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As I understand from those videos, a D-check basically consists in disassembling the whole aircraft, inspecting every little piece, and then reassembling it. For me, the last part seems to be more or less the job of aircraft builders, and thus its costs may be comparable to the lasts steps of building an aircraft. Thus the cost of a few D-checks may be the same as building an aircraft.

Counted in D-checks cost, how many D-checks does a newly built aircraft cost?

Let's focus on airliners. If needed, the question may be narrowed down to best sellers (lets say B737 and A320).

voretaq7
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Manu H
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1 Answers1

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Keep in mind that during a D check, the parts on the plane are already owned. There will of course be a certain amount of parts replaced, but it will be much less than the manufacturer's cost to buy/manufacture all of the parts. There will be thousands of hours of labor, which will be most of the cost of a D check. The cost of maintenance space and taking the plane out of revenue service may also be considered.

According to this financial reference:

For a 15-year old Boeing 737-300, a D check would likely cost \$1.25-\$1.5 million, representing about 8-10% of the cost of the aircraft.

This book is now 15 years old along with the newest 737-300's, so in today's dollars this would be \$1.73-\$2.08 million, not accounting for changes in the cost of maintenance. Larger aircraft will have larger costs. This seems to put the cost in the same range as other sources.

fooot
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