Hi Sami,
I would like to see an option that, when ordering new aircraft, the player is able to select a checkbox that ensures that the original planned delivery date will not shift when other players cancel orders. I know that this has been discussed before but I am not able to find any updates on what the status is (if any) or if you are planning to make any changes to this area of the game or not.
I have tired to plan as best as I can to reduce the financial impact when modernizing my fleet from B707's to B767-200ER's. We are talking about approx 50 aircraft.
After ordering the aircraft, I create a spreadsheet with the expiry dates of all my existing a/c, and an opposing column with the planned delivery dates. Considering that the delivery dates are as much as 3 years away, I am able to manipulate the lease renewal of my existing fleet, using increments of 1/1.5/2/2.5/3 years in order to closely match the delivery schedules of the new aircraft. Obviously this degree of planning takes some time and effort which is ok, because I then goto the existing fleet and actually make (commit) the extensions of existing leases accordingly.
The problem I face now, is that the advance of delivery actually has the 50 aircraft arriving between 1 and 9 months early!!
In previous discussions about this, some players suggested just keeping the aircraft and putting them on other routes; this is OK if there is sufficient demand on other routes available, but there is not. So I will be faced with either terminating early or running (these unneeded aircraft) at a loss until I can terminate the lease without too much of a financial hit. Either way, it is going to waste large amounts of cash.
I accept that in the real world, there are also fluctuations in the delivery schedules of new aircraft, but surely not to the extent that we face in the gameplay here in AWS at the moment. I know the circumstances are not the same, and in real life there are not as many bankruptcies as there are in AWS, but then surely we should compensate for that and allow users the option for a fixed date for delivery.
If you allow this option, then there is the question of what to do with all the "extra manufacturing slots"; I think that these aircraft could be made available in a separate list where the buyers have the option to take that slot with the same limitations that they would have had if they had made the original order (ie: they accept the original choices made by the original buyer). There may be players that would prefer to get their aircraft earlier and not opt for the "fixed delivery dates". Either way, the aircraft will surely get absorbed into the market anyway and this will allow for better planning for those who play this amazing game in that way.
Sami, I look forward to your thoughts on this request/issue.
Best Regards
Richard