In My opinion...

[Karl]

I like many aspects of AirwaySim, and I am enjoying my participation in the Beginner's World scenario.

In my opinion, however, it is too bad that the program is set up to favor around the clock usage of aircraft with seemingly no penalty for the high number of hours that this puts on an aircraft.  C are done on an annual basis regardless of the number of hours put on by the aircraft.  Plus, airlines are ranked on the high utilization of aircraft.

It seems to me that in the real world, depending on the location of the hub, most airlines run some red-eye flights.  International airlines certainly operate over night flights, but it also seems to me that most aircraft sit at airports over night. 

I know that some airlines - like America West - did operate night banks of flights from Las Vegas, but no more!  Who wants to fly in the middle of the night? 

I also know that wee hour flights in AirwaySim do not normally carry a full load of passengers.  Nevertheless, there is an AirwaySim advantage to running even low load flights in the middle of the night.

Too bad.  It is my choice, I know, but I mostly try not to schedule flights 24 hours a day. 

[madflava13]

I disagree to some extent. I frequently take transcons from the West Coast of the US to the East Coast (ie LAX or Seattle to DC or PHL). These flights are scheduled daily, and most times I've been on them, the flights are full. Obviously the demand is lower, so there are lower numbers of night flights, but there's certainly plenty of real world examples like this. Basically anything trans con will have redeyes, along with trips to Hawaii, Alaska, and, as you mentioned, TATL or Trans-Pacific.

[RGX]

All of the major airlines in the USA, except Southwest, operate red-eyes from the west coast to the east coast.  So I see nothing wrong with doing the same thing AWS.  It's a great way to keep some planes in the air during the night and make some money.  If you have a base on either coast, I recommend scheduling as many red-eyes as you can.

I do see other airlines in AWS run flights between 0100 and 0500 on short and medium-haul routes.  I tried this early on, and while the flights made a small amount of money, I decided not to stick with it as it's not very realistic.

[Karl]

Basically anything trans con will have redeyes, along with trips to Hawaii, Alaska, and, as you mentioned, TATL or Trans-Pacific.

I am not talking about red eye trans cons.  Every good airline flies some flights overnight West to East.

What I am talking about is scheduling flights to depart and arrive between 23:00 and 6:00. 

[Karl]

I do see other airlines in AWS run flights between 0100 and 0500 on short and medium-haul routes.  I tried this early on, and while the flights made a small amount of money, I decided not to stick with it as it's not very realistic.

Agreed!   

[LemonButt]

I am not talking about red eye trans cons.  Every good airline flies some flights overnight West to East.

What I am talking about is scheduling flights to depart and arrive between 23:00 and 6:00. 

There are many airlines operating routes that take off at 23:00 to 0:00 and 5:00 to 6:00, especially if you are at a very large or very small airport.  My local airport is KAVL and the first flight out is 5:28am and we're small potatoes.  There are 8 flights that took off minutes ago from KLAS between 23:00 and 0:00 including 4 flights (2 per destination) going to Detroit and Toronto (others are Boston, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Miami).  I just looked up KCLT and there are flights to Lynchburg, Branson, and Fayetteville scheduled between 23:00 and 0:00.  There is also a flight to Norfolk scheduled for 1:49!  There are about 100 flights leaving from KCLT between 4:00 and 5:00.

BTW there is a penalty for putting lots of hours on an aircraft.  The number of landings is the biggest factor in reducing a planes condition as this is where most of the wear/tear comes from.

[schro]

Remember that in beginner's world scenarios, fuel prices are significantly lower than other worlds of the same era. Therefore, it  is expected that you'll be profitable flying short hops in the dead zone.  Once you get into a non-intro game world, you'll see that 0000-0455 flights are very rarely profitable.