Always wondered this about airlines with hundreds of aircraft

[Chaxterium]

Hello,

Just wondering. For airlines that have hundreds and hundreds of aircraft, do you seriously have to sit there and create routes and schedules for every single one? I've seen airlines with over 700 aircraft (and I'm sure there are companies with more) so that means that that person has had to create 700 schedules? and probably thousands of routes? That seems insane. Are there any shortcuts offered when an airline gets to that size?

Cheers,
Chax

[Talentz]

Just wondering. For airlines that have hundreds and hundreds of aircraft, do you seriously have to sit there and create routes and schedules for every single one? I've seen airlines with over 700 aircraft (and I'm sure there are companies with more) so that means that that person has had to create 700 schedules? and probably thousands of routes? That seems insane

Pretty much.

Are there any shortcuts offered when an airline gets to that size?

No... gets old real fast.

Takes alot time to create mega-airlines. Far too much time for the average AWS player. Besides, making it easier to manage would just up-end the game balance between casual AWS players and "pro" players...


Talentz

[LemonButt]

Typically the game stops being enjoyable at this point and turns into a job.  It is easy to run an airline when you have $50 million in weekly profit.  It takes a lot of mistakes to do anything critical to the health of an airline this big.  This is the reason I play the game without ever using Airbus or Boeing aircraft.  Alnost any idiot can have 700 B737 or A320 and be successful.  It is much harder to fly MD80 or CRJs.

[Chaxterium]

Well the thing for me is that I have no idea how people even get to those numbers to begin with. In all the games I've played I've never had a larger fleet than 12 aircraft. Now granted I've never started at the beginning of a game world but still it's just unfathomable to me that people can end up with that many aircraft.

[exchlbg]

Especially at the beginning of a game you have tons of free demand to fill and you will earn money quite quickly. And if you have a lot of courage you soon start buying aircraft, taking big loans, using owned aircrafts for even bigger loans. I never was that courageous because I just hate seeing big red numbers on my income sheet.Besides it is a lot of work ,too to keep the overview and schedule all those aircraft well.
It is also possible to do that way into a running game if you pick a good airport someone major just bk´ed.

[AndiD]

Since aircraft trickle in over time (2 in-game weeks between order of a used plane and arrival, max of 2 used planes on order, new aircraft can be ordered in bulk, but come in 1-2 an in-game month) it means that your airline grows slowly - effectively you will rarely receive more than two planes a RL day and have to open routes for them. So simply by playing every day you can grow over time organically, and without loans. I outlived a single competitor at KBWI who overextended and live happily ever after.

My current "maintenance" of my JA airline isn't that bad (111 aircraft, everything between 65 and 280 seats) - a few clicks each day can do the trick, so for example adjusting prices, a swap of schedules between a plane in and out of D check, a change of 2-4 routes between an old a/c type and a newly arrived one, maybe check load factors whether some routes could stand an additional plane or need eventually need a swap to a larger one, ...

I wouldn't want to have more than that, so my other airlines are mainly niche operations: a 15 plane regional airline out of Victoria, BC which is now in "auto mode" till the end of the NA challenge, an experiment with four D328s out of CYTZ and finally three Antonov prop antiques out of Vilnius from 1978 until the Iron Curtain falls, then conquer Europe by flying Yak-42s.

[ban2]

... then conquer Europe by flying Yak-42s.

Good luck with that one ;P

[AndiD]

Works pretty well atm, am even going to own half of my fleet in the end. Would be highly interesting to see that game go past 2000 - cause that's where fuel will hurt...

[pascaly]

My biggest airline was 234 aircraft. That took constant work, mostly during fleet renewal, especially as 734 and 738 aren't in the same fleet 

C and D checks just take care of themselves; you can't be too involved or you'd never log off.  Once it reaches a certain mass, the airline tends to run itself.  However, I'd think a 700-hulled monster would be hard to manage (even with my spreadsheets and notepads).

[Zombie Slayer]

My biggest airline was 234 aircraft. That took constant work, mostly during fleet renewal, especially as 734 and 738 aren't in the same fleet 

C and D checks just take care of themselves; you can't be too involved or you'd never log off.  Once it reaches a certain mass, the airline tends to run itself.  However, I'd think a 700-hulled monster would be hard to manage (even with my spreadsheets and notepads).

If you have serious competition, yes, tough to run. If you have conqured your HQ and bases, it easy. Sit back and watch the cash roll in!

[esquireflyer]

If you have serious competition, yes, tough to run. If you have conqured your HQ and bases, it easy. Sit back and watch the cash roll in!

Until you find yourself flying Concordes during a record fuel spike...

[brique]

Until you find yourself flying Concordes during a record fuel spike...

As Crazy Eddie says : 'We are all doomed!' ... some faster than others tho....