load factor penalties

[Saqer]

Between what timings (night hours)will there be a load penalty?

[knobbygb]

It's variable/gradual - not just a Penalty/No Penalty situation.  It also depends on many things such  as competition/prices/image. Poor departure vs arrival times have different effects too. You're probably better just doing some experiments for yourself.

[Sami]

Also, let's get the terms straight: there is no "load factor penalty". Load factor is a metric on how much of the available capacity you sell. It is not something the system calculates, "your price is $500 so you have 95% load factor"; nope. System determines how many seats you sell based on the data of the flight.

We're talking of the same thing but what you wish to know are the times of the day when passengers are less likely to fly your airline. For this you can check the manual: https://www.airwaysim.com/game/Manual/Routes/Open/

The departure and arrival times (time of day) affect heavily on the route sales. Most passengers desire to depart during day instead of the middle of the night, and there are also the business traveler's peak hours during early morning and afternoon/evening hours. Generally all departures between 05.00/06.00 - 23.00/23.30 are fine, and the flight should also land between the same hours (or a bit later in the evening). Longhaul passengers are little less picky on the operation hours than people flying short distances. Long flights through the night are also acceptable, as long as the passengers are not made to walk around the airport at 03am...