Easy Strategies

[BLeiser]

Hi all, I am currently a University Student with background in Airline Simulator Games (AirlineSim). I am taking a class that uses AirwaySim, and everyone runs an airline.

I know some general strategies, but would like to dominate my class, any suggestions would be great. Is there a general meta to the game? It would bring me great joy to have a fleet of 250 aircraft while everyone else has 5.

Thanks for the help, Brady

[BOEING717]

Man I wish I had a class like that in college.

Take a look above in the forum at Gazzz's strategies. If you follow what he says you will jump ahead of everyone. 

[gazzz0x2z]

Hello Brady.

The most important is my Scheduling tutorial. Or anything that says the same (I just compiled knowledge distilled by the best players). Then there is my Costs control tutorial, which is more advanced. Use it according to your game setup, playing Poland in the 1950s is very different than playing EU in the 2020s. The common thing is where to look at the info, that's what I'm covering there.

And then, more advanced, specifically dedicated to a 2000 start in a correct airport, my power start list (a few items might be obsolete, though, especially the part about slots costs. I don't have time to correct it now, though)

If one day you start single aisle from day one (i.e. when the game world starts), here are a few tips (don't do this in other circumstances - many points are pointless if you start later, or after the start) :

(0) Start at a big airport with juicy nearby destinations.
(0 bis) Hire exactly one staffer in each category (bar pilots on categories you're not gonna use). Give each of them a 40% bonus, then a 35% bonus.
(1) find a cheap single aisle aircraft with decent capacity, turnaround, available in big numbers. Bonus points if it's cheap and not many players use it (last modern times game that began in 1998, I went full MD88 - only MD88 and A320s were available in thousands, and far more players went for much better A320s. I went for clearly inferior MD88, with great success, supply was unlimited, while even A320s became scarce quickly)
(2) Find 8 destinations less than 300NM from your HQ with 2.5 times demand the capacity of your airplane of choice.
(2 bis) even better, those are the 8 smallest destinations that fit the description.
(3) Lease 2 old cheap planes of the line of your choice.
(3 bis) don't reseat them
(4) schedule 4 destinations on each bird. Don't spread out, don't 7-7. Do a basic, day standard schedule.
(5) schedule between 0535 and 2355. Set up the A check on saturday at 0535
(5 bis) in fact, schedule four first flight at 0525, and then move it at 0535. The rest of the schedule follows for a 0535 first flight.
(6) set all your pax prices at +10%
(7) Set a very low company marketing. Set route marketing on your best starting routes (the ones where opposition runs going sooner than the others).
[8] on day 2 (i.e. the first day at normal speed), rinse & repeat, 2 additional birds. If still cash remaining, take plane number 5 on day 3.
(9) as soon as cash allows, take more birds. From week 2, you should be in profit.Cash flow positive should be even earlier. So lease birds now, and purchase slots later, just before plane arrival.
(10) you can premake the routes, maybe even slot the routes if you have enough cash, but from bird 3, schedule the birds as late as possible. you spare 2 weeks of staff costs each time.
(11) grow until you reach a level where  the main limit of your growth rate is the ability to lease planes.
(12) begin to think about 7-7 schedules and long range destinations.
(13) fill everything you can at your home airport. 120% of demand. Even if locals are setting up a lot of flights too. Most of them will be dead within 2 years. The remaining ones will lack air to breath, and threaten you properly. You can begin to think about optimizing your seating at this moment, as well. You can also maybe add a second fleet group (pax or cargo, depending on local specifics)
(14) look for another airport with a lot of potential and weak opponents.
(15) now, power growth is finished, and your explosive growth should be made a way that is more sustainable. You can (and shall) do a start there clean with 7-7 schedules, and with ranges you see fit. Still, overwhelm locals, and teach them who's the boss.
(16) keep your standard +10% pricing policy. increase your company marketing to be around 5-10% of total expenses (it depends on local staff costs. I did spend around 3.5% in PEK, but you'd be around 8/10% in AMS for the same result). Once you reach 80 CI, push up every pax category at +15%.(17) in the meantime, you should have enough cash flow to purchase new birds from the factory. Do it by batches of 7, later 14... always multiples of 7.
(18) once you're short of quick easy growth, begin to consolidate. Replace your leased old crap by shining new superstars.
(19) you may want reorganize your starting flights as well. Time has passed, and they might be suboptimal(euphemism) now.
(20) count your opponent's BK and feel like a true Elite member.

Rationale behind point 0 bis : morale of each category is instant 100 like that. 40% + 35% bonus work cheaper and better than one single bonus.

Rationale behind point 1 : you make more money flying 4 times a day for 150$ than 3 times a day for 170$

Rationale behind point 2 : 2.5 more demand than supply is the threshold where you reach the maximum LF of 50% at RI 0

Rationale behind point 2bis : opposition will rush to the biggest destinations. In PEK, I deliberately ignored the big natural destinations (CAN, SHA, NRT...) for a few months.

Rationale behind point 3 bis : you need cash in a power start. You'll change seats after a few months. Not now.

Rationale behind point 4 : you need to maximize income from day one. Spreading out is better for long term RI, but we're not in long term thinking. You need to bury your opponents before his long term bets can pay off, and you'll grow so much that you'll follow his long term routes so early that he'll never get the fruit of it.

Rationale behind point 5 : the penalty for taking off before 0600 is weak, but in when your CI is very low, it's not negligible. It's much stronger than the penalty for landing at 2355. The later you take off, the lower the penalty. As you need 5h40m for the A-check to happen (for A320, 737, MD88, 727...including the turnaround after landing at 2355), you set up the A check where you can maximize your income.
Note also that you'll make sleepovers or redeyes later, but fornow, as you'd lose one weekly flight per week, they'd be counter productive.

Rationale behind 5bis : it spares precious cash for getting exactly the same slot. 0525 slots are much cheaper. You might want to play with turnaround times at arrival if your start from there is at xx50 or xx55, so that you don't repay the destination slot when moving the start at your airport.

Rationale behind point 6 : it works. More in detail, when unopposed, or when your CI is higher, it works. But you'll grow so much faster than your opponents that most of your route will be unopposed until your CI reaches nice levels. +10% income is a huge boost. Feels like a cheat. It's by far the most important point.

NB : in short challenges, where opposition is not as harsh and basing is possible everywhere, the point 13 is not to push that far. Better go far West style and go to uncharted territories earlier. 10/15 years is short to kill competent opponents, and you'll make better money elsewhere.