Lack of large class freighter in the late 90s early 2000s - searching a solution

[Cedric3108]

I think the current system works pretty well, for one it's harder on the guys with huge fleets, so it's keeps them in check at least a little bit.
And secondly it also reflects real life very well in this regard. How many airlines do you know that run a large passenger ops and also a cargo ops with dedicated freighters in the large-aircraft class? Yes, there is Lufthansa Cargo and Korean Cargo and so on, but the all use VL aircraft only for their cargo ops. I personally can't think of a single global passenger airline also using 737Fs/757Fs/727Fs/A320Fs or are planning on doing so in the future. Usually these aircraft are only used by cargo only airlines such as DHL or UPS/FedEx/TNT sub-contractors.
So I think having a hurdle to run a 500+ aircraft passenger ops as well as Cargo in the "large" class in the same company is very realistic. Maybe we should let this part of the market that we can't get with belly-cargo but is still not enough for a VLA freighter to the cargo specialists 

Greets,
Cedric

[Tha_Ape]

@ Cedric

Maybe you're right. I personally lack experience on cargo, and this is probably the case for all of us (not a single real GW with cargo over yet).

I got one concern, though: that "middle" countries would become harder to play in: rich countries have enough cargo (LH and belly) to provide a nice income complement all the time, even when you can't have avery plane. Small countries are usually "owned" by a single airline that can raise prices quite a bit (those countries where you can have a 4th fleet without it being a problem). Medium countries would still have the competition, but without the extra cargo income that is so important now.

Saying this because my belly cargo numbers are usually atrociously low, even though I'm often close to the plane's max range (thus having very limited payload dedicated to cargo).

Let's see what the future brings us.

[Cardinal]

This may be a case where getting shut out of the new plane market for so long ends up working out in my favor. We all know what happened with the 737 Jurassic models. As a result, I have some of the youngest 732Adv in the game. By the late 1990s they'll just be hitting their second D-check. Prime conversion age 

[SP7]

Thanks for your ideas / strategies. It sure opens some horizons.

Still, I'm kind of stuck with the idea that in some places... Well,  I feel that playing out of tier 1 airports tends to bend a little the idea of the elasticity some other airport require, because those tier 1 airports don't require a medium aircraft, and you can toy around your large class and potentially merge them into one sole group (taking the 757 as temporary workhorse, as example). As for me, I'm in Moscow. It's an enormous hub... for medium aircrafts.

As for the strategic renouncement, it's probably best to give up cargo, even if this hurts. Made the choice long ago to run the Viscount for ages, before I knew cargo would be introduced in GW#2, and I'm kind of stuck with this initial strategy: their currently low profitability + my fleet size doesn't allow me a 4th fleet group, and I need the range sooner rather than later. Well, this cross off options.

Thanks!

@ Wilian: trust schro on that one. No free 4th fleet group is better. That's why I proposed heavy limitations.

Even with heavy limitations a 4th fleet would just make the biggest airlines even bigger. I'd guess that most of the top 10 airlines in GW3 (outside of Talentz) are waiting for 737NGF or A320/321Fs to come along. If we had a 4th fleet it would have been easy to just start those long/thinner cargo routes using 757PFs and transition them to the new narrowbody freighter of choice.