What am I doing wrong? AKA help a newbie

[rudel.dietrich]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.  I am playing my second game and really love this sim.  I loved the aerobiz games for the SNES back in the day and my lobe of those led me to this.  However, this game is has a super steep learning curve. 

I went bankrupt pretty quickly in the demo world but had enough fun so that I bought tokens and joined the beginners world.  I used a lot of the mistakes I had made in the demo world and made a new airline that was much better.
I even managed to have one that was making a tiny weekly profit.  However, I had about 1 million USD and decided to expand again to a third route.  This cost about half a million and I was expecting to keep making my tiny weekly profit.  It was not to be, after a month and a half of letting the third route run the LFs are decent but my airline had bleed out the rest of it's money and will probably go under soon. 

Rather than list all of the details of my airline, which would take a lot of typing, would someone be so kind as to take a look at my airline and tell me what my faults are?  It is a tiny airline and should not take too long to glance at.
I did some things right, I have commonality and I have routes that people want to fly.  My LFs are good except on my new route which is still becoming noticed.

I think I know one of my errors right off, I used TU-134As.  I made the newbie error of not taking fuel burn into account.  They looked like attractive planes to my newbie eyes with their decent capacity and cheap cost (that was their biggest attraction along with their good condition).
I also wanted to break out of the mold and not use Boeings or Airbus or DC like everyone else in the game.  I guess I should have taken the hint when no one else used Tupelovs 

So here is my plea for help.  And before anyone mentions it, yes I have read the manual and yes I have read the stickies at the top of this forum.  I picked up some good information from them but I still fell short.
And I am not looking for a cheat guide or a step by step guide on how to create a successful airline. 
Just some general pointers about my specific airline and where I went wrong.

Thank you very much in advance for any help.
Rudel

[JonesyUK]

When starting a new airline fly uncontested short routes so you can get as many flights per day as possible, generally 500nm or less.

Use the largest aircraft possible on these uncontested routes and you'll have a license to print money. (100 + Pax planes IMO)

Stick to one fleet type if possible, especially until you are established.

Fly as few different routes as possible to keep marketing costs down. (5 flights to one destination is more effective than 5 flights to different destinations if demand is high enough)

I assume you read this: https://www.airwaysim.com/forum/index.php/topic,9211.0.html?

Which era is the game?

[rudel.dietrich]

When starting a new airline fly uncontested short routes so you can get as many flights per day as possible, generally 500nm or less.

Use the largest aircraft possible on these uncontested routes and you'll have a license to print money. (100 + Pax planes IMO)

Stick to one fleet type if possible, especially until you are established.

Fly as few different routes as possible to keep marketing costs down. (5 flights to one destination is more effective than 5 flights to different destinations if demand is high enough)

I assume you read this: https://www.airwaysim.com/forum/index.php/topic,9211.0.html?

Which era is the game?

Early 90s and yes I read the Newbie guide.

I guess another of my mistakes is I picked a home airport with a lot of competition and one of the best airlines in the beginners world.  It made 136,000,000 pre tax income.  It makes me wonder why is it still allowed in the beginners world....
But that is a question for a different thread

However, even though there is a lot of competition, my LFs are not a problem.  They average 90% on my Dulles-Atanta route.  85% on my Dulles-Chicago route and 65% on my new Dulles-Dalles route which is less than two months old. 

I am doing a good job of getting passengers, I am just not making any money.  I need to cut my expenses down.

Here is my specific airline.  I am not sure how much info a non CEO can look at but here is the link.
https://www.airwaysim.com/game/Info/Others/Airline168/

Maybe someone can spot what I am doing wrong

[Sigma]

Unfortunately, Rudel.  We cannot see your airline unless we're in the same Game World as you, and anyone with the experience to help you isn't likely to be in the Beginner's World since that's against the rules.  And even in the same world, you really can't see much -- just what planes you have and routes.  No idea on what your expenses look like, pricing, plane utilization, etc.

Maybe to start, if you know how, a screenshot of your Monthly Income Statement and your Aircraft Schedule screen.

[TerryMcKenna]

Hi Rudel, You are not the only one.
I'm a relative newby as well and I have found it very hard to gain a foothold in any of these games.
It would seem that you have to get in early at the start of a game to secure good slots at major airports.
It is also difficult to go with anything 'exotic' other than 'normal' Boeings and Airbuses. The costings just don't seem to work out.
This late into the game most routes are maxed out so you have no show of setting up a sizable airline, with the only option being a small number of midsize(B73/A32/MD8) aircraft flying limited secondary routes. You will need to ensure that these routes are extremely profitable quickly otherwise you will be caught out when the lease payments kick in and the $1.9 M C checks are required within the first year.
You cannot go the small regional way either as the games costings do not allow for the use of smaller aircraft (less that 50 seats) from smaller airports. You will be crippled by huge staffing levels and maintainence costs. Their limited profits also cannot sustain lease payments or C checks.

At this late stage in all the games I have decided to pull out and save my credits until a new game world opens.
My advise then would be to start up on day one, lease as many smaller cheaper aircraft (50 seaters) as you can in order to secure as many slots as you can and then build from there.

[rudel.dietrich]

Unfortunately, Rudel.  We cannot see your airline unless we're in the same Game World as you, and anyone with the experience to help you isn't likely to be in the Beginner's World since that's against the rules.  And even in the same world, you really can't see much -- just what planes you have and routes.  No idea on what your expenses look like, pricing, plane utilization, etc.

Maybe to start, if you know how, a screenshot of your Monthly Income Statement and your Aircraft Schedule screen.

I didn't know if screenshots were allowed or not.  

Here are the three that I think people need to see.  


Edit:  Those did not not come out all that well.  To better see them, you can right click them and copy and paste the URL to your browser and go to my photobucket and see them in hi-rez

[rudel.dietrich]

One last thing, my fleet is three Tu-134As all have 85% condition 
The monthly lease on them is between 95k-125k 

I think that might be one mistake I made, they are fuel eaters.  But they were cheap so I thought I had made a good choice.

[Frogiton]

I don't know much about the T134 but I'm pretty sure it's the size of a 737. Anyways, your spacing your flights way too far apart, it looks like you have 4 to 5 hour spacing between flights where you should only have about 30 minutes spacing. You'll easily be able to put a whole route more on each day on each plane. Plus the T134 might be good for now but it is a really inefficient plane.

[rudel.dietrich]

I don't know much about the T134 but I'm pretty sure it's the size of a 737. Anyways, your spacing your flights way too far apart, it looks like you have 4 to 5 hour spacing between flights where you should only have about 30 minutes spacing. You'll easily be able to put a whole route more on each day on each plane. Plus the T134 might be good for now but it is a really inefficient plane.

30 minute turn arounds would lead to about a 40% chance of delay.  And I don't see how I can squeeze another flight in.  I have tried. 

[JonesyUK]

Your planes are seriously under utilised. You should try to fit 4 flights per day in rather than 3 (extra 33% income). I'm not sure what the turn times for T134's are, but if it's 60 mins then you need to leave 60 mins between each flight too (not the 2-3 hours it looks like you have now).

Your maintenance and fuel costs are quite high due to the russian planes. If you don't want Boeings or Airbuses try BAC 1-11's, F100's or MD-80's.

[schro]

1. You are takign off and landing between 12am and 5am. Thats a dead zone for travellers.
2. Your loads are good but your plane's economics suck for the number of pax carried (looks like 60).
3. You aren't making enough income per flight to pay for the fixed costs of running shop. In the early 90's, 727-200Advs should be plentyful and carry 100 more pax per flight with about the same out of pocket costs.
4. Get to 4 flights per day if at all possible. Find shorter flights to mix in, and aim for a 10% chance of delay between flights.
5. Schedule your maint for lower demand days (Sat/Sun).

[Sanabas]

Hi Rudel, You are not the only one.
I'm a relative newby as well and I have found it very hard to gain a foothold in any of these games.
It would seem that you have to get in early at the start of a game to secure good slots at major airports.
It is also difficult to go with anything 'exotic' other than 'normal' Boeings and Airbuses. The costings just don't seem to work out.
This late into the game most routes are maxed out so you have no show of setting up a sizable airline, with the only option being a small number of midsize(B73/A32/MD8) aircraft flying limited secondary routes. You will need to ensure that these routes are extremely profitable quickly otherwise you will be caught out when the lease payments kick in and the $1.9 M C checks are required within the first year.
You cannot go the small regional way either as the games costings do not allow for the use of smaller aircraft (less that 50 seats) from smaller airports. You will be crippled by huge staffing levels and maintainence costs. Their limited profits also cannot sustain lease payments or C checks.

At this late stage in all the games I have decided to pull out and save my credits until a new game world opens.
My advise then would be to start up on day one, lease as many smaller cheaper aircraft (50 seaters) as you can in order to secure as many slots as you can and then build from there.

It's not that late at all in beginner's world. There are heaps of big airports sitting basically empty. Heathrow is one of them, I was planning to open a base there until I just learned the hard way about the restrictions on new bases, i.e. not in the top 20 overall, and still just Sapin, the whole EU isn't open to me. I'm now enjoying the challenge of trying to figure out a way to use all the planes I ordered for that expansion on flights around europe. I'm learning plenty for when I can start in a new, bigger world.

30 minute turn arounds would lead to about a 40% chance of delay.  And I don't see how I can squeeze another flight in.  I have tried.

I looked at the stats page, and it says your planes are in the air for less than 12 hours a day. I just tried route planning from my own base to 3 airports at a similar distance, and including a 60 minute turn-around at each end for ~1% chance of delay, I need 5h 50, 6 h, 8h 40 for your 3 flights. So the two shorter routes fit perfectly with 4 flights a day, and you could easily make the third plane fly 2 longer routes + a 5th flight to one of the other two airports. That's 3 more flights a day, even if they only make ~4k each on average, worse than any in your screen shot, that's an extra 84k a week income. I'm also guessing you're discounting your prices to get those LF? Since all 3 routes you're on have plenty of over-supply.

If I was you, I'd plan my new airline before bankrupting, find a decent sized airport that has plenty of space, Heathrow is one and I'm sure there are heaps more. The other two airports that serve Washington seem to be nearly empty, and about the same size as Dulles. They have ~850 a day and ~1250 a day demand to Chicago, and no competition on the route. Then start over in one of those, making sure to keep planes in the air more. I reckon it'd be very doable flying T134s, looks like they do ~550 NM routes in 6 hours, including both turnarounds. There seem to be heaps of 200+ passenger, <550 NM routes sitting empty in Europe. Probably in the Us too, but I didn't look there while plotting for my new base.

[rudel.dietrich]

I bankrupted myself and I am going to start over tomorrow using the advice in this thread.  Maximize my planes by running them 3-4 times a day and watching for fuel burn.  I also found a few European airports that are large but do not have any airlines based at them.
I wanted badly to try Dubai but it has a large established airline based at it. 
I will instead try an airport much closer to home

Maybe I can try Dubai when the game world starts over.  Thanks everyone for the help so far and by all means keep it coming.