AirwaySim v.1.3 news, previews & info

[Sami]

* Aircraft scrapping page has also the new functional layout like leasing related pages.

* Short term lease extensions are now possible. Options are 1-12 months, and after that in 6 month intervals. (remember the previous update also; lease price is determined by lease contract length)


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[Sami]

* Aircraft lease pricing for a/c leased from the used market now depends on the contract term/length (in a similar way of the previously previwed lease extension). A short lease term is more expensive per month than a long lease.

* Used a/c lease term for aircraft from the market can be anything between 6 months and 15 years, in 6 month intervals. (remember that player owned planes may have a limited lease term; another new feature previewed earlier).

* Airline notepad link is added also to the mobile/lo-fi theme (1.2 also).

* Base ticket prices have been adjusted to give less income on C/F class especially on longhaul routes.

* On aircraft details page (My Aircraft -> View) the 'View Schedule' link now takes you to the schedule view of that particular aircraft, and not the schedule of the whole fleet like before.



* Added a new method for reducing the effect of too many daily frequencies on a route:

  - The system calculates a "maximum desirable frequency" for each route depending on the passenger demand (route length/type not affected, it's a simple system).

  - Roughly so that on smaller demand routes you can fly the sector 2-5 times a day, and it then grows rather linearily all the way to 80 sectors a day on the largest (>8500pax/day) routes. For example on 30pax/day route 3x daily flights are still OK, any more than that does not give you any benefit. And on 150pax/day route this figure is around 5.

  - This new system is not properly tested yet and may not be in the final release version, as it's rather crude and I would wish to make the whole pax distribution system better but time is not permitting it right now.



* Added a new method for calculating / reducing the effect of flight that depart at the same time:

  - If you have several flights to the same destination (ie. same route-pair) departing at the very same time, or very near the same time, they are counted almost like a single flight.

  - The "minimum departure interval" depends on how large the passenger demand of the route is. But rule of thumb is that on lower-demand sectors (less than ~400pax/day) the route departure times should be always at least 60 minutes apart. If the route is more busy the allowed interval drops linearily all the way to 5 minutes. On a 1000 pax/day route you can have the flights depart approx every 35 minutes, and on 4000pax/day route the min. interval is 15 mins between two flights. The interval is calculated so that players can keep decent frequencies during daylight hours.

  - If the flights are too close to each others they are treated basically as a single flight (but with the total amount of seats available of course), so this leads to lower sales for those flights that overlap or nearly overlap on dep. times.

  - But from now on, never make two flights depart to the same destination at the exactly same time.


* Added chapter to Manual: 'Routes -> Opening routes'. Mainly information about various factors affecting passenger distribution. (to be enhanced later)

[Sami]

* AI aircraft brokers can now order new aircraft off the production lines.

   - At this time the functionality is limited to filling out the orders lines at the game world start up. The brokers will order planes of selected (popular?) manufacturers to fill the initial empty gap in the production line. The brokers will only order planes so that the player deliveries are not delayed (= last possible broker delivery is at the date equalling the minimum construction time of the new aircraft).

   - Later it will be expanded to brokers ordering also when game is running.

   - The ordered planes will go into normal broker's aircraft rotation cycle and will at some point appear on the used market.

[Sami]

* Added button to view the 'return sector' in Route Planning pages.

* Added two new interface options to Settings page.



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[Sami]

* Loading of airline information pages changed a bit; should load now faster.  (route map is only loaded when you click that tab open)

* Some changes made also to other pages where the 'tabs' feature is present. If you have any issues, just reload that particular page (or clear browser cache if that does not help).


* AI aircraft brokers ordering new planes feature has been expanded now. The brokers can now order aircraft when game is running also.

  - Orders are only places to slots not available to players; in other words slots that fall inside the "aircraft build time", and to slots within this time frame that are either vacant or cancelled by a player.

  - Aircraft are not ordered if there are not enough player orders for that fleet (in order to make the lines close automatically at some time).

  - The ordered planes will go into normal broker's aircraft rotation cycle and will at some point appear on the used market.



* Small changes to user account systems (not game related but posting it here anyway).

  - As mentioned in Terms of Service, user accounts expire if they have been inactive for more than 270 days (no logins at all). (this has been like this for long)

  - Now the users with Credits remaining (2 Cr or more) will receive an email 15 days before the account expires notifying them of this.

  - If they login; account expiration does not happen ... If not, account is closed automatically.

[Sami]

* Changes to loan terms; any new unsecured loans have now higher interest margins than before, and compared to secured loans. Max loan period is limited to 6 years instead of 10y; as taking out relatively small loans with very long payment period was rather easy on the airline's finances (the max. repayment time will be possibly tied to loan amount in the future).

* Removed old misfunctioning feature where loan could be taken out part-secured (loan terms did not work properly in this case giving too 'good deals'). Loan options are now unsecured or 100% secured. Any loans still remaining under this part-secured deal are converted to proper terms in running v.1.3 games.

[Sami]

Minor changes:

* Airline fleet listing now shows the total counts of own & leased planes.

* Airline 2-letter IATA code can now be only in proper format, meaning letter-letter, number-letter or letter-number, but not number-number.

* Pricing formula for used aircraft sold by brokers updated a bit.

* Route history data storage extended to 30 days (was 21d).

* Aircraft production list page made more compact.

* Added 'create route like this for the next day' link to route opening page when the flight is only 1x week. (= copies the route but to next weekday, saving you two mouseclicks)

* Scheduling page has better hover balloons for A & B check; links to changing of check time and to remove the check alltogether.

* Scheduling page hover balloons for routes also enhanced a bit.


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[Sami]

* Minor fixes and changes made over previous week.

* One larger change that is noticeable, concerning mainly B737 and A320 production lines: The allocation of prod.slots was not correct when prod.rate was higher than 30. This is changed and the slots have been re-allocated to proper positions. In practise this means that most of the orders at the end of the queue are moved a bit forward (2-3 months maximum, most of them much less), and that there are a bit more vacant slots available. (No orders have been moved backwards, and there is no "loss" for the players on this update/fix.)    ..just posting this since someone will surely ask.

[Sami]

Previews of changes to used aircraft pages. (implementation in 1-2 weeks)

Changes will include a new visual look to the pages and overhaul on technical aspects, and better filters including a search (similar to what is on airline listing pages). Will also implement the 'phone call' feature effectively limiting the number of times users can reload the used plane market in a game day.

The interface will have the same look as the new action pages of lease termination etc, and also clear warnings of some key items related to the planes.

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[Sami]

Preview of the upcoming changes to used market page. (aircraft filter box is not yet visible)

Basically such that each airline is allowed to have 7 'phone calls' to the market every game week (counter resets on Sunday evening). With each phone call the user can obtain an updated list of all available aircraft on the market at that particular point. User can use the phone calls at any given time during the week (if the last call has been more than 2 weeks ago the system automatically calls the market at the first page load).

After 'calling' the market the user can browse this results list in any way he likes and as long as he likes. He can sort & search the list and view the planes in there, this does not affect the call counter. Only after the presses the 'reload' (call) button the list is reloaded and he uses the call.



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[Sami]

The used aircraft market update is now complete. It has been delayed from the original target due to other commitments and some ongoing minor flu and other things.

First of all, in addition to previous previews:

* The 'reservation time remaining' counter is now 'live'. It displayes the actual time of reservation remaining without having to reload the page.

[Sami]

* The 'action pages' where you actually buy and/or lease the used aircraft have been also renewed. They are now visually the same style as the other aircraft action pages, and have various usability improvements over current page.

For example when you select a seating config or maintenance you are shown the total sum payable on order confirmation.

[Sami]

Additional information of the 'phone call' feature:

- each airline is given 7 'phone calls' to the market dealers in a week. This in effect means that you are allowed to query the market for aircraft 7 times during a game week. The counter resets on every Sunday evening.

- when you access the used market page, and the last 'phone call' data does not exist, or it is older than 14 game days the system automatically calls the market when the page is first loaded (using one phone call).

- when the market data is accessed you can freely browse it as much as you like. You may search, sort, browse, reload the pages as many times as you like without affecting the 'phone call' count for the week. In other words when you call the market you are given a list of aircraft currently available and you can browse the given list as much as you wish, and when you decide you can refresh the lists again by calling the market to get an updated list of the aircraft. So there is no reload checking or protection anymore as that is not needed anymore.

- to update the market listings simply click on the big orange icon at the top of the page. This calls the market brokers and updates your list of aircraft with everything that is available at that particular point. An advisable strategy for this feature would perhaps use no more than 1-2 phone calls per game day to update the listings.



Notes:

- the used a/c page listing does not currently have any filter options. You are provided with a search (added with an easy autocomplete function) that allows to search for models, manufacturers, engines etc. The filters will be added when time permits - since Jet Age starts in a few days including the filter feature at this point was not possible since the new market feature had to be put live before the new world starts. But consider the filters just temporarily disabled...



Additional rule changes:

- when airline starts, the first TWO aircraft he orders from the market are delivered instantly. vs. one aircraft currently. This allows an easier & faster start and is preparation for additional features for future.

- airlines are allowed to lease/buy up to 2 aircraft every day, but limited to max 3 per game week. (was 2/4)

[Sami]

- the used a/c page listing does not currently have any filter options. The filters will be added when time permits - since Jet Age starts in a few days including the filter feature at this point was not possible since the new market feature had to be put live before the new world starts. But consider the filters just temporarily disabled...

Filter system is now added.

[Sami]

Manual page for Used Aircraft is updated.
https://www.airwaysim.com/game/Manual/Aircraft/Used/

[Sami]

Data updates:

* LIMC (Malpensa) opening time updated

* Added Berlin Brandenburg airport (included a "known issue" of wrong ICAO code as two airports cannot have overlapping codes at the moment).

* Added following aircraft models

- Lockheed L-049 Constellation
- Lockheed L-649 Constellation
- Lockheed L-649A Constellation
- Lockheed L-749 Constellation
- Lockheed L-749A Constellation
- Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation
- Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellation
- Lockheed L-1049E Super Constellation
- Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation
- Lockheed L-1649 Starliner

[Sami]

* Used aircraft filters improved a bit, you can now select the "more than" or "less than" for each filter.

Please refresh the Used aircraft page once (= hit F5 or refresh button in browser) to activate the changes.

[Sami]

New feature:

* Income data is now available for different base airports.

  - The breakdown includes most of the data, but not all since all expenses cannot be focused only to certain base. But most of the operating related costs and incomes are visible between bases.

  - If you have only 1 base (HQ) you do not see anything new.

  - If you have bases, a [ + ] icon appears to income sheet page allowing you to expand the data. (there is not much data available yet on bases, but once time progresses you will see more)


Please note that due to the installation of new system the incomes from previous game week may not be correctly shown (data missing for 1-3 game days), but money to airline account has been properly deposited despite of that (in other words income sheet does not display all data for those days).

As usual you need to reload the incomesheet page once to get the functions working properly.

[Sami]

Minor changes and rulings:

* Rules: (.....) Alliance members are also forbidden to effectively transfer money between their member airlines by for example repeatedly selling and buying aircraft between each others. Normal one-time sales of aircraft is naturally allowed but transferring aircraft with the only intention of at the same time generating profits/money to one airline is considered unacceptable.   https://www.airwaysim.com/game/Manual/General/Rules/#Alliances

* Settings/rules/automatic checking: Alliance members may not sell aircraft between two airlines inside the same alliance if the price is higher than approximately "calculated value +10%" (or certain fixed sum). Money shuffling between airlines by making special deals of planes is not part of airline management... (you still can sell planes with lower-than-value prices with the limitations set by the aircraft selling window, but higher-than-value deals are closed between members in same alliance).

* Newly established airline may not immediately sell aircraft he has just purchased. There will be a mandatory period where the airline must own the aircraft before he can sell it to other airlines. This is to prevent newly created airline to buy cheap planes and then agree with an older/well established airline to buy that plane with a large premium in order to gain money. The limits of this setting are not disclosed as it's not necessary to know this since each airline should start by carrying passengers an not selling planes to friends anyway....

[Sami]

Minor changes to interface:

* If you have auto-registration of aircraft set for a base airport, and you move an aircraft from another base to it the aircraft will be assigned with this auto-reg format. This happens ONLY if the bases are in different countries (ie. reg does not stay the same between bases)

* Alliance aircraft selling rule is adjusted, dollar limit is removed and it's only governed by the % limit (approx 10-12%); see previous post for details.

* Range map and payload graph links re-added to used aircraft viewing page.

* Confirmation popup added when repaying loans manually.

* 'Last 4 weeks passengers' statistics removed. Added 'transported passengers year to date' and 'transported passengers previous year' stats for airlines; visible in airline info page as well as stats page. Since alliance score had the 4-week element, it is replaced by the 'passengers YTD' stat.

* On "scheduling -> add route to scheduling" page you have option to 'select all' routes that are visible in that window.

* On route management, possibility to flag multiple routes at once (checkbox to select and dropdown at page bottom)

* On scheduling page a "page selector dropdown" is available on the right corner.

* Route's detailed view page has the expenses/incomes area chart. The values are now changes so that we have income (tickets total), fuel expenses and new: total expenses (= fuel + enroute/landing/pax fees). This allows you to see easier the profit/loss days.


Larger changes:

* Transported passengers graph is visible on airline information page. Graph includes information on sales of all three classes. (note: you can click on the legend text to deactivate the view of certain class)

* Office -> transported passengers page is also updated with the same info.