Can I really afford an airplane?

Yes!—especially when ownership is shared with others. Aircraft have been shared from the very beginning—after all, Wilbur and Orville Wright owned the very first airplane. There are currently tens of thousands of successful aircraft partnerships, and they are rapidly becoming more popular. Why? Because partnership aircraft often cost the same or less to own and operate than recreational vehicles such as boats, motorcycles, jet skis or RV’s. The Aircraft Partnership Association (APA) currently lists thousands of active partners and partnerships to choose from, and we are adding more every day.

Pre-owned Aircraft— There is a fundamental difference between pre-owned aircraft and other types of vehicles: aircraft are rigorously inspected each year by Federal Aircraft Administration (FAA)-licensed specialists and must be maintained in compliance with current FAA and/or with ASTM [international industry] standards. This process assures that the aircraft’s components are being constantly updated and renewed.

As a result, properly maintained pre-owned aircraft are safe, affordable, and depreciate far more slowly than other vehicles. It is normal to fly an airplane for five, ten, or twenty years, sell it, and get far more of the original purchase price back than any other type of vehicle. Aircraft ownership may also provide significant tax benefits. Resale values and tax savings can significantly reduce costs over those shown in these comparisons.

Real Cost.
The real cost of owning and operating any vehicle such as an airplane, boat, RV, motorcycle, or jet ski is determined by:
  • The purchase price including the term, interest rate, and down payment, and other fixed costs such as insurance and storage
  • Variable costs such as fuel, maintenance, and repairs
  • Hours per year of usage
Comparing Costs.
We compare a new $35,000 boat, motor, and trailer to the following:
  • A new Light Sport Aircraft (LSA)
  • A pre-owned, medium-performance, four-passenger aircraft
  • A pre-owned, high-performance, six-passenger aircraft

    • To assure an “apples-to-apples” comparison, we used the following common parameters:

    • All costs shown are fully-loaded, that is, they include the cost of purchase, tax, title, and license, outfitting, insurance, fuel, maintenance, storage, etc.
    • Both recreational pilots and owners of boats, motorcycles, jet skis, and RV’s, on average, operate their vehicles about 50-100 hours per year. We show three usage rates: 50, 75, and 100 hours per year.
    • All examples are financed for 120 months at 6.5% and 15% down. Financing up to 240 months is available.
    • MMonthly fixed costs and hourly costs are shown for each example.

    Shaded areas show the number of co-owners and usage hours which cost less than boat ownership. Costs are based on the Dallas-Fort Worth are. 

    Scenario 1 is a new, very well-equipped LSA: two-passenger aircraft with a full suite of digital avionics, GPS navigation, real-time weather display, autopilot, a whole-aircraft ballistic recovery chute, and a cruise speed up to 138 MPH. For more information on LSA, visit www.sportpilot.org and www.ByDanJohnson.com. Click here to download the spreadsheet used for these calculations.

    New $35,000 Boat New LSA @ $140,000 by Number of Co-Owners
    1 2 3 4 5 6
    Initial Outlay $8,638 $24,500 $12,250 $8,167 $6,125 $4,900 $4,083
    Monthly Fixed Costs $754 $2,077 $1,050 $708 $537 $435 $368
    Hours used per Year Total Cost per Hour of Ownership
    50 $229 $512 $282 $201 $161 $137 $122
    75 $169 $353 $199 $146 $119 $103 $93
    100 $139 $274 $158 $118 $98 $86 $78

    Scenario 2 is a pre-owned medium-performance four-passenger aircraft with typical cruise speeds of 140-160 MPH. Click here to download the spreadsheet used for these calculations.

    New $35,000 Boat Four-Passenger Aircraft @ $65,000 by Number of Co-Owners
    1 2 3 4 5 6
    Initial Outlay $8,638 $13,250 $6,625 $4,417 $3,313 $2,650 $2,208
    Monthly Fixed Costs $754 $1,352 $687 $452 $345 $282 $240
    Hours used per Year Total Cost per Hour of Ownership
    50 $229 $360 $211 $155 $129 $114 $104
    75 $169 $256 $156 $118 $101 $91 $84
    100 $139 $203 $129 $100 $87 $80 $75

    Scenario 3 a high performance six-passenger aircraft with typical cruise speeds of 160-190 MPH. Click here to download the spreadsheet used for these calculations.

    New $35,000 Boat Six-Passenger Aircraft @ $150,000 by Number of Co-Owners
    1 2 3 4 5 6
    Initial Outlay $8,638 $26,000 $13,000 $8,667 $6,500 $5,200 $4,333
    Monthly Fixed Costs $754 $2,336 $1,180 $781 $591 $479 $404
    Hours used per Year Total Cost per Hour of Ownership
    50 $229 $638 $370 $274 $229 $202 $184
    75 $169 $454 $276 $212 $182 $163 $152
    100 $139 $362 $228 $181 $158 $144 $135
    Flight Scheduling— The long-term experience of aircraft partnerships is that 2-6 member partnerships rarely have scheduling conflicts. There are 8,766 hours in a year. Recreational pilots fly on average 50-100 hours per year. A typical four-pilot partnership aircraft flies about 300 hours annually—only about 2.5 hours out of 100. Low actual usage, combined with the partner matching capability provided by the APA, assures little or no impact to the availability of your airplane.

    As you can see, shared ownership really does make owning and flying your own airplane truly affordable—it can be significantly less expensive than owning a typical new boat, motor and trailer!

    The Aircraft Partnership Association and our aviation industry associates are dedicated to making flying affordable. We can guide you through the partnering process. We can help you find existing partnerships or form new partnerships, and obtain financing and insurance for new and pre-owned aircraft.

    Get started today by joining the APA—individual membership is free. The APA's Virtual Pilot Lounge™ is a secure web-based solution where interested parties can post a detailed profile and then search for and be found by other members interested in aircraft co-ownership. You can conduct searches for suitable co-owners based on location, budget, flying experience, usage, aircraft of interest, and much more.

    Want to determine costs in your area? Click here to download your own copy of the APA Shared Ownership Cost Calculator.