What a tandem season actually looks like: 66 flying days, 557 tandems, €83,190

Ask an operator what a season earns and the answer is "it depends on the weather". True, and useless — because without a benchmark you cannot tell whether your own year was good.

So here is a whole one — a model season built from real Alpine ratios. Five pilots, one mountain, May to September. Not a large company.

66 days is the number that matters

The season spans about 150 calendar days. They flew on fewer than half of them. That is not a weak operation, that is normal: wind, rain, a base at 900 metres, thermals too strong at noon.

Which means the decisive variable is not what you earn per day — it is how many days you fly at all. Ten days either way is €12,600.

By month

June was wet — nine flying days in the whole month — and still earned almost exactly what May earned across thirteen. The passengers who come when the forecast is bad are the ones who really want to fly: fewer cancellations, fuller days.

August alone is 43 % of the season. Every August day lost to disorganisation — no pilot, no van, a booking that fell through the cracks — costs several times what a May day costs.

By weekday — the number almost nobody has

This is the average taken per day actually flown, not the total per weekday. Otherwise Wednesday wins simply by being flown more often.

Sunday against Wednesday is a 44 % difference. Same mountain, same pilots, same wings.

What you do with that: call every pilot on Sunday, including the ones you usually don't. Don't open a Wednesday with two pilots driving an hour each way. And if the number of days you can work is limited — another job, a family — you now know which seven days a month are the valuable ones.

Where the passengers came from

There is a trap in this table. Agency A brings fewer passengers than the direct channel but nearly the same revenue, because it sells more expensive packages. Judging partners by headcount would get this exactly backwards.

And Instagram is 10 % of passengers with no commission at all. It is the best-paid channel on the list, and the only one you can grow by yourself.

What this is useful for

Three benchmarks you can hold your own season against:

1. €149 per tandem is a realistic Alpine average with photo and video included. Under €120 and you are not selling the extras.
2. €1,260 per flying day means one day is worth more than a month of any software, insurance or advertising. Any decision that saves you a day is a good decision.
3. Pilot pay was about 47 % of revenue. Much under 40 % and you are about to lose a pilot to the operation down the valley. Over 55 % and a wet June hurts.

How to measure your own

You do not need software to start. You need three columns a day: date, number of tandems, money in. Do that for one season and next year you can answer the question most operators answer with "it depends on the weather".

When the notebook stops being enough — more pilots, and you want to know who flew what — that is what TandemHQ is for. The day is logged in under a minute and these tables build themselves.

The figures above are a model season built from real Alpine ratios — prices, pilot rates, weather by month. They are not one named company's books.