Most underrated US airports to base from?

[rntair]

Looking for potential hidden gems in the U.S. market that often get passed over for HQ choices. Would like to hear any suggestions/reasoning!

Thanks,
rntair

[Zobelle]

Looking for potential hidden gems in the U.S. market that often get passed over for HQ choices. Would like to hear any suggestions/reasoning!

Thanks,
rntair

Any midsize airport in a cargo rich MSA, honestly.

[JumboShrimp]

SJU

[schro]

What kind of fleet would you have for this base?

[rntair]

What kind of fleet would you have for this base?

737s, and wide bodies should the airport have sufficient longhaul demand.

[Zobelle]

SJU

Because of cheap labor yes

[schro]

737s, and wide bodies should the airport have sufficient longhaul demand.

That doesn't really narrow it down much...

Domestic only bases like dca, dal, hou, mdw, lga, etc often get looked over and can be good 737 bases. For long haul, gum, pgsn, and iad can end up overlooked....

[Cardinal]

East-coast state capitals that aren't megahubs. Albany, Harrisburg, Richmond, Raleigh, Columbia. And some of the larger non-capital cities east of the Mississippi like Greensboro, Jacksonville, Memphis, Knoxville, Akron, Grand Rapids. Your hub costs will be lower (office rent), you can open a lot of smaller monopoly RJ routes, and you will have decent 737 demand to the megahubs.

In the previous GW2 I was headquartered in GSO and built a empire, ending the game in the top 15 in passenger traffic and in the top 20 in most financial metrics. And I had a lot less stress and had more fun playing than in games where I headquartered in ORD, IAH, DFW, LAX etc.

[Zobelle]

That doesn't really narrow it down much...

Domestic only bases like dca, dal, hou, mdw, lga, etc often get looked over and can be good 737 bases. For long haul, gum, pgsn, and iad can end up overlooked....

GUM really comes into its own when the 77L comes in.

[gazzz0x2z]

Memphis and Kansas City were kickass bases for my A148s. Or any other half-decent regional jet(i.e. bar the TU334, the VFW, and the Y40).

[deovrat]

GUM really comes into its own when the 77L comes in.

To be fair, any base that requires a 77L isn't going to be one of the most profitable around, is it?

[Tha_Ape]

GUM really comes into its own when the 77L comes in.

The 777-200ER is enough:
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?R=5000nm%40GUM%0D%0A7000nm%40GUM%0D%0A9000nm%40GUM&MS=wls&DU=mi

Well, maybe not anymore with the new ESAD, but until now it was.

[mp81]

Built a billion+dollar carrier once starting in Little Rock, Arkansas of all places. As another post mentioned, I too did the same thing in Piedmont (GSO). You're not flying wide bodies but I had decent fleets of Airbus and E-Jets by game's end in both situations.

[mp81]

To clarify: that was starting in those airports and eventually expanding out.

Built a billion+dollar carrier once starting in Little Rock, Arkansas of all places. As another post mentioned, I too did the same thing in Piedmont (GSO). You're not flying wide bodies but I had decent fleets of Airbus and E-Jets by game's end in both situations.

[knobbygb]

The problem starting in these smaller 'second tier' airports used to be the out-of-base limit, which would hold back the size of your airline later, as there is never really the demand to have maga-numbers of a/c at home base. This is somewhat less of a concern now that the limit has been increased but it might still block your growth until later into the game.

I'd be tempted to start up at a large hub (somewhere like ORD or LAX) and then jump to one of these smaller airports as soon as possible (is it six months now?). You can grab a lot of the 'cash-cow' routes at HQ before the initial slots run out and then concentrate on mid-sized airport for 30 or 40 years while your competitors fight out the bloodbath over non-existent slots and oversupply at the big airport. You'll be able to continue growing steadily while they are hopefully tied up in a battle of attrition - there's no point being part of that. Then, later in the game when you've maxed out your out-of-base limit, with say 100 a/c at each of 4 or 5 smaller airports (or as and when you periodically hit that limit), you can jump back into the big hub, which will now have plenty of slots and only one or two big airlines.  You'll have a large fleet of profitable mid-size narrow-bodies and maybe a load of turboprops and you'll be able to drop literally 100s of a/c onto routes at your HQ and hammer the larger guy on frequency.  I think that's the quickest and least risky way to build up a 1500+ a/c airline in the US under current game rules.

With the addition of cargo, this strategy should work even better, although I'm yet to actually try it.  Choose the secondary airports for their cargo viability (ideally in isolation and not overlapping a large hub) and you should have a stead stream of uncontested income throughout the whole game. Secondary airports in large urban areas, such as LGA, BWI, SJC, ONT, HOU, DAL, FLL etc. were always good possibilities but are improved by the fact that you can 'steal' a good proportion of the cargo from the nearby hubs.  Places like BNA, MEM, OKC, MSY, IND, SMF etc. were always a bit limiting for pax. alone, but have good cargo demand that is not shared with a nearby mega-hub.

[mp81]

You operated VFWs and Y40s from MCI and MEM? Large fleets?

Memphis and Kansas City were kickass bases for my A148s. Or any other half-decent regional jet(i.e. bar the TU334, the VFW, and the Y40).

[LostInBKK]

I'd be tempted to start up at a large hub (somewhere like ORD or LAX) and then jump to one of these smaller airports as soon as possible (is it six months now?). You can grab a lot of the 'cash-cow' routes at HQ before the initial slots run out and then concentrate on mid-sized airport for 30 or 40 years while your competitors fight out the bloodbath over non-existent slots and oversupply at the big airport. You'll be able to continue growing steadily while they are hopefully tied up in a battle of attrition - there's no point being part of that. Then, later in the game when you've maxed out your out-of-base limit, with say 100 a/c at each of 4 or 5 smaller airports (or as and when you periodically hit that limit), you can jump back into the big hub, which will now have plenty of slots and only one or two big airlines.  You'll have a large fleet of profitable mid-size narrow-bodies and maybe a load of turboprops and you'll be able to drop literally 100s of a/c onto routes at your HQ and hammer the larger guy on frequency.  I think that's the quickest and least risky way to build up a 1500+ a/c airline in the US under current game rules.

Not sure I have the skill to pull this off but I see no reason as to why this can't work. As you said let the airlines kill each other at the MegaHub and while you are hopefully the lone airline at the smaller hub.

[gazzz0x2z]

You operated VFWs and Y40s from MCI and MEM? Large fleets?

nope, just CRJs and A148s. I mean, VFWs and Y40s are just too short-legged for those places. And TU-334s are just plain crap - the only modern RJ I plan never to try (I'll have to play with ARJ21s, once). I had large numbers of A148s, at the end, more than 100 for those 2 bases.

[mp81]

oh lol. I misread the original post.

nope, just CRJs and A148s. I mean, VFWs and Y40s are just too short-legged for those places. And TU-334s are just plain crap - the only modern RJ I plan never to try (I'll have to play with ARJ21s, once). I had large numbers of A148s, at the end, more than 100 for those 2 bases.