More on regional airline success

[ekaneti]

it has been discussed on how difficult it is to run an airline with regional aircraft.

I have two regionals running. One in MW and one on ATB2. The ATB2 is in Fiji and making 400k per week. 7 planes total 5 EMB-120 and 2 S2000s

My other regional is doing poorly in MW. I have 2 SF3s in Japan, making basically 0k per week.

I am following the same strategy in both games. Short flights, high frequency, no price discounting, minimal ads,

What is one doing well and the other faltering. JAPAN!!!!

A regional can be successful in a low wage country. In 1991 I am spending 55K per week on wages in Japan for 74 employees or $743 per employee per week. In 2002 in Fiji I am spending 170K per week for 470 employees or $358 per employee per week.

So picking your country is all the difference is making a regional succeed.

[psw231]

 No, there are more factors than just different countries. You have 7 ac in fiji and only 2 in Japan, 7 ac  of the same class should always make more than 2. With 7 ac you also spread the amount of staff required per ac around much more which gives lower costs per ac, and for marketing, maintainance, commonality, and maybe others. Many other factors could also play a role, what are your LF's in each game? What are your fuel prices in each game? How many routes do you fly in each game? 2 ac on 2 routesi n Fiji would be worse than 7 ac on 2 routes in Japan, I didn't look to see if this is what you are doing but all factors would have to be the same to come to a true conclusion.
  For a regional airline to be successfull no, or limited competition is required. You must also fly fewer routes at higher frequency (2 routes 7 times each rather than 14 routes 1 time each) and only expand after filling each routes demand.
All of this has been posted many times by many people, I would hope that we are all searching and then reading the forum as there are soooooooo many helpful posts in it. Any newb's should read Swiftus' Guide For Newb's and spend as much time reading posts as they do on thier airline. It worked for me and it should work for most of us.

[GDK]

Yes, there are too many factors affecting our airline's performance but I think ekaneti is trying to emphasize on the effect of the selection of hub for a regional airline.

Of course it will be difficult if you selected an island which is too far from mainland. If all the route are beyond 1000nm but with demand of below 100, then you couldn't fly props. Regional jets, however, need more skill to handle it...

Just like what he mentioned, different in wages also affect us. The economy in the game is modeled differently for each region (also different for each country if I'm not mistaken). That means the same thing will cost differently at different places and if you have chosen the most expensive place, then it will be a harder game. Staff salaries is only part of it. Because of the shift system, you will need maybe 30 workers for an aircraft that needs 10 people to fly it. It is a painful bill for every new aircraft entering your fleet. Other than that, office rental and airport slot prices are important too.

[RushmoreAir]

My EC2 regional airline in Romania does quite well with 16 a/c, 14 EMB-120s and 2 ERJ-140s.

[auerbacs]

wait, is Ekaneti really right that wages are different in different countries?

[Sami]

wait, is Ekaneti really right that wages are different in different countries?

Of course. Labo(u)r in Germany is more expensive than in ... Vietnam. etc.


My 5x ERJ-145 airline is having big problems in Norway as that's one of the most "expensive" countries staffwise..

[type45]

there's another problem in Japan I think: curfew

most of the airport suitable for regional planes will close at 20-21 everyday(usually including your base ), some 18 and some 22-00 if you are lucky enough

but many airport in Japan the demand should be good for regional airlines, or even a bit too big for regional planes in 1990s, not limit to those big 5 airports

[MattDell]

If you want to make money off regional flights, don't fly further than 250nm away.  Anywhere past that and you're losing money.  Anywhere closer and you'll just make more.

My most profitable planes are the routes I fly with mediocre demand and are within 100nm.  50-100nm is a gold mine, but difficult to find.

I'm making just shy of $2M/week and I'm not exactly in a "low-wage" country, as you put it.  My primary base is London City.

Also, under no circumstance should you try to fly a regional airline with 2 a/c types.  And definitely not jets.  You've gotta keep your maintenance costs spread out over 1 a/c type and your fuel consumption as low as absolutely possible.  I run 62 DHC-8's in ATB and I make sure to run the low-range versions since they save me 20kg of fuel/hour. 

Take a look if you want to see how I'm doing it.

-Matt

[GDK]

Very nice regional carrier there, MattDell.

[coopdogyo]

I have run airlines with hundreds of Saabs and Q400's. Once you have enough planes you can max out their range and still make a profit because the added costs are so low. The best planes are ones that fly above 300kts and carry more than 50 people. The Saab is great because it only had 1 FA for 58 PAX and the Q-400 is great cause it is pretty much a jet but has about half the costs. Just fill all the demand early. Also you can usually beat out any competition you find. For regionals it is good to be some where with very strong domestic demand or short haul demand. So the United States, Europe, and places like China are good places to have an airline. I have also found that regional airlines are very tough to run before 1990 or so.