What Happened To Heli-Inter Thread?

[mmck]

I'm not sure if the US forest service still does this but if one company submitted a low ball bid. They would ask the company to prove they can make money at that rate. If they couldn't show a reasonable profit they didn't get the contract. A good concept. That was over 25 years ago they were doing this. It kept rates where they should be.

[just looking]

The Swiss use to have the right idea. They use to only accept the middle bid. They would throw out the highest and lowest until they got to the middle.

 

As for insurance there are some big companies that self insure their fleet. Insurance cost's have dropped drastically in the last 5 years. It use to be if you wanted full coverage you would pay in the area of 4% of hull value. Now a days there are companies out there offering insurance for 1.5 to 2% Hull value. I laugh every time i see big companies advertising for minimum 1,500 hours TT because thats what their insurance company wants. What a crock of crap. I can say i have yet to have an insurance company tell me what TT hour mins had to be. They may recommend minimum on type our training hours, but never minimum TT.

 

As for rates lets face it all the Major Oil and Gas as well as mineral companies only care about one thing the mighty dollar. They all sit and preach about safety. They send high priced consultants in to review your practises and books. When you make the grade and they say your good they don't give a dam if you make money our not. I can't think of one major company that thru out a low bid from an approved company. I can think of one our 2 small companies that would not take low bids as they thought the price was just to low.

 

It is sad as some of these companies do this for all kinds of dumb reasons. Its not like this is the first year these guys have put out ridiculously low rates. They do it yearly and some how stay in business. I have yet to hear anything but the normal complaining about said company. I have never heard anyone tell me they don't do maintenance our pay their bills. They may not pay the highest rates for pilots but people still work there, so the conditions can't be that bad.

[chopterlol]

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[T55]

Hi All,

I have not been forced to speak Quebecois yet so I guess we have not been purchased......and I think I would know.

Fly Safe..

Geez Roo, you sure know how to kill a rumour!

[Freewheel]

Wow, I just got to say, 748 per hour for an Astar, here's my take, and keep in mind I would only base it on maybe 150 hours/year on a 407.

 

180 litres an hour, say a buck a litre,

 

Insurance is about 25K per year, so maybe 170 bucks an hour there.

 

I store it in my shop, and I don't pay myself anything to fly it (I sleep with the boss who is also my wife)

 

A cheap annual might be 10-20K. This year it's a 5 year, a few replacement parts so 100K

 

There is not a hope in **** that someone can put an Astar out there for that kind of money and actually pay staff and over-head . That is crazy. Even if it is debt free........sure play with depreciation but you are fooling yourself.

 

If I didn't have another division to compliment this gig, I'd be lost, but I could never run even the construction business in such a careless manner. Just my 2 cents! Even flying for a charitable cause, I throw the value at about 1500/hour........am I out to lunch here?

Conklin and Dedecker "Variable Cost" for AS350 BA (operated as corporate) = 743 USD = 1049. 00 CAD

 

Variable costs include fuel, airframe maintenance, labor and parts, engine restoration and miscellaneous costs.

 

Fuel for AS350 BA+ 165 l/hr @ 1.50/l = 248.50/ hr

 

variable cost - fuel = approx $800.00 CAD/hr

 

Fixed costs (not included in variable cost) include crew salaries, training, hangar and insurance fees, refurbishing, and miscellaneous subscriptions for navigation, weather, and maintenance systems.

 

https://www.conklindd.com/CDALibrary/ACCostSummary.aspx

[hybrid]

Conklin and Dedecker "Variable Cost" for AS350 BA (operated as corporate) = 743 USD = 1049. 00 CAD

 

Variable costs include fuel, airframe maintenance, labor and parts, engine restoration and miscellaneous costs.

 

Fuel for AS350 BA+ 165 l/hr @ 1.50/l = 248.50/ hr

 

variable cost - fuel = approx $800.00 CAD/hr

 

Fixed costs (not included in variable cost) include crew salaries, training, hangar and insurance fees, refurbishing, and miscellaneous subscriptions for navigation, weather, and maintenance systems.

 

https://www.conklindd.com/CDALibrary/ACCostSummary.aspx

Thats a great link Freewheel. So to be clear, this is just listing the variable costs on the chart?

[Freewheel]

Thats a great link Freewheel. So to be clear, this is just listing the variable costs on the chart?

Correct. If you select the aircraft type from drop down menu it will show the AS 350 BA as having a variable operating cost at 743.00. Not included is pilot, hangar and associated expenses, INSURANCE, support people etc.....etc.(these are considered fixed cost)

 

If you select "report" it will give a report that shows the break down of variable costs (but only shows 0.00 for individual break down). If you want to see actual breakdown and fixed costs in report you need to pay for a subscription.

[hybrid]

Pretty tough for companies to compete with the competitors when they bid below operating costs. A race to the bottom, hard to imagine who would be a winner. I'm sure it makes sense to self insure for large companies, but pretty economically dangerous for smaller companies. It seems that wages and maintenance are the only places left to cut costs. A lot of aircrew are either walking away, retiring or not bothering to go into aviation. Should be interesting if and when then economy turns around.

[SwingWing]

Sooo did heli-inter buy Blackcomb??

[helimat]

Sooo did heli-inter buy Blackcomb??

 

Nope.