route schedule

[kados]

Could someone who played the beta give the newbie a few tips?

I have 2 routes in mind, im not sure which one would be the best. Aircraft: Fokker F.28

route 1. Mel- Syd. Very high demand but there are already 3 airlines running that route. Seems to have a higher per mile $ than Syd-BNE, but should be very competative. SYD airport slots may become highly valuable later on in the game, so better to get them now before they become unavailable?

route 2. Mel- BNE. High demand but no airlines running the route. For me (a newbie) seems like the way to go as there is no competition atm. But default ticket price a little lower per mile than SYD.

Any comments/suggestions would be very appreciated.

[gustavoramos]

Hey Kados, Could not do this, but as you aren't a direct competitor to my airline, let's see! 

First of all, as you said, SYD (YSSY) airport slots may be very valuable in the future, this is true, a player who knows how to schedule its flights in a correct way, wins this game... .

I think these two routes would be a very good option to start with your F28, but as close airports, it woldn't be THAT practical, to flight with Y class only. We all know that Y doesn't make major profit, thus C and F are very profitable. IMHO, you should in the future start to flight jets with 100+ seats, to make real money.

At the start, it will be hard to fill the plane, but don't be worried. Start a good Route-Specific marketing campaign for that routes and in +- 6 months (game time, course ) it should be with good LF. Adjusting the ticket price is a good idea, but don't be too agressive, because it doesn't make much difference.

This is my little "secret". Hope it helps you. If you have further doubts, contact me!

Cheers and Good Luck

Gustavo Ramos
North American Airlines

[Unbornio]

The best route would be route 2 as MEL-SYD will get congested and overloaded in 2 days or so. And the ticket price depends largely on the distance. Do not try to fly to those big cities all the time. It isn't always wise. Go for the smaller routes that can yield more profit than heavily congested big-timers like MEL-SYD. Even Brisbane is one of those big-timers. 

Don't worry about the slots. They won't run out  . I think the slots also depend on how many players... (needs clarification from sami.) But I'm still 100% sure there will be slots for you.

[Dazwalsh]

yeah a good way to milk SYD-MEL would be with 150 seater jets flying 4x daily, configured for Y and C (i have never tried F class). the F.28 is a good start up choice to get the route image up and then upgrade equipment when you can.

As an example i had 4 Airbus A320's running 4 frequencies each day on the DUB-LHR which has similar sorta distance and good demand. the configuration was 12C and the rest Y and they were making over 100,000 a day each. this of course takes time to establish the market share and route image and my profits started out in the 40,000 mark with DC9's.

Slots also play a big part when competition gets stiff, so the more frequencies help there too. Your right, it may well become very slot constrained in the game down the line so hold onto your slots as best you can. Morning and afternoon slots especially seem to give the best return.

i would say go for both routes, MEL-SYD first as this will become a bread and butter route for you. as Gustavo recomends make sure you monitor the ticket prices and if the load factor is below 40 percent in the first few days lower the ticket prices a bit, i normally reduce prices by 10 percent each time until the load factor recovers.

[Unbornio]

Or yea, do what Dazwalsh said. Create a monopoly on SYD-MEL. Did that last time on my AMS-DXB running with 4 A300s and 1 747  .