Aircraft Performance and Cost Model (APCM)

Unbiased aircraft economics powered by APCM

Leeham Co.’s proprietary Aircraft Performance and Cost Model (APCM) is a proven, independent tool for evaluating aircraft performance and cost. Developed over 16 years, APCM enables airlines, lessors, OEMs, and suppliers to make confident, data-backed decisions across aircraft fleet strategy, leasing, and competitive benchmarking.

What is APCM?

APCM delivers objective analysis across 110 new and existing commercial aircraft types, including:

  • Jets (757 onward)
  • Props & Turboprops
  • eVTOLs and Conceptual Aircraft

It leverages:

  • Aircraft Performance Model (APM) for fuel and energy consumption comparisons
  • Aircraft Production Cost Model for estimating operating and production costs
  • Cabin Generator that models LOPA (passenger layout) with minimal parameters
  • Mission modeling: Fuel, Crew, Fees, Maintenance, Insurance, Capital Costs

Powered by Natural Language logic with 3,500+ parameters per aircraft, APCM normalizes OEM data to provide apples-to-apples comparisons across platforms.

APCM aircraft types compared

APCM Applications

APCM has previously been used for:

✔ Airlines
✔ Aircraft Lessors
✔ OEMs & Tier 1 Suppliers
✔ Aviation Consultants & Investors

Applied in:

  • Competitive aircraft benchmarking
  • Contract bidding support
  • Airline network optimization
  • Fleet planning and aircraft procurement
  • Lease pricing and forecasting
  • MRO strategy & cost planning

Why APCM Matters

Key Benefits:

  • Normalize performance claims across OEMs
  • Predict mission-level costs, revenue and operating margin
  • Simulate aircraft utilization and economics by route, region, or use-case
  • Gain independent insights for decision-making outside OEM influence

Other consultancies give you high-level results; you guys deliver the nuts and bolts.”
– Original Equipment Manufacturer

APCM Capabilities at a Glance

APCM model capabilities infographic

Ready for Actionable Aviation Insight?

Let Leeham’s team show you how APCM can support your aviation strategy.

Related Consulting Services

  • Fleet Planning Analysis for Airlines and Lessors
  • Airliner Evaluations, Advanced Air Mobility aircraft, eVTOLS and conceptual aircraft
  • MRO and Lifecycle Cost Modeling
  • Aircraft Economic Benchmarking