whereas we've had to turn away other customers.

It might be even better if we did it like a rental car. $X per hour, $Y per day. The "Y" may be more or less than you're actually flying it.
 
It's not a shady operation at all....the plane that is gone off site isn't making any money, so in order to keep it out overnight you'll pay a minimum of 3 hours. The outcome is fairly simple....take the scenic route to your destination since your out of pocket for three hours anyway. If I owned the airplane, as was already mentioned, I'm not going to just get paid for the 2 - 3 hours on the hobbs when it's been out for 2 days. I could've held on to the airplane and made more money. It's a legit proposition and not uncommon.
 
I guess you dont see my point about being compensated for missing profits only (or you do and you dissagree...and thats fine too)

If the rental price is 80/hr and fuel/oil costs are $30/hr and engine kitty is 10/hr (20k divided by 2000hrs) then the renter should only be on the hook for 80-(30+10)= $40 for each hour under the minimum.

These numbers are funky but the point is to differentiate between lost profit and the full rate.

If I was one hour under the minimum and they wanted to charge me full price for that hour I'd take 2 gas cans, go out to the plane and syphon out the 8 gallons I would have burned otherwise. (I can be a prick but I dont think I'd try this outside my home area :))
 
It doesnt work that way. You dont count possible lost profit for the days you had a plane sitting at a airport when It could be flying.
 
Champcar said:
It doesnt work that way. You dont count possible lost profit for the days you had a plane sitting at a airport when It could be flying.
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I cant argue with that... :)

I just picture the returning business pilot doing 2 hours of touch and goes when he'd rather just go home. The pilot dosent want to waste full fare on those 2 hours, and the FBO could be renting the plane out to someone else during those 2 hours. Having another rate that takes out the fuel/oil/engine used otherwise would benifit everybody!

-Fixed costs covered (this is where the profit can kick in)
-Variable costs spared (you dont make profit on variable costs)
 
Dreampilot said:
Hey everyone and Happy new year,

I hope to start training for my PPL soon but just had a question and couldn't find a definite answer anywhere. How much does it cost to rent an airplane? Say I flew home from Buffalo to Albany for a couple days but only few the airplane for about 3 hours total time. Do FBO's charge extra usually to keep the planes overnight? If someone could provide some information on this, it would be great. Thanks
Click to expand...
PM'ed
 
Varies by region, and type of aircraft.

A Cessna 172 here in NRN Columbia, SC (Fairfield Co - KFDW) goes for $85 wet. A 172 with GPS, and full IFR, $95 wet. Instructor rates at $25 an hour for flight or ground.

In downtown Columbia, at Columbia Metro airport (KCAE), A 172 wet, with instructor, goes for $135 to $145 an hour.
 
Dreampilot said:
Hey everyone and Happy new year,

I hope to start training for my PPL soon but just had a question and couldn't find a definite answer anywhere. How much does it cost to rent an airplane? Say I flew home from Buffalo to Albany for a couple days but only few the airplane for about 3 hours total time. Do FBO's charge extra usually to keep the planes overnight? If someone could provide some information on this, it would be great. Thanks
Click to expand...

Yeah sorry to hijack your thread. Champagne makes me hyper but the weather is crap out (freezing rain) so i started typing. Happy new year!
 
Ok, if you rent a car for four days, but only drive it for two, do you only pay for two days or four?
 
Most FBOs are pretty cool. If you come close (usually within an hour) of the minimum times that they charge, they will settle with you for flight time. They just can't have people taking the plane for two days to fly it for an hour and a half, it isn't good business sense!
 
The flying club I belong to charges anywhere from $70 per tach hour wet for a basic, non-GPS equipped 172 to $146 per tach hour wet for a C183RG.
 
Doug Taylor said:
Ok, if you rent a car for four days, but only drive it for two, do you only pay for two days or four?
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You have a point. You'd be upset that the rental company is going to be able to rent out the car those last 2 days you arnt using and make double the money they would otherwise but too bad for you.

I'm splitting hairs at this point, because any company can set any pricing policy they want and if the customer dosent like it they can go somewhere else.

I just appreciate the fairness and efficiency of the FBO's that offer the lower "underage" rate rather than the full fare. If someone wants the plane 2 days but knows they'll only fly 4 hours a penalty fee might mean the difference between going or not, because noone likes paying for something that'll be wasted (free money to the FBO...I'd seriously argue for syphoning out my gas:)... doesnt mean id get it)
 
My FBO has a minimum charge for a day rental. . . of 3 flight hours. So say you rent it for 3 days, and only fly 2.2 on day one, day two you don't fly it at all since you are at your destination, and day three you fly it for another 3.5 hours coming back to your home field. Total time logged is 5.7, but you will be charged for 9 hours of rental since you had it for 3 full days.

Makes sense to me, and that's how I would run my business.

The FBO is trusting the renter that they are going to keep their property in fine shape, and return it as rented. This type of policy forces the customer to get the most for their money. My example of not flying on Day 2 is an extreme, but I'd be pretty sure to do some sort of flying on day 2 to get my money worth of the rental.
 
Bottom line is that you've got choices. If you don't like what the place you're looking into renting from does, then you are more than welcome to take your business to a place where they do things the way you want.
 
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