AirNet Rplacing Twins with Caravans?

[Steve]

I read a while back that AirNet would be replacing almost all of there Twins with Cessna Caravans, does anyone know when this would happen?

 

[hyper]

Steve,

We're buying more Caravans and yes, it's been mentioned for 5-6 years down the road. IMO, I don't possibly see it happening unless we do some major route resructuring. A bunch of the twin routes are on very tight schedules and frankly, the 208s are slower and just wouldn't make it. But who knows....

 

[Fr8Dog]

Now I don't know anything thats going on at AirNet since I don't work there, but from what I do know about Barrons, 310's, Navajos, and Caravans I doubt that they would replace twins with Caravans. First the Caravan is slower then all those twins and the Caravan operation cost per mile is higher then any of those twins. The only reason I could see someone want to replace a piston twin with a Caravan is because of either large weight increases or so much volume that it will only fit in a Caravan. Like I said I don't know much about AirNet so I could be wrong.

 

[ILLINI]

The base operating cost of a Caravan is slightly higher than a Barron or 310, and they do have a higher aquisition cost, but when you figure it on a payload basis the Caravan will net higher returns than a Barron or 310 (as long as you are flying more than just a couple boxes). Basically, you can carry alot more freight and weight in a Caravan on a single trip than you could in either a Barron or 310. Again, this doesn't apply if you are only shipping a couple boxes at a time. In that case, you would be better off using a light twin instead. Also, the Caravan has a large cargo door that can fit those large, and bulky packages that you couldn't fit into a Barron or 310.

On the other hand they are slow. Averaging somewhere in the neighborhood of 170kts true. A little slower if you have the pod installed.

 

[publisher]

checks

In the business of check hauling, which is still the main force at Airnet, time is everything. 1 minute late is no pay so for their schedule it is the aircraft that can do the block time required off the hub more than what it can carry.

They are doing more light freight as time goes along so on the shorter runs , the Caravan may make some sense but it will not replace the speed required on other runs.

 

[wingnutt]

well from my understanding (as i have a few friends flying there) Airnet has their eye on the future, and with banking becoming more and more electronic, they dont want to rely on checks as a sole revenue source. for this reason they have been acquiring other types of freight (quite a bit of medical i am told) and as anyone who has hauled fright in a baron knows, 4 or 5 good size boxes take up way more volume than a few thousand checks.

true...cost per mile is higher in a 208, but thats not what Airnet looks at, they refer to "cost per pound mile"...which puts the 208 in a class by itself

 

[ShawnC]

Just a guess

From what it sounds like then if Airnet is getting Caravans, they will be complementing their current fleet for the time being.

 

[Timebuilder]

If memory serves, Bob told me that they would add the Caravan, not use it to eliminate the twins.

 

[wingnutt]

and i quote...

AirNet's most recent addition to the cargo fleet is the single-engine Cessna Caravan turboprop, which features a 49 X 50-inch door opening and more than 450 cubic feet of cargo space with the standard cargo pod.

AirNet Chief Financial Officer William (Bill) Sumser says AirNet has budgeted about $24 million for total capital expenditures this year and foresees using that money to expand both its scheduled cargo and passenger charter businesses by adding aircraft. On the cargo side, however, some of the new planes will be replacing current AirNet aircraft, he explains.

“In 2001, we added some Caravans and we’ll continue to add them this year, and they’ll probably be replacing Aerostars,” Sumser predicts. “Long-term, maybe five or six years out or even longer than that, we don’t anticipate seeing Aerostars, 310s, or maybe even Barons in our fleet. We’ll need some, of course, but in my mind I see our fleet becoming more of a Learjet/Caravan mix. I can’t say for sure it’s going to be a two-aircraft mix, but the Caravan is definitely a better fit for our express product. Our express product is not in bags like the checks; it’s more often in bigger boxes and it’s hard to put a lot of boxes in a Baron. Even the Learjets are not really suited for carrying big boxes because of the shape of the aircraft, but you can fit a lot in a Caravan because of its almost square fuselage.”

Sumser further explains that although a Caravan’s direct operating cost is slightly more than for a Baron or 310, when the big Cessna is compared on a cost vs. volume basis to those aircraft, it’s actually cheaper to operate. “The cost per pound mile is significantly better,” he states.

 

[Timebuilder]

Good info.

I had asked Bob for a shorter term estimation, regarding my possible employment.

I know of another outfit getting away from 310's. They are being replaced by TBM 700's right now.