- Austria: They calculated the cost per hour for their Eurofighter fleet to be 63,000 € (US$ 77,200) in 2011. Of that, 81 % were fixed costs.
- Switzerland: In 2009, they calculated a total of 45 mio SFR total operational costs for their F-18 fleet. That converts to US$ 7762. Of that, 65 % are "complex maintenance and support" - essentially fixed costs - and 25 % fuel. https://www.parlament.ch/de/ratsbetrieb ... d=20124166
- Great Britain: 2010, the request was answered as follows (in british pound): Tornado GR4
35,000 (US$ 48800)
Typhoon
70,000 (US$ 97600)
Harrier GR7/GR9
37,000 (US$ 51600)
Tornado F3
43,000 (US$ 60000)
These figures include forward and depth servicing, fuel costs, crew costs, training costs, cost of capital charge, depreciation and amortisation. The Typhoon cost per flying hour reflects the build up of the fleet - Italy: They concluded that the Eurofighter cost 60-65,000 € (US$ 79,700) per hour, including the finanzing and writeoffs. The actual variable operation cost was between 13,000 and 20,000 € per hour.
- Sweden: Reportedly, Sweden pays 48,000 SEK (US$ 6,600) per hour for their gripen fleet.
- Germany: A report in 2010 concluded that the Eurofighter cost 74,000 € per hour and the Tornado was around 43,000 €. (US$ 90,700 and 52,000, respectively. http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/vorab/a-714332.html
A 2006 request revealed the following costs per hour(in euro):TORNADO IDS
Operational: 22 500 (US$ 27,500)
Total: 41 155 (US$ 50,500)
TORNADO ECR
Operational: 17 061 (US$ 21,000)
Total: 33 178 (US$ 40,700)
PHANTOM F-4F
Operational: 15 653 (US$ 19,100)
Total: 22 557 (US$ 27,600)Die Betriebskosten beinhalten die Kosten für die Materialerhaltung, die Betriebsstoffe, die Bundeswehrinstandsetzung und die Besatzung.
Die Gesamtkosten umfassen zusätzlich die kalkulatorischen Kosten für Abschreibung und Versorgungsleistungen des Personals.
The operational costs include the technical support, maintenance, fuel and crew. The total costs include additionally the financial depreciation and the supporting personel.
While flight hours are still expensive, this IMO shows that one can easily increase the flight time per pilot without a comparable increase in spending. Letting shiny airplanes sit on the ground while pilots only get 50-100 flight hours a year is a real waste.
Another conclusion is that creative accounting can lead to highly variable operating costs. In competitions or analyses this can easily skew numbers one way or another. Either way, it's great to have some numbers for comparison when discussions come up.