The Falcon 50EX and Citation X are two of the most popular mid/super-midsize jets in the world. They’re also two of the fastest. With a normal cruise speed of 511 knots, the Citation X is, in fact, the fastest midsize jet in the world. At 447 knots, the Falcon is significantly slower than the Citation, but still among the fastest super-midsize jets available.
For consistency’s sake, we’ll use 200,000 miles per year as the common denominator in our comparison. The Falcon 50EX cruises at 515 miles per hour, which means, in this scenario, you’re flying the Falcon 388 hours in a year. The Citation X’s cruise speed is 589 miles per hour, meaning it would take you 340 hours to fly 200,000 miles. Based on both fixed and direct costs, how much does it cost to operate each of these planes for a year? Let’s check it out.
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Falcon 50EX
Direct Hourly Costs
Dassault’s Falcon 50EX burns right around 287 gallons of fuel per hour. At $5.00 a gallon, fuel is going to cost you $1,435.00 per hour. You can expect maintenance on a Falcon 50EX to cost around $1,108.51 per hour. $358.09 of that is for the airframe, and $750.42 is for the engine and APU. With that being said, you’ll spend $2,543.51 on direct costs every hour between fuel and maintenance. At 388 hours, or 200,000 miles, that’s a total of $986,881.88 each year.
Fixed Annual Costs
Crew expenses for the Falcon are, on average, $187,200.00 annually. To hangar a 50EX, you’ll likely pay $49,822.50 for the year. Insurance, including hull and legal liability, will cost you $19,743.75 for the year. Pilot training will cost you $50,115.00 for the year. All of those fixed costs combined gives you a total of $306,881.25 annually.
At 388 hours, we’re looking at the following costs:
Total annual direct costs: $986,881.88
Total annual fixed costs: $306,881.25
Total annual cost: $1,293,763.13
Citation X
Direct Hourly Costs
The Citation X burns 347 gallons of fuel per hour, which, at $5.00 a gallon, is $1,735.00 per hour. Maintenance on the X is $984.99 per hour, on average, including $269.97 for the airframe and $715.02 for the engine/APU. Total fuel and maintenance costs give you a combined direct hourly cost of $2,719.99. At 340 hours (200,000 miles), you’re looking at spending $924,796.60 annually on direct operating costs.
Fixed Annual Costs
You’ll pay your Citation X crew about $187,200.00 annually. You’re looking at about $61,035.00 to hangar the X for a year, insurance will cost you $27,027.00 for the year, and pilot training will cost you $45,240.00. With all of that in mind, total fixed costs will be approximately $320,502.00 annually.
At 340 hours, that gives us:
Total annual direct costs: $924,796.60
Total annual fixed costs: $320,502.00
Total annual cost: $1,245,298.60
Comparison
Over the course of a year, you’d pay close to $50,000 more to fly the Falcon 50EX over the Citation X with these parameters. While the Citation X is more expensive on an hourly basis, it can get you to your destination a heck of a lot quicker than the Falcon, thus flying fewer hours.
The Falcon does have more than 200 extra miles on its range than the Citation. The Falcon 50EX’s range is about 3,350 nautical miles, while the Citation X’s is approximately 3,111. The Falcon’s typical configuration also has room for nine passengers, as opposed to the Citation X’s eight.
VREF has the retail value of a 2006 Falcon 50EX listed at $6.1 million. It has a 2006 Citation X’s retail value listed at $5.5 million. Would you pay an extra $600,000 at purchase and an extra $50,000 a year in operating costs for a Falcon 50EX over a Citation X?
Let us know what you think!
For a video comparison of these aircraft, check out René’s breakdown with updated numbers as of 2019:
