Determining Shortest Viable Route for an Aircraft Type

[Branmuffin]

Hi all!  I have been having quite a wrestling match with my income statement in DOTM and have already BK'ed and restarted twice, hoping that the grass would be greener on the other side, as they say.  My strategy was initially to get some medium/long haul routes open because in previous games that's always where the money seems to have been.  But, as I've been realizing more and more, two shorter flights (for example) should in theory be more profitable than one longhaul (i.e., the combined cost of two tickets is higher than what I make from the cost of a single longhaul ticket).

In my airline's latest incarnation I am leasing a pair of Super VC10s from Boston and flying them across the pond to LHR and MXP, with a couple domestic filler routes to keep them in the air between longhauls.  They seem to be making more money than the thirsty 707's and 720's I tried using last time around, but my airline is still sinking deeper into debt as I write (yes, I've got marketing going, low delays, and my LF's are averaging the low 80-85% range).

My question is, if we accept that shorter flights are more profitable (per hour), what then is the minimum acceptable range for a route operated by a certain a/c type?

Obviously when we decide on a new fleet type it is based mostly on the longest routes that we plan to serve for a certain capacity range (for example, filling a 300-seat demand at 6000 miles requires an a330/340, but the same demand at only 2500 miles would be fine with some 757s).  But, what is the minimum range to look for when you finally acquire the first airframe and put it into service?  In other words, where is the line that keeps an operator from putting a 767 on JFK-BOS (I'm sure that frequency and RI factor into this as well)?

Hopefully my question makes sense; thanks

[Powi]

Basicly the shortest viable route is what your next highest range plane cannot fly. If there is no competition an A300B can make huge profits on 500NM routes, but when there is competition one would like fly much smaller aircraft on those sub 500NM routes. Some consideration can also be given to a round trip duration (including turn arounds). If an extra leg per day can be achieved, it might be worth to choose the aircraft model accordingly.

"Filler" and red-eye flights can be flown with any aircraft as long as they are profitable.

[JonesyUK]

To me it depends on turn time. Large planes are more profitable but generally have large turn around times. The more time a plane spends on the ground the less money it makes.

e.g. a 757 would be a great domestic plane, but it takes nearly two hours to turn. Thats at least 4hours a day  rather than 2 for a a321. So I use 757s on 3000m plus routes an a321s on short haul.

As larger planes are used long haul they tend to be more profitable rather than the route length making it more profitable

[Name_Omitted]

It's all about the load.  I made oodles of money playing the Japanese domestic airline with 747's.  I had over 50 of them, and don't think I had a single route over 1k.  The game got boring, I was making so much money.