Mig 29 flights: Constantly rising prices make "now" the best time to fly mig

Few people know that you don't have to be a pilot to fly a jet fighter. Mig 29 flights in Russia are available to anyone interested in taking a jet fighter ride.

A unique mix of political, economical and historical circumstances allows simple tourists to flying fighter jets in Russia. However, there are clear indicators that the possibility of flying fighters, especially to fly a jet fighter like the Mig 29, will become more and more expensive. To understand why this is so, let's have a look at the recent history of jet fighter rides in Russia and the price development of mig 29 flights.

Today, the only mig jet fighter available for a jet fighter ride is the heavy and modern mig 29. This was not always so: Six years ago, in 2004, flying Russian mig 29 flights with supersonic capability was a relatively low-priced endeavor. A wide range of migs - mig-21, mig-23, mig-25 and mig-29 were available for a jet fighter ride. Thus, for as low as 3800 USD, a supersonic jet fighter ride in the mig 21 fishbed was possible. At the same time, a flight in the more modern MiG-23 was priced some 4500 USD - still quite a bargain compared to today's mig 29 flights prices.

As the older MiG-21 were removed from service with the Russian Air Force, the mig 23 jet fighter became the new "entrance level" for mig jet flights. In 2005, still everyone could fly a jet fighter - but as the MiG-23 replaced the MiG-21, prices rose to around4800 USD for a supersonic jet fighter ride.

A massive price boost hit the market again in 2006, when flying fighter jets became once again much more expensive. Costs to fly mig 23, available two years ago for 4800 USD, suddenly rose to 8900 USD - an increase of almost 100%!

Since 2006, only Mig 29 flights remain possible for civilians. Let's look at the price development for flying the mig 29 fighter:

• 2004: USD 7300.00
• 2005: USD 7800.00 (+500)
• 2006: USD 11300.00 (+3500.00)
• 2007: USD 13200.00 (+1900.00)
• 2008: USD 17450.00 (+4250.00)
• 2009: USD 21800.00 (+4350.00)

Today, the price to fly mig therefore is almost three times higher of what mig 29 flights were priced only six years ago.

According to insiders of www.FlyFighterJet.com, two main reasons cause this increase:
 

First: Business. In the past, many decision makers in Russia had a Soviet background and were not aware of how much financial benefit they can gain from letting tourists fly a jet fighter. Renting Migs for a jet fighter ride and allowing civilians to fly mig was a nice addition to the usual Mig 29 flights of the air force, but few key people realized the possible financial gains. As more and more old-school bureaucrats are being replaced by younger generation successors who focus on profit, the increasing trend for profit-maximizing behavior and rules will prevail and also affect jet fighter rides. The times were you just paid for fuel to fly a jet fighter on a remote Russian airfield are past.

The second reason, still, are fuel prices: As fuel burning is the major cost factor for any flying fighter. And the bad news is that fuel prices are constantly on the rise. In 2001 a barrel of oil was traded for some twenty dollars, at the time of writing, the price reached around seventy-five.

The price development of flying jet fighters makes it apparent: the trend goes steadily upwards in general, but unpredictable, yet massive price boosts at single points in time have a massive impact on the flying jet fighter experience. These boosts are either caused by fleet replacements or by bureaucratic changes.