This is a subject that I am altogether unclear on. I have seen many people talk a great deal about flight frequency, CI, and RI being the most important factors in your operation being a success.
Here is the route planning screen for my most profitable route, PVD - ORF:
(https://www.airwaysim.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi42.tinypic.com%2F25poj1w.jpg&hash=522c4947669a0266f4f09317636f0c572463666b)
I have two flights a day in a DH8 with the following results:
(https://www.airwaysim.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi42.tinypic.com%2F2lk437p.jpg&hash=aea652e3005c3e7e5ffe97d763e35f3c9d14f1f6)
So is this frequency enough? The capacity bar is just about right at the demand bar and I'm getting 60-70% LF on the routes, so is that market tapped out? How does frequency actually work? I'm quite confused on this point. Because you also end up with flights like PVD - BWI that I feel like I can't compete on because there's demand for like 700 odd pax a day and capacity for like 1200 pax a day on the route.
The frequency doesn't matter on this route because you have no competiton. However, with 2 daily flights, you may have an advantage if somebody flies against you with one flight (however other factors like RI and CI come into play as well).
When you're first starting out, you usually don't see full loads on flights until they've been flying about 6 months (aka 100RI). Having a higher CI will help get the loads up faster as well.
Just to be clear, is it more beneficial to have 2 or 3 daily flights to a destination rather then 1 daily flight offering the same amount of seats?
The systems looks for weekly frequency first, but if your demand is let's say 200/daily, it is _generally_ better to have two flights per day instead of one. Up to certain point.
Thanks Sami.
Up to acertain point it is also worth to oversupply a route, it depends on the freqency/conditions other players offer. Roughly you should get your share of demand/per flight, even more, if your overall conditions are better (CI,RI,price etc.).
You should not aim to fill your flight 100%, that way your price is too low, and you can´t see, if some more people are willing to fly with you, if you adjust anything.
Quote from: exchlbg on September 11, 2012, 06:59:26 PM
Up to acertain point it is also worth to oversupply a route, it depends on the freqency/conditions other players offer. Roughly you should get your share of demand/per flight, even more, if your overall conditions are better (CI,RI,price etc.).
You should not aim to fill your flight 100%, that way your price is too low, and you can´t see, if some more people are willing to fly with you, if you adjust anything.
Surely it makes more financial sense to have 1 full plane instead of 2 half full planes??
Quote from: TPMP on September 12, 2012, 09:02:59 AM
Surely it makes more financial sense to have 1 full plane instead of 2 half full planes??
True, you have to weigh the cost of 2 aircraft (increased overhead) vs 1. It depends on the demand of the route and if that route can support the added aircraft.
Talentz
I was not talking about half full. LF of about 80-90% are perfect for balancing and make room for those additional passengers to show up.
Besides, many airlines are profitable with LF% around 60, especially with low fuel prices.
And if routes are underserved by just one big aircraft, you invite other players to put maybe 2 smaller ones on it (if route profiles allow).
Exception: under new formula it´s ok to underserve routes with low CI/RI, because you can´t get all possible passengers.
The way I view frequency on routes without competition is the threat of competition. If you have a 100nm route with 200pax demand you can either fly 1x daily with a 200 seater or 4x daily with a 50 seater.
If there is no chance of new competition entering the route then fly the 200 seater. If the threat is big then fly 4x daily. This means for a competitor to profitably compete they need to also fly 4x daily and will get 50% load factors doing it. The opportunity cost is other more profitable routes where they can get better load factors with less competition. As a result you won't find new competitors entering routes where you have the frequency stacked because the costs are too high to compete with you.