Why is it so expensive to fly and maintain military aircraft?

Question

I just so some numbers like 20-35K dollars per flight hour for some fighters and that seems ridiculous, anyone know what costs so much?

In: Other

Answer 1

The planes and their spare parts are only produced in relatively small numbers so there are fewer volume cost benefits. Consider that only 195 F-22 airplanes have been produced compared to 1,735 Boeing 777s.

Using the same aircraft as a comparison. The F-22 will, on average, go through around 1,500 gallons per hour compared to 2,500 gallons for the 777. Now, of course, the F-22 is using less fuel but then it’s a lot smaller an aircraft and the fuel cost for civilian planes is paid for by the passengers.

Military planes also fly much less so the cost per flight hour is kind of skewed compared to civilian planes which airlines try to utilize as much as possible in order to remain profitable.