Marketing and Fuel

[alvin]

What is the parameter to raise the maximum amount of active general campaign and route specific campaign?

When I started off last night, I reached my limit... I think it only allowed me to create 1 general and 10 route specific campaign.. Now the limit magically  raised to 3 general and 30 route specific.

Is it better to hold off leasing a used aircraft until you are able to create more route specific campaigns? Right now low load factors is contributing to low ticket sales due to poor route image.

And how to figure out the total fuel consumed for a given week in kilograms? So I can make a decision if it's worth signing up with a fuel supplier or not.  And do HQ bases in middleeastern countries have better deals for fuel suppliers or is it the same supplier for everyone?

[Cardinal]

If you have very low load factors in the beginning, you need to find better routes. Without being able to see your airline I can't make specific recommendations but here are some general guidelines:

DON'T start out putting a 100-seater on a 100-demand route. No matter how much you spend on marketing, you are going to have lousy load factors for a very long time.
DON'T start out flying a route with 1000 demand and 5000 supply. If the route's that competitive, a new airline doesn't stand a chance.

DO find routes that have >1000 demand that aren't grossly oversupplied. If the demand is 1000 and supply is 1200, you can make good money on the route with a couple of daily 100-seaters. If the route is short-haul (or medium-haul if domestic) you should consider putting 3x 70-seaters on the route until your RI and CI climb to competitive levels.

Route-specific campaigns don't raise the route image that much faster, but money spent on route campaigns do contribute to your overall Company image. I do use route marketing in the very early years of a new game but after the limits are raised on general campaigns I don't bother with route campaigns unless I'm opening a new base.

[Cardinal]

And how to figure out the total fuel consumed for a given week in kilograms? So I can make a decision if it's worth signing up with a fuel supplier or not.  And do HQ bases in middleeastern countries have better deals for fuel suppliers or is it the same supplier for everyone?

Fuel supplier contract terms are somewhat random, and aren't always good deals. And there's no good way to find the total fuel burned by kg, only by $ spent on fuel.

[alvin]

My base is in Prague. I started last night and spending marketing on company image (country-wide marketing, all but radio and TV) I have now 12 fleet of 737-3/4/5 and ordered 5.5 yr lease on Q400. The lucrative routes to major airports in Europe are served to 150% supply. I do have a competitor with the same fleet 737, 18 of them. Most routes I fly are in the 100 to 170 matching the seat capacity to demand... My most profitable routes have been with the route image campaigns active. One reached 80% after 1.5 game months to Kuwait. Most routes I serve don't fly against competitor unless it is under served.

My CI is 29, Competitor is 39. Should I fly the Q400 on 70 demand routes or fly them frequently to big airports with  100%-150%? Those have demand of up to 600 for EGLL.

[gazzz0x2z]

Prague is eastern Europe. Most of Eastern Europe HQs have 2 main markets : intra-European below 1000NM, and Middle East(and Canarias) around 2000NM. Your fleet groups should be aimed towards covering those 2 main markets. Q400s are good for the first market. 737 are at the limit for the second market, but should do the job. Intra-European demand is limited, and your 737 will soon experience difficult times for the Short range market.

For global marketing, the rule of a thumb is to keep it around 5 to 10% of expenses. You can see my company in MPL is stuck at 30 CI, that's because I'm not doing enough money to finance more marketing. I'm doing a slow start. I shall not kill myself with marketing - that's a very common fate in the early game.

Your line to Bucharest is an example of what Cardinal says : 130 demand, you set up a 130-seater. That's the recipe for a slow start. I do have the same problem in MPL, as I'm flying 50-seaters, and most line are about 40-60 demand, which explains also my slow start. In my case, starting in MPL meant extra difficulty, which I was looking for. As you are asking questions, maybe you don't need that extra level of difficulty right now. Additionaly, you risk being attacked there. I wouldn't change those routes for now(as long as noone else flies them), but where you are attacked, switching to smaller birds is the thing to do, indeed.

EGLL is a special case. 450 demand, 4 flights already, you may want to slip one Q400 flight now, and one later(within 6-9 months, time for RI to build up), if noone else piles up in the meantime. Should be full quickly.

[alvin]

Thanks gazz and Cardinal for this advice. I am now using this strategy at the new airport. There's some 1000+ demands there. Also found the fuel consumption is listed on your public statistics. 😊