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Comment by ethbro | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone have pointers on where I could get an estimate on average maintenence costs / flight hour & fuel costs for a Boeing 737-900ER?

Interested in working up a rough number for how much this cost to make happen. Can't imagine it was profitable.

And very cool!

Edit: Per Boeing [1], they quote $151 / flight hour in actual service on a 737-800. Random site [2] gives fuel on a 737-900ER as 0.17 km per litre / 0.40 NM per gallon.

Edit2: After some digging, here's the flight track: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASA9671/history/20170821...

[1] http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_15/costs_...

[2] https://www.aircraftcompare.com/helicopter-airplane/Boeing-7...

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Of course it wasn't profitable, it was promotional. Compare to marketing budget for TV ads and such.

A small sized business jet charters for about $1,000 an hour. I'd guess a long 737 would go for between $10,000 and $25,000 an hour.

Edit: Here are some charter prices: http://www.aircharterguide.com/Aircraft/Manufacturer/BOEING

With charter, you skip the TSA. It can even make financial sense, of you're a group and were going to fly first class.

Also, a buddy who has a plane time share is handy.

Given where I live, I know a bunch of pilots. The time share plane was new to me. That's kinda need and not that expensive.

Conklin and de Decker are a respected (though not perfect) source for variable operating costs for various airframes.

They list the various BBJs (which are based on 737s) at $5360-$5749 per hour.

https://www.conklindd.com/ReportTemp/ACEWebReports/_%20BBJ_%...

BBJ3 is based on the 737-900ER

Thanks! So that looks like ~$26,125 for a 4.75 hr flight in pure costs (fuel, plane and engine maintainence) exclusive of crew pay. If the numbers are totalling the line items above.

So call it around $50k all included.

Depreciation doesn't look like it's in that number either, but I'd say that's probably ignorable when you're as heavily utilized as a major carrier plane is.

That seems like a good ballpark number for something a carrier would agree to. Not something to do every day, but arguably worth the PR and not going to torpedo the company either.

The CdD figures usually do include crew costs, so they attempt to be "all-in" numbers, minus cost of financing.

The reason they're $0 on the report you're looking at is they're trying to sell you the report with the actual figures, not that those costs haven't been included.

Crew rates for majors are published. Here's Alaska's: http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines/legacy/alaska_ai...

Call the flight crew $300/hr, and the cabin crew probably another $150/hr.

Ah, was confused as they lined them up below the total line, so was assuming they might break them out.

> Can't imagine it was profitable.

The comments clarify that "This was an invite-only charter, special for the eclipse!", and the images show members of the press, so that was probably never the goal.

That $151/hour is only maintenance. Fuel, crew, and depreciation will add substantial amounts on top of that.

There's no way that a 737 costs $151/hr to maintain. Small, simple, 4 or 6 seat single-engined airplanes (albeit on the high end) cost that much. Commercial airliners are going to be in the thousands of dollars per hour.

You're right. On closer examination, that's specifically airframe maintenance. So that would exclude engines and probably other important and expensive things.

Good point. I was interested in how much Alaskan had to foot for pure curiousity reasons. I have no idea how much the actual cost of a flight is.

I'm curious too. I wish I had something more concrete than "it's much higher than that." The best bet may be to look at charter prices, then divide by some small factor (2-4?) to account for profit margins and the better economies of scale an airline will have and such.

If you ping me tomorrow, I can try to get you those numbers. I know a bunch of pilots. They'll even let me fly the plane. I'm sure they will have some sources but it's too late to bug them tonight.

Based on sokoloff's source, it looks to be a bit under $50k in total cost (to the airline).

If you want to run that number by your friends for a 4.75 hr flight in a 737-900ER, it'd be nice to get confirmation.

PS: You lucky dog. I've been debating going for my pilot's license.

About $3750/hr. There is also ownership costs which are about $3500/day.

By the way, flying small planes is more fun. With the larger planes, I've been expected to mostly keep it going the right direction. In the smaller prop jobs, my friends don't much care so long as I don't bump into anything.

You don't need a license to pilot the plane. A licensed pilot can let you take the controls. Just hit up your nearest regional and pay the fuel costs and a few extra bucks. Someone will take you up. It does help to have friends with planes and live where that is pretty common.

Thanks! That's kind of inline with the numbers above after they were clarified, ex ownership costs.

And noted. I may see if I can get a flight. My long term dream is to acquire float plane.

If you know the pilot and have flown with them a few times, they might let you do both the landing and the takeoff. I've never landed on the water, but I've landed on skis and over-sized tires on the river's shore.

Most pilots I've met are happy to encourage a love of flying. Planes are pretty common here (outside Rangeley, Maine) and I've been encouraged to get one. I probably won't, but I do consider getting my license.

See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15103535

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