How to calculate a profitable airport transfer (the €/km that actually pays)
Not every airport transfer is worth taking. Here's how to work out your true cost per km, your break-even €/km, and the floor to filter Transfeero rides by.
A transfer is profitable when its payout per km comfortably beats your true cost per km — fuel, maintenance, insurance, vehicle depreciation, and the unpaid distance to the pickup. Work out your cost/km, add your target margin, and use that number as a €/km floor to filter rides. The free €/km calculator does the math.
Airport transfers look premium, but a long unpaid drive to the pickup or a low fixed fare can quietly make one unprofitable. The fix is simple: know your numbers and filter by them.
Step 1 — Your true cost per km
Add up the real per-km cost of running the vehicle:
- Fuel or energy per km.
- Maintenance and tyres, spread over km.
- Insurance and licensing, spread over your monthly km.
- Vehicle depreciation per km.
Step 2 — Don't forget the unpaid km
The drive from where you are to the pickup is usually unpaid. A €40 ride that's 20km of paid distance but 15km of unpaid pickup drive is really covering 35km of wear for €40 — a very different €/km than it first looks.
Step 3 — Add your margin
Your break-even €/km is just cost. To actually earn, set a floor above it — the margin you need per km. That number is your filter.
Step 4 — Filter by it automatically
Once you know your floor, you don't want to do this math on every offer. Set it as a €/km filter — even tiered by distance — and let AutoCatch accept only the rides that clear it. Try the free €/km calculator to find your number, then read setting profitable €/km floors.
The most profitable drivers aren't the ones who take the most rides — they're the ones who take the right ones.