Why do aircraft numbers differ so much?

[GEnx]

Looking at the real world, I see huge differences in aircraft numbers based in numerous large hubs compared to AWS. For example:

British Airways (LHR): 239 aircraft
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (AMS): 113 aircraft
Lufthansa (FRA): 274 aircraft
Air France (CDG): 244 aircraft
Iberia (MAD): 116 aircraft
Japan Airlines (NRT, HND, KIX, NGO etc.): 168 aircraft
All Nippon Airlines (same as JAL): 168 aircraft

If you compare these to AirwaySim numbers.. These bases often operate airlines with around 600 or even more aircraft. How is this difference so big?

[Sigma]

A large number of reasons, really.

1>  Airlines in AWS are vertically-integrated, in that they don't have regional spin-offs and/or other subsidiaries or even competitors that account for other aircraft based at airports.  So some of the largest fleets in AWS are comprised of LOTS of little planes, which few major international airlines bother with operating on even remotely as wide a scale as we do here.

2>  Profit margins in AWS are preposterously huge.  This allows airlines exponentially more free cash flow to purchase exponentially more aircraft at little risk, something real-life airlines don't have the luxury of doing.

3>  By and large, there's significantly less competition in AWS than there is in the real-world. Most major hubs in AWS are dominated by a single airline, perhaps two.  Generally-speaking, even when an airline is the predominant player at a hub in the real-world, they're usually in the range of 50-70% -- here it's not uncommon to be 90-95% -- that's a lot more traffic you need to pick up, often times with larger planes (see point #1)

4>  With the game's bias towards frequency coupled with the need to secure slots (and unlike real-life, significantly less costs, risk, and time to acquire them) there's a massive rush to procure as many planes as possible to secure one's future and position in a major hub.

[MattDell]

A very good summary, Sigma.