i ve just started a Cargo Airline about two weeks ago, as a subsidiary!
As there is no a/c type eveluation for cargo planes, i thought i ll figured it out myself!
So i got load of various cargo planes, which made me end up with 15(!) different maintenance categories, which was fine costwise, for a week! What i didnt consider, that it will not give me any realistic numbers for a certain plane, while operating 15 maint.cat the same time!
However, i figured the most promising categories and returned (terminated lease) the others!
Here comes my question, at what point in time will the maint. cost decrease by 15% per reduced maint. category! I thought it is when the plane has return to the lessor?
But after i reduced from 15 to 6 maint.cat. i can not see any difference on the profit/loss page of each single flight, given maint.costs still seem to be unchanged!
So i wonder why i still loose ~3000AS$ on a brand new leased (std rate) ATR 72-500F which is 100% loaded on standard prices & at its full load range maximum, with a maint.ratio @ 150%!
Same setup on a 3y old 763F, loosing 30-40kAS$ per flight!
Gosh, 15 maintenance categories for cargo. Even six is from my point of view way to high. I mean I have seen this before (and didn't understand how this can be viable), but from my point of view success in cargo depends on two factors - a large (not necessarily highly time-optimized) network and cost management (!). So from the scratch, you can easily live with 3 categories, as you actually can't build on aged aircraft, as they are limited in availability.
Without a screen shot of your flight calculations, the reason for the low profitability would be only a guess. Probably you post one.
The reduce in maintenance cost effect from the point of returning the plane, yes.
Which game world are we talking about?
Using 767 in the second week would use quiet a portion of investment to have a thorough feeder network in place. Otherwise for many routes you can only fill those a/c at the cost of price. So I am not sure, whether it isn't to early to start wide-body carriers. Besides, the 767 is in general a well performing cargo a/c, especially at the current low fuel costs. (And if you can't make money at the current fuel costs, there is ultimately something wrong.)
Hey, thanks for your reply! The mentioned company is AfriqueCargo on stapelton! I started with quite some money, so i own enough feeder to have the 76F and even 74F well booked! And i still have those 6 maint.categories, as i operate a rather complex network and i needed different advanteges from different planes…
But maybe i really do have to narrow it down to less maint. categories!?
I run a cargo company with almost 1000 planes. I do have 6 maintenance categories, and have no plans of decreasing that. But at the same time, it's some specific airplanes, which makes a lot of money.
( ATR, 737, 747, 757, 767 & MD10/11).
You wont make a profit with a new leased ATR and standard prices. You have you raise all prices, unless for long haul, if you have purchased old used planes.
It depends probably on the overall targeted fleet size and your goal by starting a cargo sub - whether you primarily want to fill your long-haul pax flights or want to set up a clean cargo company.
Looking at my fleet, my avg. maintenance costs are c. 7% for the more long-haul fleet and 10% for the short-haul fleet. I've separated both fleets early into two companies to save a forth maintenance category, starting with A330, 737 and ATR, adding 767 and 777 later on. Besides, I would have done that anyway, as I was already heading to the limit of flight numbers at that point of time.
Today, ignoring the flight number limit, the 2.500 a/c would consume (with 5 categories) an additional 50 mAS$/per week after deducting the network costs. I doubt that in general, there are enough additional aged low cost aircraft available, that the saving in leasing cost justifies another maintenance category. Probably the MD10/11 could be model, though I personally kind of dislike having that high age spread in one fleet.
