Recipie for a perfect airline

[darthluke100]

Let me start.
DON'T BUY A FREGATIts c word

[Gwaneum]

Or any other old high-maintenance plane. Forget the BAC 1-11, the Dassault Mercure, or the IL-62.

My next game plan will probably look like this, if I decide to return for another game:

• Start at a nice hub, like Hong Kong, with tremendous demand.
• Lease a dozen planes and keep them on a few key routes rather than many low-demand routes (route image goes up faster, and less advertising is needed).
• Purchase my leased planes as the leases expire.
• Keep fleet commonality high. Decide on one type and stick to it. 737s and A320s are the best but the MD-80/90 has shorter wait times (and if purchased rather than leased, the Mad Dogs can still work out quite nicely).
• Older models, like the 727, may work out quite well if I pick younger, better examples. In other words, if the route is right, I'll fly a 727 that's 12 years old and requires $700K for a C-check, but not one that's 20 years old and requires $1.5M for a C-check (which describes my first 727 - had to dump it before the C-check and pay a substantial termination fee). In any case, I'll lose the 727s as soon as I can afford to order newer planes.
• Leases should be only for minimum periods. I want to buy my planes as soon as possible.
• I'll even buy new planes if I can - though leasing new planes may be unavoidable, in order to avoid being pushed farther back in the production queue.
• Make the smaller planes (737/A320/MD-90) my mainstay. They require less time/money to maintain. I won't bother with regional jets as they are not cost effective - until the larger regional jets (CRJ-700 and higher, E170/E190) are available.
• No props. They don't have much capacity/speed/range, and while they are fuel efficient, maintenance kills. And props that I end up owning often get leased out to cut-rate airlines that easily go bankrupt. I owned four ATR 42-300s that kept coming back to me after the lessees bankrupted; one of them came back at 26% condition, and even though it was only 13 years old, I was more than happy to scrap it and forget about it, even at significant financial loss.
• Only after I have a very good sized operation with these planes will I start ordering 767s and larger. Again, the goal is to own as many as possible.
• No 747s (despite the very short wait times from 1997 on) unless I can buy them out fast, and fill them to capacity. You'll never see me lease 27 747s again. Even if I can justify a 747, I'll probably look for a 777 instead.

[blair21088]

I don't have a loot to add except to say DO NOT lease new aircraft larger than a 767. It is cheaper to take out a loan than pay 1.5 million + to lease a big jet and the leasing costs will mkae all but the highest demand routes impossible to turn a profit on. I have 9 777s leased and I'm making less than 100k per week with them because of the leases.

[elleana]

I don't have a loot to add except to say DO NOT lease new aircraft larger than a 767. It is cheaper to take out a loan than pay 1.5 million + to lease a big jet and the leasing costs will mkae all but the highest demand routes impossible to turn a profit on. I have 9 777s leased and I'm making less than 100k per week with them because of the leases.

Not true, I have leased 747-400s that make 1m+ in profits a week. Just have to fly them to the max.
That being said, of course if you can afford it buying >>> leasing.