3 ms·

Fuel costs are in the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars per flight. Surely that’s much more expensive than the pilot costs?

redleader55 4y ago
According to [1] fuel costs are in the tens of thousands for intercontinental flights. Pilot training is around 200k USD [2] and thousands of hours to be accepted to fly reputable companies' planes. I wouldn't call pilot costs negligible. [1] - https://www.google.com/amp/s/simpleflying.com/commercial-airliner-fuel-cost/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/simpleflying.com/commercial-air... [2] - https://fly-ga.co.uk/how-much-cost-become-pilot-learn-fly/ https://fly-ga.co.uk/how-much-cost-become-pilot-learn-fly/
- hef19898 4y ago
  We are living in a world were co-pilots sometimes pay to be allow?d to fly in order to get flight hours in towards type ratings and promotions. Initial pilot trainig through airlines, and paid by those with almost guaranteed employment afterwards, is a thing of the past. Most pilots pay for their own training now. Ehich leaves salaries, which are indeed negligable. Even if you accoubt for training costs, those are negiligable whem compared to fuel, maintenance,...
- ledauphin 4y ago
  Consider that, as a ballpark average, a commercial pilot gets paid maybe ~$200/hour for their work. Double that if you're feeling generous. Whereas total operating costs for a 737 is somewhere in the $5000-$10000/hour range. That doesn't include airport fees, either. The cost of pilots next to the cost fuel+maintenance+everything else is...pretty negligible.
beefman 4y ago
For commercial jetliners? Yes, but they have a very high passenger:pilot ratio already. Also, the order is tens of thousands (for a typical transatlantic flight). Across transportation modalities, fuel costs are usually a minor contributor to total cost. For a commercial airline flight, about 10% of ticket price. See also, this comment of mine on a recent story about the Joby eVTOL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29705650 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29705650

redleader55 4y ago

According to [1] fuel costs are in the tens of thousands for intercontinental flights. Pilot training is around 200k USD [2] and thousands of hours to be accepted to fly reputable companies' planes. I wouldn't call pilot costs negligible. [1] - https://www.google.com/amp/s/simpleflying.com/commercial-airliner-fuel-cost/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/simpleflying.com/commercial-air... [2] - https://fly-ga.co.uk/how-much-cost-become-pilot-learn-fly/ https://fly-ga.co.uk/how-much-cost-become-pilot-learn-fly/

hef19898 4y ago
We are living in a world were co-pilots sometimes pay to be allow?d to fly in order to get flight hours in towards type ratings and promotions. Initial pilot trainig through airlines, and paid by those with almost guaranteed employment afterwards, is a thing of the past. Most pilots pay for their own training now. Ehich leaves salaries, which are indeed negligable. Even if you accoubt for training costs, those are negiligable whem compared to fuel, maintenance,...
ledauphin 4y ago
Consider that, as a ballpark average, a commercial pilot gets paid maybe ~$200/hour for their work. Double that if you're feeling generous. Whereas total operating costs for a 737 is somewhere in the $5000-$10000/hour range. That doesn't include airport fees, either. The cost of pilots next to the cost fuel+maintenance+everything else is...pretty negligible.

beefman 4y ago

For commercial jetliners? Yes, but they have a very high passenger:pilot ratio already. Also, the order is tens of thousands (for a typical transatlantic flight). Across transportation modalities, fuel costs are usually a minor contributor to total cost. For a commercial airline flight, about 10% of ticket price. See also, this comment of mine on a recent story about the Joby eVTOL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29705650 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29705650