How do Ryanair make money?

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I read an interesting article from Wired magazine recently which basically stated that on a typical London to Barcelona flight it costs Ryanair $70 per seat. (This is the cost to the airline NOT the price of the ticket).

So I got to thinking about this and wondered about the economics.

The plane used on that flight will probably be the B737-800 which has 180 seats. At $70 per seat the cost of the flight is $12600. The flight lasts somewhere in the region of 2 hours therefore the cost per hour to Ryanair is $6300.

Within that $6300 the following has to be included:

• Fuel for 1 hours flight on a medium sized 2 engine commercial airliner
• Half the landing fee for the destination airport
• 1 hours salary for a pilot and co-pilot
• 1 hours salary for 4 cabin staff
• Maintenance costs for 1 hours flight
• Aircraft leasing costs for 1 hours flight
• 50% of the handling fees for the baggage at the destination.
• Salary of the check-in staff at the departure airport
• A proportion of head-office overhead fees
• Profit.

Let's take the head office overhead and the profit out of there so as not to confuse matters too much.

Now let's look at some figures we know: A Gulfstream IV aircraft carries up to 13 passengers over 4500 miles at a time. It has two small engines and can be leased for around $5200 per hour

Commercial aircraft leasors will lease an Airbus A320 (similar to a Boeing 737) on an
ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance & Insurance model) (i.e without fuel and other costs) for $2750 per hour On top of that the airline will have to pay for items such as:

• fuel and oil;
• aircraft landing, handling, navigation and terminal charges;
• passenger and cargo handling;
• airport taxes, all passenger related taxes and security taxes;
• aircraft parking and ground security;
• ramp services including towing, push-back, de-icing, nitrogen and oxygen services;
• all dry goods, including but not limited to head rest covers, airsickness bags, blankets and pillows;
• ATC fees and all international route charges;
• cabin cleaning and water services;
• aircraft interior deep cleaning and exterior cleaning;
• airport security passes and permits, if required;
• over-flight permits;
• custom taxes, immigration and inspection fees, import and export duty's;
• landing and traffic permit and slots;
• office space including telephone, fax, email;
• spare parts facilities (storage) including air conditioning;
• one van for transportation of mechanics and parts;
• insurance - passengers, baggage, mail, cargo and war risk insurance;
• any additional cost reference to insurance coverage will be on Lessee's account;
• any and all other reasonable direct operating costs, incurred in the performance of the flights whether or not listed above.

Aviation fuel is currently charged at around $830 per metric tonne (assuming a 45% reduction of the price of $1280 at the height of the fuel issues). Fuel to Barcelona is about 6.65 metric tonnes which gives a cost per hour (assuming the two hour flight) of $2400

So we know so far that we are looking at approx ($2400 + $2750 = $5150) just for the aircraft and fuel The landing charge at Barcelona is approx €6 per tonne which would equate to approx €250 for the plane or €125 per hour. This doesn't include any of the salaries for the crew, nor any of the additional costs listed above. Flight crew earn less than $72 per hour (which equates to $145 per hour for the two flight crew) Cabin crew are on considerably less than that (say $20 per hour * 4 = $80.

While these figures are only approximate (and the result of some investigative digging on the internet), it does prove a couple of things

1) Ryanair are not good staff payers
2) The margins are very thin
3) Somewhere cuts must be being made to ensure the costs are kept down. Remember in the remaining $100 per hour Ryanair must pay for ALL the maintenance costs, and insurance as well as those costs detailed in the list above

How do they do it? Are my figures inaccurate? Can anyone with inside information let me know please?

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Cost free flying? Worth considering...

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What if I told you there was a way to fly as often as you like, in all weathers, in whichever aircraft you want, from wherever you want, with live ATC and it won't cost you anything. You'd like that wouldn't you? Of course you would. But you would also want to know what the catch was wouldn't you?

Well, I have one word for you: Simulation.

Flight simulation is a growing industry. Since the early days of the Microsoft Flight Simulator the state of the art has moved on in leaps and bounds. Whole industries have sprung up to manage the ancilliary markets with thing such as new planes, scenery and adventures. A whole host of forums, web-sites and communities have appeared dedicated to the art and science of flight simulation. I even heard about a guy who is building his own 747 flight simulator - with full motion control - in his garage!

The problem with a lot of this was always twofold:


1) Even if you get all the latest add-on's, up-to-date software and patches, it was still a case of sitting in your room staring at a screen and playing with a keyboard.
2) It didn't fully replicate the flying experience because it was missing one vital ingredient - proper Air traffic control.

Well unfortunately the problem of 1) is not going to go away soon. Even the guy building his own 747 simulator is still a guy sat at home - albeit with some sophisticated machinery. But the problem of 2) is more easily solved.

Flight sim manufacturers have included some pretty good ATC functionality in their packages. Each release brings more and more advanced settings and realistic situations. But at the end of the day it is all preprogrammed and cannot take the place of 'real' controllers. Back in the early days of flight simulator software there began a parallel movement to create and run a community of Air Traffic Controllers using ATC simulation software. The software was fairly rudimentary to start with, but as with the flight simulators it has increased in sophistication to the point where it can be very lifelike indeed.

Except that it is not, actually real life. It's computer controlled planes in a computer created environment.

So on the one hand you have the pilots wishing they could have ATC that was 'real' and on the other controllers wishing they could have 'real' pilots to control. It didn't take long for someone to make the logical connection and pretty soon VATSIM was born.

VATSIM is the Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network which uses some sophisticated software to link pilots, planes and air traffic controllers together across the internet.

It works very simply:

With your flight simulator program you download a small piece of software which acts as a "squawkbox" to provide a transponder type functionality to your machine. This channels all your typical transponder type information from your flight sim to the web.

On the web are servers which monitor this data and pass it to other simmers who are running the same squawbox software as well as ATC's simmers who are running controller software.

The net result of this is that you fly your own simulation on your own machine, but - with the aid of the squawbox and a headset/microphone - you are connected to controllers who can both see your plane AND interact with you as a pilot, along with all the other pilots who are currently using the squawbox.

The beauty of this is twofold:
a) You get to fly your own planes in your own environment whenever you want, thereby increasing your flight time and experience (albeit simulated).
b) You get fully managed ATC cover - with ALL the appropriate terminology - which thereby increases your comfort level and experience when interacting with real ATC and flying real planes.

The whole process is very well thought through and it works like this:

• Once connected you file a flight plan. This can be VFR or IFR. You can fly long distance in a 747 or just do circuits in your Cessna, or any combination in between.
• You tune your flight simulator radio to the correct frequency and a real live voice greets you and issues instructions. (These folks, by the way have gone through some fairly extensive training and mentoring and are every bit as good as the real thing)
• When you fly you can both see other (non AI) planes in your sim AND hear their transmissions on the radio.
• Air traffic control will act in the expected manner providing directions, asking questions, giving clearances and providing flight following. It's pretty much as close to the real thing as you can get it. The system is even designed to download the real weather from the nearest airport to your current location and update your simulator.

In recent days I have flown my Cessna around the outer edges of the London CTR and been directed away from controlled airspace. I have taken a Dash-7 from Farnborough to Amsterdam, an Airbus A320 from Amsterdam to Gatwick and even flown circuits in a Cessna around Gatwick (It's not recommended in real life as the landing fees are so high and dodging the 747's can be tricky, but it is possible). This weekend I will be flying an A320 from Frankfurt to Hamburg as part of a 'Real Ops' exercise to simulate the real life movements around a major airport. There will be upwards of 400 flights arriving and departing. Should be fun.

Now before you look at this and say "It's not the same as flying the real thing because you would never be able to fly an Airbus without years of training" let me just clarify one thing. I fly all sorts of planes in the simulator, including the ones I was originally trained on - single engine propeller planes - and every time I fly one in the simulator it improves the way I fly them in real life. I can use this as an exercise to do all those things I would never want to do in reality - such as simulate an engine failure or something equally as nasty. It also allows me to practice my instrument flying (Which you will all have done some of in your PPL training) without worrying about really getting lost. Now imagine being able to do all this AND have some friendly controller watching over you - all for free!

I thoroughly recommend having a look at flight simulation and VATSIM. It can surely only improve your flying can't it? Even if it makes you more comfortable talking with controllers this is a great benefit to it.

Here are some links to help you get started:

VATSIM - The central hub for this. Create a free acount and log in
Squawkbox - The connection software (again free)
FSInn - An alternate connection software (A lot more functional but a bit too complex for my liking)

The new ATC procedures outside controlled airspace.

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The UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recently announced a wave of changes to the provision of Air Traffic Control services outside controlled airspace.

Up until now the provision of ATSOCA waas provided by a variety of air traffic units and used by all airspace users - from General Aviation to commercial and military aircraft. On 12th March 2009 these services will change when a complete revision comes into effect. It is therefore vital that all controllers and pilots have a detailed knowledge of the change.

All the information about these changes is available at the airspace safety web site, but I wanted to give you a summary of the changes here.

Previously when contacting a LARS service (such as Farnborough) you could receive services such as FIS (Flight Information Service), RIS (radar information service) or RAS (Radar Advisory Service). Each of these was a different level of service providing different information and coverage. As a general aviation pilot flying in VMC you generally needed nothing more than a flight information service.

Under the new rules and regulations the services which can be provided are as follows:

Basic Service: A Basic Service is intended to offer the pilot maximum autonomy and the avoidance of other traffic solely relies on using the 'see and avoid' principle, to avoid other traffic.
Traffic Service: A Traffic Service provides the pilot with traffic information on conflicting aircraft. No deconfliction advice is passed and the pilot is responsible for collision avoidance.
Deconfliction service: A Deconfliction Service provides the pilot with traffic information and deconfliction advice on conflicting aircraft.
Priority Service: A Procedural Service is a non-radar service, where instructions are provided aimed at achieving deconfliction minima from other aircraft to which the controller is also providing a Procedural Service.

Each of these differs quite substantially from the current service provided by controllers.

The Civil Aviation Authority has produced multimedia CD's which explain and illustrate the different services. All registered UK pilots will receive this CD over the next couple of days. If you haven't received this CD (or if you are not a registered UK pilot) you can access the contents online at the Airspace Safety Website.

Learn about the new servies, take the Selftest and stay safe!

Learning to fly in the USA

I learned to fly in Orlando.

Now if you read a lot of the forums about this there appear to be differing views on whether this is a good thing or not. Generally, "If you're going to fly in the US it is a good thing. If you're going to fly in the UK it isn't."

I totally disagree (but with reservations)

Let me tell you some of the good things I learned from learning to fly in the US

1) Air Traffic Control : I flew from Kissimmee Airport in Orlando. It is underneath the main Orlando International approach paths and it is a controlled airfield. There are two guys in the tower at all times - one looking after the planes in the air and the other looking after the planes on the ground. Before you could move you needed permission from them, before you could cross a runway you needed permission from them, before you could take off you needed permission from them. Kissimmee airport is a busy place. At one point I was in a holding pattern about 3 miles east of the main runway waiting for a stream of Gulfstream and Cessna Citation jets to land. This a student pilot with about 12 hours on type at that point! I've also done circuit work where I was asked to extend upwind or downwind or turn at the towers discretion, make abnormal circuits to avoid traffic and - as already mention - sit in a holding pattern for 15 minutes at busy times. How many UK trained private pilots can say that?
2) ATIS: Kissimmee also has an automated weather recording that needed to be listened to prior to requesting taxi permission. It's amazing how that focuses the mind when starting up the engine knowing that before you make any calls to anyone on the radio you need to take your time to listen and make notes. It is calming and focusing at the same time
3) Weather: Of the whole time I was there I missed 3 hours of flying through 'bad' weather. These three hours were 3 single hour delays at 7am due to mist needing to be burnt off before VFR flight was possible
4) No landing fees: I flew from Kissimmee to 5 other airports during my training, including two fields which were uncontrolled, for almost 75 landings in total. My accumulated costs for landing at these airports: $0. That's right, the USA does not charge you for landing. On top of that one of the flights was into Melbourne International Airport where my instructor and I decided to make a quick touch and go - without PPR - and followed a 737 on approach. We just radioed the tower from about 8 miles out, asked for a touch and go and they said 'Yes'
5) Time: How long was I in the US to do my PPL course? 3 months? 6 months? 6 weeks? Nope. None of the above. I left Orlando airport 14 days after I arrived with a grand total of 42 hours flying time and ALL my exams completed. Had the 3 weather delays I mentioned earlier not happened I could have completed the skills test prior to leaving and come back with all that was needed.
6) The cost : Price to hire a PA28 at my local airfield here in the UK - approx £2 per minute (wet). Price to hire a PA28 in the US - approx $2 per minute (wet). That's a huge difference and accounts for one of the reasons lots of people follow the route I took and learn in the US. Total cost for the two weeks course (including tuition, ground school, dedicated insructor, US medical, student visa processing, examination fees, accomodation & hire car) for 42 hours flying - $9500.

What didn't I like about flying in the US

1) Instructor availability : Luckily I had a dedicated instructor for my tuition. Aaron and I flew three times a day every day and he was great. But that's because I paid a little extra to get that assurance. The last thing I wanted to do was to take time off from work, fly to the US, spend a good amount of cash to learn to fly and come away with only a few hours flying time because the instructors weren't available. I met several people, though, who were there for their 3rd week of tuition and had amassed a grand total of 13 hours flying time. Considering they were spending all day every day at the flying school that wasn't good.
2) Curriculum: One of the areas I missed out on with my instruction was flying under the hood. (using vision restrictors in VFR to simulate IFR conditions). Aaron and I went through the steps of tracking a VOR and following the needle, talked about reverse sensing etc., until I was comfortable with the process, but I never actually spent any time flying simulated IFR. This is a condition of passing a UK based skills test but not a US based one.
3) FAA vs JAA My course was a JAA course taken under FAA conditions. This was fine for a lot of the time, but did cause problems under certain conditions. For example learning to stall. Under JAR standards the stall must fully develop prior to recovery. Under FAA examination standards it just has to go to the stall wanring before you can recover. Being in an environment where the instructors has both standards to learn it was easy to get confused or miss things.
4) Good weather : I know it sounds funny, but because the weather in Florida was basically superb for the whole time I was there I never got into the situation where I had to make decisions due to prevailing bad weather. All my weather related flying has occured since I arrived back in the UK (It's fun trying to fly a skills test in the UK with a decending 1500 foot ceiling over ground where the minimum safe altitude is 1000 feet!)

Overall I think I received excellent flight training in the US. It took my 2 weeks to do 42 hours and pass all the exams and it took my almost 6 months in the UK to get the remaining hours and the skills test, so I shudder to think how long it would have taken if I had done it all in the UK!

Were there things I would have learned in the UK that I didn't learn in the US? Of course. My UK instructors have already taught me lots of things we didn't cover in Florida. But Aaron in the US did also teach me short field take-off and landings which are not part of the JAR curriculum

I'll cover the Orlando flying school experience in more detail in a later post.