Bancrupt - Gone down the drain

[Sanabas]

This is not a bad way to go; however, two points:

1) In Away Sim, direct aircraft purchase is difficult, but I agree that this is the way to go.  Unfortunately, the "Jet Age 7" scenario spans several generations of aircraft.  Newer aircraft have to to obtained.  If an airline purchases aircraft, after their usefulness, old aircraft can be hard to sell or dispose of.  I realize that  aircraft on the market are off the books, so to speak.  However, they can still be a drain.  Plus, it apparently takes a great deal of time and neglect to scrap an aircraft.

If you're going to use an aircraft for 7 years, it is cheaper overall to buy it than it is to lease it. Even if you wind up with a 12 year old plane you want to get rid of, you're still well in front long-term. You've also got the option to sell a plane cheaply if you're desperate for cash. When trying to get rid of your old plane, you can frequently sell it to the vendors for 80% of book value, far more than you'll get for scrap. So, if you can afford to buy a few planes, it is a good idea. But pick the ones you'll use long term. No point buying 707s in DOTM if you can buy 737s instead.

The downside is if you buy too many planes, you run out of cash to deal with things. Whether that be a fuel spike, heavy maintenance grouped together, or a new plane launching. 767 just launched in DOTM, I took out all the loans I could, spent all the cash I had, and ordered 37 of them. That left me with only a couple of million in the bank, and no loans available. So even with the billion dollar CV and A rating, if I unexpectedly lost money for a couple of weeks (say 2 x D checks + a new 737 & DC10 arriving that I had to pay for) my airline would be in deep trouble, especially if I wasn't online at the time.

2) One of the major attractions of the Sim (in my humble opinion) is to have fun experiencing the challenge of growing an airline.  

It is an even more difficult challenge for a sim creator to find the correct balance between providing the player (the paying customer) with a mission that has enough incentive to keep coming back and a realistic simulation that does not let every player dominate the world.  

I think, however, compared to other available airline business simulations, Airway Sim is just a little too challenging - for MOST players.    

How many times have the airlines of even experienced players fallen into bankruptcy?  

Hardly ever.