Trying to factor maintenance costs into this decision

[kmweber]

I've found that on certain low-income routes, if I use a CW-20 instead of a DC-3 (despite the larger capacity depressing the prices, I can still get a higher DOC on these routes with a CW-20) I will make up the difference in the initial purchase price after about 3 1/2 years.  What I'm not so sure on is how much the increased maintenance costs of the CW-20, both because of its base value and because of the 3 1/2 year minimum before I turn a profit with it before factoring in maintenance costs, affects this.

Is there a way to know this beforehand to factor it in, or do I just have to gather data empirically over time to make my own calculations?

[1993matias]

For propeller aircraft, you should usually replace every 4-5 years (as opposed to jets, which should be replaced every 3 years due to their higher value).

A prop-fleet usually costs less in maintenance because a lower cost per plane, so you can have them flying for longer time.

How much do they cost? How much do you expect to earn from them? What is your current DOC? Can we get a link to your airline? We're glad to help, we just need more information

[kmweber]

Like I said, I basically know the break-even point for the aircraft choice without factoring in maintenance; I'm just wondering if anyone's got hard numbers.  I've started a spreadsheet, trying to figure out a best-fit curve for maintenance cost per (total initial purchase price of fleet * average of fleet) so I can project maintenance costs going forward.  I was just wondering if anyone already had their own attempts to calculate this that could be used for comparison.