Estimated Costs of Aircraft Ownership

Members of the Nanaimo Flying Club often discuss the costs of owning and operating VBA, our club Cessna 172. Less frequently do I hear conversations about the costs of individual ownership of an aircraft. Maybe this is because most of us are living in denial? Ha!

Here’s a link to one website where you can fill in some numbers to see the costs of ownership compared to sharing a plane through a partnership or club membership.

The only cost I don’t see represented is the capital cost. That is, the cost of having money tied up in an aircraft that depreciates, instead of sitting in a bank or other investment that pays interest or dividends of some sort. But, this is a good start. And as the author points out, “Owning your own airplane isn’t about saving money compared to renting. It’s about the freedom to leave any time, stay as long as you want, always find the plane in the condition you left it, know the plane and its maintenance history intimately and to have the opportunity to fly aircraft types that are hard to rent.”

Cost of Owning, Renting or Sharing an Aircraft