Cargo questions

[cdobrosemd]

Since cargo is now in the final phase of being added to GW2 I have some questions.  First off, what does "potential demand" mean?  Is this part of the city based demand system?  So you could possibly draw this business to the indicated airport if you start flying a route or another airport with another player nearby could steal this demand if they start flying a route out of the other airport?

Also, can you make any money flying cargo?  It seems like the demand is really low.  I briefly played the cargo challenge game when cargo first launched and it seemed that demand was so low you could not make any money flying cargo planes so I quite that game world because it seemed like the cargo feature was still in the development stage but now its been introduced into the main gameworld I am playing and the cargo demand still seems very low.  I am still waiting for the income to start on cargo and have opened one cargo only flight with one of my passenger planes to see if it can turn a profit but of course it cannot carry heavy cargo.  Is is worth it to buy some cargo only versions of my current fleet aircraft to start running heavy cargo?  Also how do you find where the cargo demand is?  When you try to open a new route it seems like the possible destinations are listed in order of pax demand.  Do you just have to click through all those airports to try to find where the demand is?

[spiff23]

Hi I have a related question for those already in cargo games...what's the merit of combi planes?  I ordered some D.C.-10 combis in anticipation there'd be big demand on international routes, but now thinking I'm getting a 1/2 capacity pax plane that will go empty in the back.  I also am surprised they don't have capacity for heavy cargo as I thought that was the way the combi works...front a pax cabin and th back able to fly a big payload. ...anyway, I have time to change my order to D.C.-10 pax and am leaning that way eyeing demand, but would welcome thoughts from other games that are further along than GW2 which is ATM 1982 (I.e.  Keep the combis cause cargo picks up in the 1990s type thoughts or definitely go pax and just take the extra belly hold cargo allotment)

[Luperco]

Do you just have to click through all those airports to try to find where the demand is?

This is the only question I can answer to.

Yes. This is the AWS way to search for demand: click on every route. 

[logaritm]

I'm wondering how time time off day affects cargo demand, is it affected at all? like can i schedule cargo routes in the middle of night with no effect on demand? or does cargo like routes that arrive very early morning to simulate how the cargo gets repackaged and sent out with the early morning cargo traffic?

Do you just have to click through all those airports to try to find where the demand is?

I think you can assume some routes, like in Sweden Arlanda, most of the "worthwhile" cargo routes is to harbour cities, but I'm not sure on the much longer routes

[selvala]

Cargo does not care about time of day, although flights taking off at the same time or close to one another still seem to incur a penalty.

It's definitely worth it to fly cargo. Passengers should still be your primary focus but it's a nice secondary income stream, and a way to use those middle-of-the-night slots, too. I wouldn't bother with combi planes, better to have dedicated cargo planes. Furthermore if you *did* want to build a cargo-only airline, basing in the US might be your only real option.

Lastly, potential demand seems to slowly flow towards actual demand as you fly the route. Don't expect actual to ever reach potential demand if you're based somewhere like, say, Newark, where multiple busy catchment areas overlap, although it could be possible at an airport with no other busy airports around it.

[Jetsetter]

So I could have 100lbs of potential demand of cargo at Newark, but it would be up to me to be familiar with the approximate catchment area, look at JFK and LGA to see if supply already is up to 100lbs, and then I could potentially schedule an EWR flight? Seems kinda dumb that I can't see catchment area supply if I can see catchment area demand.

Cargo has been a horrendous exercise in GW1 so far, except where it is padding the bottom line of my pax planes.

[JumboShrimp]

So I could have 100lbs of potential demand of cargo at Newark, but it would be up to me to be familiar with the approximate catchment area, look at JFK and LGA to see if supply already is up to 100lbs, and then I could potentially schedule an EWR flight? Seems kinda dumb that I can't see catchment area supply if I can see catchment area demand.

You do see the catchment area demand in "Potential Demand"

Catchment area supply - true, you really can't see it easily right now, but I am sure eventually, some more of the informational screens will come.  You can check it the hard way, by opening the airport pairs overlapping with your catchment area.

[logaritm]

is there any advantage from blocking cargo on a passenger route?

[JumboShrimp]

None that I can think of, if the route has even a miniscule demand.

[wilian.souza2]

is there any advantage from blocking cargo on a passenger route?

It will if you want to transport most of your cargo in freigter aircraft... But this will be useful only in routes with a big catgo demand