Departmental Data

Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Questions (106)

Aidan Farrelly

Question:

106. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence for a schedule of the costs of operating and maintaining the Government jet; and to provide a breakdown for operational costs, fuel, maintenance, annual depreciation of the craft and the total annual kilometres flown in each year from 2004 to date. [2155/25]

View answer

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Defence

Up until December 2023, MATS was delivered primarily by the use of the Learjet 45 aircraft. Recently the Department of Defence has conducted a tender competition to acquire a new mid-sized jet aircraft for Ministerial Air Transport and has awarded a contract to Dassault Aviation SA for a new multi-purpose strategic reach aircraft (a French made Falcon 6X) with delivery expected in late 2025. Information in relation to MATS is publicly available on the Department's website, where it is updated on a monthly basis. www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/e8132-routinely-published-information/#ministerial-air-transport-service-mats

Given the extent of the historical data requested by the Deputy, my officials are currently collating same and I will arrange to have same forwarded as soon as possible.

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Deputy Simon Harris)

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Orders.

As indicated in my reply, the information sought was not readily available. However, the military authorities have collated the requested material as per below;

Table 1- Average Cost per Hour- Learjet 45

Year	Average Fixed Cost per hour	Average Variable Cost per hour	Average Total Cost per hour
2019*	€1,880	€2,320	€4,200
2017	€1,665	€2,095	€3,760
2015	€1,730	€2,050	€3,780

* Data relating to 2021 and 2023 are currently being prepared in conjunction with DPENDER

Table 2 – Maintenance Costs (Spare Parts and Repairs)

Year	Aircraft - Spare Parts (€)	Aircraft - Contract Repairs (€)	Total (EUR)
2004	The Air Corps do not have records of maintenance costs pre-2006.	-	-
2005	-	-	-
2006	23,295.89	304,157.31	327,453.20
2007	44,449.53	100,067.46	144,516.99
2008	13,631.42	133,537.59	147,169.01
2009	13,631.42	1,833,430.72	1,847,062.14
2010	37,793.03	315,899.54	353,692.57
2011	34,150.96	185,947.80	220,098.76
2012	53,110.25	362,329.15	415,439.40
2013	4,846.17	309,331.92	314,178.09
2014	28,511.03	635,708.50	664,219.53
2015	24,030.79	786,691.70	810,722.49
2016	22,824.32	354,288.08	377,112.40
2017	12,975.48	549,292.89	562,268.37
2018	74,736.83	381,562.61	456,299.44
2019	7,165.87	524,029.93	531,195.80
2020	131,889.26	387,178.43	519,067.69
2021	38,122.64	621,425.36	659,548.00
2022	61,614.53	365,365.84	426,980.37
2023	36,499.79	728,856.06	765,355.85
2024	67,395.08	656,787.78	724,182.86
2025	3,198.48	17,322.91	20,521.39
Total	-	-	10,287,084.35

Table 3– Fuel Cost / Distance Travelled

Year	Distance Flown (nm/km)	Fuel Used (lbs)
2004	163,324 nm / 302,476 km	Fuel data is not available for 2004-2012 (inclusive) as fuel usage was not recorded in the Air Corps database until 2013.
2005	104,879 nm / 194,235 km	-
2006	95,314 nm / 176,522 km	-
2007	71,813 nm / 132,998 km	-
2008	84,484 nm / 156,464 km	-
2009	79,435 nm / 147,114 km	-
2010	52,565 nm / 97,350 km	-
2011	22,945 nm / 42,494 km	-
2012	41,320 nm / 76,525 km	-
2013	62,043 nm / 114,904 km	265,231 lbs
2014	56,946 nm / 105,464 km	228,325 lbs
2015	85,153 nm / 157,703 km	362,907 lbs
2016	57,913 nm / 107,255 km	244,669 lbs
2017	70,285 nm / 130,168 km	291,842 lbs
2018	97,251 nm / 180,109 km	374,356 lbs
2019	69,524 nm / 128,758 km	267,887 lbs
2020	12,757 nm / 23,625 km	56,676 lbs
2021	53,054 nm / 98,256 km	201,302 lbs
2022	81,326 nm / 150,615 km	327,479 lbs
2023	22,395 nm / 41,476 km	93,389 lbs
2024	Aircraft no longer conducting MATS	-

While the Air Corps does not track annual depreciation for its aircraft, a straight-line calculation provides an estimated annual rate of 4.76% for the Learjet, based on its initial purchase price of €9,880,557.50 and an estimated current market value of €2,680,800 (the current average list price for a Lear 45).

I trust this addresses your enquiry.