And the time is running now ....

Started by Sami, January 10, 2009, 08:38:52 PM

dazz81

Quote from: Dazwalsh on January 10, 2009, 10:58:45 PM
im not doing so badly, perhaps a poor choice of routes for a 757 but i have another one joining in a few days too
i find the 757 almost unusable with its ridiculous turnaround time of 70 mins. almost same size A321 is 40 mins. I have attempted to get this turnaround issue resolved but so far nothing has been done.

Sami

It's being worked on... made already some technical changes required by the chage but the actual time changes didn't made it to the release date but will follow later on.

tofen

Damn, this was harder than I thought, a few $100k minus each month right now  :'(.
Seems it may had been a better idea to start with something bigger and maybe newer than I did. Maintenance is killing me right now.

I also did the mistake of having two aircraft delivered while I was asleep, didn't notice that you could delay the delivery.

Sami

It really doesn't matter, as the staff number raise only after they are put to routes. So the only 'loss' is that perhaps you need to do the A/B check if they expired.

tofen

Quote from: sami on January 11, 2009, 11:39:04 AM
It really doesn't matter, as the staff number raise only after they are put to routes. So the only 'loss' is that perhaps you need to do the A/B check if they expired.

Oh, thanks for that info. Then I suddenly understand why my staff costs raised so much that long after I actually got the planes.
Have to delete my post in another thread now.

dazz81

Quote from: sami on January 11, 2009, 09:44:48 AM
It's being worked on... made already some technical changes required by the chage but the actual time changes didn't made it to the release date but will follow later on.

fantastic news Sami. my game satisfaction will increase tenfold with this i assure u!

tofen

Crap. I had an aircraft that for some reason didn't get B-checked even if it was scheduled. So as the condition of the aircraft dropped, so did punctuality and company image. Now when I finally cached it, I'm at -10% :(.
I just home I have enough catch to survive until it turns upwards again. Just don't know how much money it's wise to spend on marketing.

Sami

tofen, checked your airline out of curiosity and I would suggest to dump that 20 year old F27 before it goes to C check, as it costs VERY much for that old airframe in that bad condition.

tofen

Quote from: sami on January 11, 2009, 09:07:21 PM
tofen, checked your airline out of curiosity and I would suggest to dump that 20 year old F27 before it goes to C check, as it costs VERY much for that old airframe in that bad condition.

Yeah, that's my plan to do. That plane was a bit of a bad beat, didn't think maintenance was that expensive.
There won't be a lot of time left on the lease when it's due for C-check, so it won't be that much money in cancellation fee.
I hope that I can turn the company around when I get my new F50, else I might put it in bankruptcy and start over with the lessons learned.


Sami

Note also that the 'automated C/D checks' are on by default from airline settings page (to save people from having expired maintenance), so you gotta turn that off or loose the plane before it to avoid making it go to the heavy maint.

tomahack

Well, i found that my error was probably not taken a loan at start, and chosen a boeing 216 pax. Now i going in debt and declare bankrupt.

Jps

Quote from: tomahack on January 11, 2009, 10:04:42 PM
Well, i found that my error was probably not taken a loan at start, and chosen a boeing 216 pax. Now i going in debt and declare bankrupt.
Yeah, taking a loan in the beginning can really help you, because you can either get a bigger aircraft, or two aircraft at once. However, a 216 Pax Boeing IS a good choice, if it's under 10 years old, its condition is over 70% and its fuel economy is bearable (something like 4000-5000kg/hour max, best if it's 3000-4000). And, when you have a plane like that, you shouldn't fly short 1 hour legs, but instead 1 as long a long leg as you can in a day (so you depart at 5 am for a destination like 3000nm away, and return in the evening at 23:30 or something). The longer the route is, the more the tickets will cost, and because the turn around time is quite long for bigger aircraft, your aircrat is in the air longer with 1 long rather than 2 or 3 shorter routes.

Echoco

Whoohoo, weekly profit for the first time ever, now if it'll hold and I can just hope the LF keep rising. Got 50% market share in my home airport and so far no competitions on my routes, it's beginning to pay to start out in the middle of nowhere.  ;D

tomahack

#33
Ok guys! 2 Bankrupt now ;)

But, i've found 2 BAD different ways to do bad management. :P

Now, i will start with only 100 pax plane ... Fair middle between 737-300 and Fokker 100

BAe 146 condition 91% I hope, it will give dividend for a great start! A bit expensive, but there was no 737 on market.

For now i have 19,000 profit, 60% load factor with newspaper nearby cities and 2 millions in bank.

The question is, WHEN i lease another one?

Unbornio

You lease another one when you have enough money for another.  8)
Beta Tester

Jps

You should lease another aircraft as soon as your first aircraft is making constant profit and you have money to get the same type of plane. If your 1st aircraft is not making profit, you should investigate to see, why it is not doing profit (ie. are there a lot of cancellations/delays, what's the route image, is there a lot of loose time in the schedule (airplane should fly all the time except short turn arounds from maybe 5 am to around 11-12pm. If it's long haul, fly a leg over night (depart 11 pm, arrive 6 am at the destination, and use the day to get back)). And to determine whether your aircraft is making profit, do not look at the overall profit, but at the direct profit the airplane is doing, shown in the Aircraft-page. If you just can't get the plane prifitable, you may have to change its route.
In the first few months, it's ok to have negative result, if you have a big marketing campaign and the airplane is profitable.
Once your 1st airplane is doing profit, get another airplane of the same type and with same engines, if possible (this will reduce the maintenance expences of both your planes compared to having 2 different planes, like 737 and fokker). And from then on, just repeat the process I've written so that all your aircraft are making profit and you get a new plne as soon as possible, for the more planes you have, the more profit you'll make and the faster you'll get another plane.

tomahack

Thank you vm JPS!

For the Commonality, i figured it out, when i saw 100,000$ expenses!
And guys, never lease plane below 80 :) exept if you have the money to do a couple of extra's. Theses planes ruin your image, and makes you bankrupt. :)

Jps

Quote from: tomahack on January 13, 2009, 06:10:46 PM
And guys, never lease plane below 80 :) exept if you have the money to do a couple of extra's. Theses planes ruin your image, and makes you bankrupt. :)
No, not a plane with that good condition. Only when the condition gets below 60%, it starts to affect you greatly. Usually it's preferable to buy planes with condition over 70%. Also, do not buy planes over 13-15 years old, as they too are expencive to maintain and may have more cancellations as same plane with same condition, but which is only 8 years old.

tofen

#38
I finally managed to make two weeks in the black ;D.

But now it is B-check week and all my money down the drain again :(.
Not sure I will survive the next couple of days

Must say that company image is everything. I have made my way back to +8 from -20 and it's a huge difference.
If it just wasn't for one stinking, old plane, I think I would have been a lot better of.

Seems that my B733 in game2 is doing much better at least, maybe I learned my lesson.