Time to pull the plug on Og Air?

[OggieMan]

I seem to have worked myself into a hole and there is no clear way to reverse the downward trend of my finances.  My 3 leased  turboprop aircraft are generating profits on their routes but expenses are overwhelming me and I am presently $4 million in the red and it keeps scaling down.  I cut back on some advertising to save some money but that did not help much.
My aircraft are basically small load/limited range so there are not too many markets I can serve from my KSEA base. (That may have been my problem from the start I now surmise).  I would like to obtain a larger aircraft with greater range/payload but doing so will cost me 5 times the current amount for leases not to mention associated expenses.

I am thinking it may be time to cut my losses and start anew with a different business plan but I am looking for suggestions for some factor I may have missed.

Thanks

[Ilyushin]

What you should look for:

- Find a base with potential. A small airport with a short runway isn't enough, at least try to find a Class 4 airport, preferably Class 5 if you can get one with plenty of slots, and few competition.
- Don't schedule aircraft between 24-05h.
- Don't edit ticket prices from their default values, even if there is competition (some might argue...).
- If your base has enough long haul demand, try to get a long haul aircraft with the start money provided (try to get something <15year). This is the quickest way to lots of money if you know how to schedule them.
- If not, start short haul in max. 180 seaters, depending on demand (don't go to <40 pax airplanes!).
- Try to keep the amount of fleet types as low as possible! This is really important.
- If there is no competition, a small marketing campaign will do in the beginning.
- Be cautious of any high fuel spike. If you have any gas guzzlers, replace them ASAP. You never know when Sami set the game to have a bad fuel spike.

KSEA is a base with lots of potential, it focuses on domestic so I would first start off with domestic flights. Try to get Boeing 737 or similiar for such flights, I'm sure there's enough demand in KSEA to fill plenty of those.

I hope I helped a little bit.

Ilyushin

[Pike]

Good advice there, though there's two things others have taught and that I've seen
borne out in game:

1. Flying between 2400-0500 is ok--if it's a route you are already flying and you need a clean-up route.  In other words...
let's say I'm flying between IAH-DFW.  I've got some competition, and there's a ton of demand.  Even though a flight leaving after
2400 and arriving before 0500 will get a demand penalty assessed for the late hours, you'll still have folks on the airplane, the route
will still be profitable, you'll boost your market share for all the flights on the route, and even a little profit is better than a plane just
sitting on the tarmac.  An even better strategy:  Fly a long flight east in the morning, a short flight in the afternoon, then fly a long flight
west overnight.  You should arrive to your western destination in time to be wheels up before 2400 on your way home.  Then you'd want to
make sure you're back on the ground just after 0500...I aim for 0505.   After awhile, you run out of destinations to make this work neat and
pretty....but while you have places to fly, this is the best way to get the most out of each airplane.

2.  Long haul to start is pretty hard, and not as efficient as what you can do on short haul routes.  It wasn't always this way, but from what I can tell now...you can make more money on a short schedule than you can on long haul, at least to start.  Plus, you can't afford two LH aircraft to start, which means you won't be able to offer daily service. 

This is all info that has been passed down to me, just in the last few weeks, and has been proven true so far.

[OggieMan]

Thanks for the suggestions. 
After some thought I am inclined to open a new airline still based at KSEA, but obtain up to 4 older jets (if I can afford them) in lieu of the turboprops for the increased capacity and fly them on longer domestic routes to more advantageous airports for passenger demand.  I am anticipating that the increased capacity will generate enough revenue to cover the leasing cost better than I have managed with my current enterprise.

Thanks again,

[Ilyushin]

Good luck! Let us know how it will progress.

[OggieMan]

Good luck! Let us know how it will progress.

Could be trickier than I thought.  I did some airplane shopping and there are no 737s available in the used market and the wait for new ones is almost a year.  There were also no good prospects for DC9 or MD80s as the ones available have C checks due within a few months.  A used 727 is a possibility but there are only 2 on the market and their high fuel costs make me hesitate to go that route.  So, I will keep looking and hope to get a new airline up before the game ends.

[murloc787]

There's usually new 727's and 737's every few hours (real time), although good value ones go quickly

[Ilyushin]

Could be trickier than I thought.  I did some airplane shopping and there are no 737s available in the used market and the wait for new ones is almost a year.  There were also no good prospects for DC9 or MD80s as the ones available have C checks due within a few months.  A used 727 is a possibility but there are only 2 on the market and their high fuel costs make me hesitate to go that route.  So, I will keep looking and hope to get a new airline up before the game ends.

Oh no worries, those 727s aren't THAT bad...