I've studied the "List of Billionaires" on different AWS game world, and it looks like that they definitely have ignored any commonality "wisdom" shared on this forum throughout the years.
SITREP: My "humble" company value is approx. 950$M with only 3 fleets. CI = 90. Should I dare to cross the line of shared wisdom and throw any commonality rules out of the window If I want to expand any further?
I have noticed some of the rapid growing airlines in the beginner world have not followed this age old rule either. I am not sure of their economies, but they seem to be raking in cash. I haven't played for about 2 years and I learnt this the hard way by having 2 fleet types early on. I have seen posts about not being punished for fleet communality until you hit the 100+ aircraft stage. But I am sure some of the more seasoned players have a pretty good breakdown of this which I'd be interestign in reading too.
The smaller the fleet, the higher the [commonality] cost per a/c. The larger a plane is, the more fixed commonality costs it will have.
If you are small airline in a competitive environment with thin margins, adding unnecessary fleet types will do bad things to your bottom line. If you you are in a profitable environment where there are profits be had by quicker expansion, these profits may outweigh the extra costs of a mixed fleet. Large airlines may simply be unable to renew and their fleet and expand into new market with the delivery rates of a single manufacturer.
To the OP- how big is your airline (value means nothing, fleet size means everything)? What benefits would a mixed fleet bring you?
Quote from: moberg on March 28, 2012, 12:17:45 PM
The smaller the fleet, the higher the [commonality] cost per a/c. The larger a plane is, the more fixed commonality costs it will have.
If you are small airline in a competitive environment with thin margins, adding unnecessary fleet types will do bad things to your bottom line. If you you are in a profitable environment where there are profits be had by quicker expansion, these profits may outweigh the extra costs of a mixed fleet. Large airlines may simply be unable to renew and their fleet and expand into new market with the delivery rates of a single manufacturer.
To the OP- how big is your airline (value means nothing, fleet size means everything)? What benefits would a mixed fleet bring you?
Fleetsize = 65. To be able to explore an interesting marked outside my existing fleet's range capasity, I'll have to mix up. But then, at what cost ("punishment")? :-\
Anyway, I didn't wait for an forum advise to come. Just did it, and hope for the best! :D
Adding fleets isnt always the best idea as there are massive penalties to your existing commonality costs. This means that the aircraft types you already have will also increase in costs as well.
I say stick to three types or fewer unless you are so massive that it really doesn't matter.