Why haven't rental rates come back down?

On 05/14/09 11:23, Dallas wrote:
On Wed, 13 May 2009 11:10:40 -0700, Mark Hansen wrote:

Not to make you feel worse, but in my club, we rent IFR-certified 172s
for around $80 wet.

Well, you made me feel worse anyway. :- )

Hey, you could always move out here and join our club :-)

.... it's not Texas, but ... well whatever :-\


You guys are proving to me that there hasn't been any structural increase
in the expense of running a flight school/rental operation. These guys in
the DFW area have just colluded to hold their prices up.


Well, your group is probably for-profit, while my club is not. I imagine
that can have quite an impact on the prices. I know our club tries to
maintain stable rental rates even when the fuel prices fluctuate. They
just soak up the difference. During the last run-up in fuel prices, I
think the rate on the IFR 172N went from around $78 to around $86 and
now it's back down to around $80.

Also, our planes are generally pretty old. We do have one newer 172SP
with G1000. It rents for about $130. The other 172s are in the 1979 -
1984 range. But they still fly, and (most) have all the modern avionics,
etc. I've been very happy. At this point, I'm not sure I could afford to
fly otherwise.


--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane, USUA Ultralight Pilot
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA