Navigation fees?

[theskygeek]

Hi Guys,
Just wondering why my navigation fees jump up so high?
eg:Navigation fees    wk 51 -$35 773 USD    WK 50 -$309 706 USD  WK49 -$60 872 USD WK 48 -$60 915 USD

You can see that for 2 weeks it was around $60K then jumps up to $309K then back again to normal ($35K is only halfway through the week). This keeps happening.

What is happening?

[takasito]

I think you planned new routes by getting slots which increased the total cost of navigation fees.

Kind regards,

[theskygeek]

thanks fsxtakasito

I did shuffle some slots around but only ended up with one extra slot and that is a very expensive slot at $240,000. it has also gone back to normal now. So there must be some other reason

Is there a fee for putting slots back into the pool? Are you charged for a slot when you first take it and don't use it (that is change the slot afterward).

[Daemus]

Are you charged for a slot when you first take it and don't use it (that is change the slot afterward).

When you schedule a route, it requires you to reserve slots. You pay for the slots at that time. If you didn't, slot hogging would be a whole new kind of problem because you could secure the slot for free. Some care is needed in choosing route days/times because you pay for slots right away and a mistake costs you whatever you paid for the slot(s) that you aren't going to use.

If you change a route to a different time, whether or not you pay another slot fee depends on how much difference in time there is between your original slot and the new one. You can see whether or not, and if so how much, you will pay again if you change slot times for a route on the route edit page.

[theskygeek]

Thanks Daemus,
That makes sense. If it is the case it was an expensive lesson. I will be working them out on paper first from now on.
Still it was $240K difference. Surly I did not change my mind that much. Well... wont be doing that again. At least my flights are now making more profit so will recoup it eventually.
Thanks again

[Daemus]

For working them out on paper, I just use notepad for basic schedule planning.

At the top as a reminder I just list my distance, seats, min/ideal turnaround, and the hour:minutes value of ideal turnaround.

So for example:

Distance - Y + C + F - Min Time / Ideal Time - Hour:Minutes Value of Ideal Time

5450 - 250 + 25 + 5 - 120 / 200 - 3:20

Below that I list A-Check. This is a 5 hour window set ending the minimum time (120 in this case) before my desired morning flight start time.

If I wanted to take off at 7 am, my A-Check would be listed as:

00:00 - 05:00

05:00 + 120 min turnaround (or 2:00) is 07:00.

From there I just start with 07:00 and after deciding on my first flight, list the end time when the flight arrives back at my home base.

Departure Time - Arrival Time
07:00 - 13:45

Then I just add my 3:20 (200 min ideal turnaround time) to the arrival time to get the takeoff time for my next route, in this case being 17:05 (13:45 + 3:20). I get ideal turnaround time from the minimum time where I can get it to list the text "Probability of delay due to too quick turn-around: ~ 1%" on the "Open new route" page.

I just proceed like that, adding a destination airport code to the end of a departure/arrival time, until I figure out the routes I want for my plane. A full notepad page, when completed, would look something like the following.

Code Select Expand

5450 - 250 + 25 + 5 - 120 / 200 - 3:20

00:00 - 05:00 // A-Check

07:00 - 13:45 KDTW

17:05 - 21:35 CYYZ

00:55 - 03:40 KATL // No Sun

That is just sample info (the KATL route wouldn't be possible for this plane using ideal turnaround time, for example). The // No Sun is because I want to run my A-Check on Sunday. When actually scheduling my A-Check, I would just set it 2 hours (the 1:20 min turnaround time following the CYYZ route arrival in scheduling. It makes it easier because after you set your routes in the schedule, you can just look at your gap for A-Check and quickly see the time the CYYZ route shows for departure available (would be 23:35 in this case).

I have had delays before due to maintenance going over its set time and pushing into the min turnaround, delaying the flight after maintenance. If maintenance lasts an extra 5 mins past its scheduled end time and you were set 00:00 - 05:00 for A-Check, your 07:00 takeoff would be delayed 5 minutes. If you push maintenance to the earliest time possible following the CYYZ flight, 23:35 in this case, your 5 mins extra maintenance still leaves you plenty of room to prevent a delay on your 07:00 departure.

Basic schedule planning using notepad has been working for me. You might have something better, but I thought I would post this in case you didn't have a system worked up yet and just wanted something simple that you just need a text editor to do.