Is Fleet Commonality Really That Big of a Deal?

[Pike]

First off...I'm not new to the game.  I've always subscribed to the golden rule of limiting
how many fleet types you should use.

But in the past...and even now....I'm seeing airlines with 6+ fleet types.  In the BW game, the biggest
guy is based in China and currently has 54 aircraft spread out over 6 fleet types.  I keep waiting for the
balloon to bust, but so far he just keeps chugging along...growing, and with a 21+ million dollar company
value.

In my 10 minute peek at the DoM game...the biggest guy in that game must have something like 10 fleet types.

So....is fleet commonality only a killer in the start game?  Am I avoiding something I don't really need to?  

The BW game is in the 9-10th month....so maybe it just hasn't caught up to the guy in China yet.  But seeing the
same thing in more mature games makes me wonder what you guys think?

[swiftus27]

Oh no.... here we go again...

as the self-described champion of the need for commonality reform, I REALLY feel that there should be more penalties.  No reasonable airline would fly an MD80/737/A320 combined fleet.

[[ATA] Sunbao]

Oh no.... here we go again...

as the self-described champion of the need for commonality reform, I REALLY feel that there should be more penalties.  No reasonable airline would fly an MD80/737/A320 combined fleet.

Don't talk bad about SAS

[RushmoreAir]

Don't talk bad about SAS

With coach transatlantic fares upwards of $3k, they can afford it. 

[swiftus27]

Don't talk bad about SAS

They fly 7 fleet types (A320/A330/737c/737ng/MD80/CRJ)

[Sigma]

Fleet commonality penalties really are extremely significant.

However, so are profits in AWS.

As long as you have a business model that allows you to partake in extremely significant growth, you will do fine even with many different fleet types.

Since most people who are running many different types are doing so because they're partaking in exponential growth, it works out for them.

When an efficient airline can handily make ludicrously insane 70% net profit margins , even one with a lot of fleets can make large amounts of cash.

It's good advice to stay away from too many fleets because most people don't know how to game-the-game enough to get those 70%+ profit margins and have a hard enough time just making money as it is.  No reason to make it even harder on them.  But if you can play the game well enough to make plenty of profit, go ahead, fly all the planes you want.

[Pike]

Oh no.... here we go again...

as the self-described champion of the need for commonality reform, I REALLY feel that there should be more penalties.  No reasonable airline would fly an MD80/737/A320 combined fleet.

I'm with you.  Seems like I should, as a guy limiting himself to 2 types, be rewarded somehow...instead I am starting to think I'm gonna get left
in the dust.

I understand what Sigma means though....this guy is in China basically by himself, so there has to be some incredibly dense routes to fly.  Although...it is worth mentioning that he's flying to 50+ destinations too, so even his marketing costs must be huge.

So out of all this, I guess I shouldn't hesitate to go up to 3 fleet types with a 40 plane fleet?

[[ATA] Sunbao]

They fly 7 fleet types (A320/A330/737c/737ng/MD80/CRJ)

Also they have Fokker-50
Well to be fair it is the local sas company in the three countrys there have made their own purchases. But well i was talking 3 types for the same segment

The CRJ900 planes are an segment for the self used by SAS Denmark for domistic traffic and for the shorter less demand route out in europe.

Also SAS Denmark have alle the 320 series and the MD80 crappy planes.
And at last most of the 330/340 planes. The Boeing crap belongs to SAS Sweden and SAS Norway heh.

Im looking forward to se what new planes they are going to replace the MD and 737 planes with. Norway and Sweden will proballly mean 737NX but i think SAS Denmark are going til get there will and therefore more lovely Airbusses

[RushmoreAir]

Boeing crap belongs to SAS Sweden and SAS Norway heh.

*strained look on face*

trying . . . not . . . to turn . . . this thread into . . . a Boeing . . . vs Airbus . . . debate

[TFC1]

Also they have Fokker-50
Well to be fair it is the local sas company in the three countrys there have made their own purchases. But well i was talking 3 types for the same segment

The CRJ900 planes are an segment for the self used by SAS Denmark for domistic traffic and for the shorter less demand route out in europe.

Also SAS Denmark have alle the 320 series and the MD80 crappy planes.
And at last most of the 330/340 planes. The Boeing crap belongs to SAS Sweden and SAS Norway heh.

Im looking forward to se what new planes they are going to replace the MD and 737 planes with. Norway and Sweden will proballly mean 737NX but i think SAS Denmark are going til get there will and therefore more lovely Airbusses

There is nothing called SAS Denmark, SAS Norway or SAS Sweden anymore. It's all called SAS, and I expect it all to go bankrupt rather soon if they keep up their delightful business plan.

"SAS is bankrupt.

The bank closed down SAS today due to high debts and useless management. In addition, no fleet planning contributed to the airline's demise.

SAS was based at CPH, OSL and ARN at the time of it's closure, and operated approx 300 aircraft."

Oh yes, get this, SAS even has a 737-500 in which the switches in the cockpit are to be moved in the opposite direction of all other switches in the cockpit of their 737s. So much for fleet commonality.....

[knobbygb]

As a newbie I've been very careful about commonality.  Having just started my first "real" game (NAC) I decided to keep track of the costs as my 737's arrived. As you see from the graph, the first aircraft is a big hit but then the costs fall quite rapidly on a per-aircraft basis.  By the time the 6th 737 arrived the commonality costs are low enough to be of little more significance than if I had sixty of them! So, really, having a diverse fleet - so long as you don't have just one or two of each type isn't that much of an issue.


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[Maarten Otto]

so long as you don't have just one or two of each type isn't that much of an issue.

It is when you receive your 4th fleet group (like me) to replace something (ATR/Saab2K), crew training will sky rocket.

[GEnx]

To be honest, you guys.. Fleet commonality isn't that tight in real life either. Here are a few examples:

KLM
-A330
-B737C
-B737NG
-B747
-B777
-MD-11

Air France
-A318/A319/A320/A321
-A330
-A340
-A380
-B747
-B777

Lufthansa
-A318/A319/A320/A321
-A330
-A340
-A380
-B737C
-B747-400
(-B747-8)

British Airways
-A318/A319/A320/A321
(-A380)
-B737C
-B747
-B767
-B777
(-B787)

And to my knowledge, their profits are quite decent.

[Maarten Otto]

Decent profits at British Airways? From what planet are you?

[[ATA] Sunbao]

There is nothing called SAS Denmark, SAS Norway or SAS Sweden anymore. It's all called SAS, and I expect it all to go bankrupt rather soon if they keep up their delightful business plan.

Correct but they are still almost there own units with different wiches etc.

[GEnx]

Decent profits at British Airways? From what planet are you?

All airlines suffered from the economic downturn, so their current state is not really representative compared to AirwaySim (which, of course, does not take into account the economic state of the country the airline operates from). I think my point is still valid, even though BA is doing worse than the rest at the moment.

Edit: Also keep in mind that the UK economy does worse than the Netherlands', France's and Germany's.

[slither360]

fleet commonality tends to come bite you in the a** when there is a fuel spike.

[swiftus27]

To be honest, you guys.. Fleet commonality isn't that tight in real life either. Here are a few examples:

KLM
-A330
-B737C   (being phased out by end of 2012)
-B737NG
-B747
-B777
-MD-11

Air France
-A318/A319/A320/A321
-A330/A340
-A380
-B747
-B777

Lufthansa
-A318/A319/A320/A321
-A330/A340
-A380
-B737C
-B747-400
(-B747-8)

British Airways
-A318/A319/A320/A321
(-A380)
-B737C
-B747
-B767
-B777
(-B787)

I fixed that up for ya.

[type45]

I think the problem is size......I don't think the result is the same if you have 10 planes or 100 planes, even they both have 7 fleet groups at the same time

[L1011fan]

Its best if you can. I have stuck with mainly one company but had a couple from 2 other companies at the same time. The cost increase was marginal. Just don't over do it. I had no problems in that game.