The training center's fleet solves one problem: taking a student from their first flight to a commercial license with a predictable hourly rate at each stage. Mistakes in staffing are costly because aircraft are purchased for ten to fifteen years, and the cost per hour determines the training price. The logic behind the program's selection process is discussed below.
The program stages and what they require
Training is divided into several stages, each with its own requirements for the aircraft. Initial training for private pilots requires a simple, forgiving, single-engine aircraft with predictable handling and a minimal hourly cost—this is the stage where flight time is at its highest.
Instrument training: the same aircraft, but with modern avionics, allowing for real-world procedures rather than simplified ones. Commercial training and multiengine rating: a twin-engine aircraft is required, and the flight time is limited, but the hourly rate is high.
A practical conclusion for staffing: the majority of the fleet consists of single-engine aircraft, while one or two twin-engine aircraft are needed—corresponding to the number of cadets reaching MEP. Inverse proportionality is a typical mistake, leading to the idleness of expensive aircraft.
Initial preparation: the foundation of the park
The basic choice in the Piper line is Archer TX Based on the Cherokee platform, the low-wing aircraft's soft stall characteristics are forgiving of student pilot errors, and over 134,000 aircraft in this family have been produced, meaning spare parts are readily available and service is readily available virtually everywhere.
When the priority is the entry price when expanding a park, the same role is considered Pilot 100i with a simplified configuration. The logic is this: the initial training hours don't require a full avionics suite, and the difference in aircraft price allows for more aircraft to be purchased for the same budget.
The operating setup for a medium-sized school is a few simpler aircraft for the first hours and one or two more equipped ones for instrument training. This way, expensive avionics are used where they're really needed, rather than wasting hours in the aerobatic zone.
Fuel as a factor in the composition
In Kazakhstan and Central Asia, there is a circumstance that changes the calculation compared to Europe or the USA: Avgas 100LL aviation gasoline is supplied irregularly, while Jet A-1 kerosene is available at every major airport.
Hence the practical argument in favour of diesel versions. Archer DX — the same platform as its gasoline-powered counterpart, but with the Jet A-1 engine. Based on calculations for a typical flight, an hour costs approximately $178 versus $271 for a gasoline-powered aircraft: a difference of almost a third.
For the school, this has a double effect. It reduces the cost per hour, while simultaneously eliminating the risk of downtime due to lack of fuel—and a lost flight day is more significant in the annual economy than the difference in the price per liter.
A separate argument is the unified logistics. If both single-engine and multi-engine aircraft run on kerosene, the school relies on a single fuel, stores a single product, and doesn't need to build a second supply chain.
Multi-engine training
The MEP rating requires a twin-engine aircraft, and the choice in the lineup is limited. Piper Seminole — a standard aircraft for this task: two power plants, retractable landing gear, behavior that can be used to test engine failures.
Kerosene version - Seminole DX — solves the same problem and allows the entire fleet to be maintained on the Jet A-1. The specifications for this aircraft are currently based on preliminary manufacturer data; the production gasoline version is available for order today.
An important planning point: the twin-engine aircraft at the school is almost always underutilized because a smaller proportion of students reach MEP. Therefore, it is taken alone and its economics are calculated separately, rather than averaging with the single-engine fleet.
How to calculate the economy of an hour
A proper calculation includes variable costs—fuel, maintenance, engine and propeller program deductions, airport fees—and fixed costs: insurance, parking, instructor and technical staff salaries.
The main calculation error is relying on the aircraft price rather than the hourly cost. An aircraft that's inexpensive to purchase but requires expensive or scarce fuel and frequent maintenance will cost more over ten years than an aircraft that's more expensive at the start.
The second mistake is not factoring in downtime. Hours lost due to lack of fuel, waiting for parts, or scheduled maintenance don't appear in the expense table, but they do reduce the numerator of the hourly cost.
You can insert your own information on flight hours, routes and prices in cost of ownership calculator - He calculates for a specific scenario, and not based on average values.
Avionics: How Much is Needed?
Modern training aircraft come with a Garmin glass cockpit, and this raises a question for schools that has no single answer: how equipped should the aircraft be for the first few hours?.
The argument for a full avionics suite is that the student learns from the very beginning in the environment they will be working in, making the transition to a more complex aircraft easier. The argument against is that the first few hours are spent practicing basic piloting skills, and some schools believe that a fancy cockpit is distracting at this stage.
A working compromise used by many schools is to use simpler basic aircraft for initial training and one or two fully equipped ones for the instrument training phase. This way, expensive avionics pays off where they build skill, rather than clutter up the flight deck.
Typical fleet configurations
A small school for a few dozen students per year: two or three single-engine aircraft and one twin-engine. One of these aircraft has full avionics for instrument training, the rest are simpler.
Secondary school: four to six single-engine aircraft, divided into base and instrument aircraft, and one to two twin-engine aircraft. At this size, it makes sense to consider the entire transition to a single fuel, as the purchase volume becomes significant.
In all cases, the fleet is formed based on the training program and the number of trainees, not the other way around. Aircraft purchased without regard to the program stage remain idle.
Buy or lease
For a school, this is a separate solution with different economics. Purchasing provides an asset on the balance sheet and full control over its operation, but requires a one-time investment and leaves the owner with residual value risk.
Leasing lowers the entry barrier and makes monthly expenses predictable, but adds restrictions on flight hours and the aircraft's condition upon return. For a school with a growing enrollment, this is a way to expand its fleet faster than its own capital allows.
A practical criterion: if the training program is stable and the planning horizon is long, purchasing is usually more cost-effective over time. If enrollment is unstable or the school is just entering the market, leasing reduces the risk of miscalculating the fleet size.
Reserve and seasonality
The training load is distributed unevenly throughout the year: flight hours peak during the warmer months with stable weather, while they drop in winter. The fleet, designed based on average annual flight hours, is unable to cope during peak season, and is idle during the off-season.
A practical approach is to calculate peak load with a reserve for scheduled maintenance. If at the height of the season even one aircraft is down for scheduled maintenance, the program should not be interrupted.
A separate reserve is built in for the unexpected: damage during a student's rough landing, waiting for spare parts, or component failure. In a school with two aircraft, the failure of one aircraft halts half the program.
Instructors and aircraft loading
The fleet is calculated not only by the number of students but also by the number of instructors: an airplane cannot fly without an instructor. A school's typical limitation is not the number of aircraft, but the ability to provide them with flight personnel, especially during the season.
Hence the practical criterion for load factor: if an aircraft flies less than two hundred hours a year, its fixed costs—parking, insurance, scheduled maintenance—are spread over too few hours, and the cost per flight hour increases disproportionately.
The opposite situation is also dangerous. An aircraft operating at its limits requires more frequent maintenance, and the school loses hours during peak season. A reasonable fleet reserve is built in advance, rather than being purchased when delivery times are months away.
What to consider before purchasing
Delivery times for new aircraft are measured in months, and for popular models, they can reach a year or more. Fleet planning should be done with this timeframe in mind, not with the next batch of cadets in mind.
Import, registration in the Kazakhstani registry, and certification by the training center are handled separately. These procedures occur in parallel with delivery, and their timing is factored into the plan in advance.
JetHunter supplies Piper aircraft to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and helps calculate fleet configurations for specific training programs, student numbers, and regional fuel requirements.
«"A flight school's fleet is calculated not by the price of the aircraft, but by the cost per flight hour at each stage of the program. An aircraft that's inexpensive to purchase easily becomes the most expensive to operate."»
— Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter
Author: Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter, President of the Association of Business Aviation Professionals (APIAP). Over 14 years in the industry.
