Hi all,
I'd appreciate some fleet replacement advice.
I am hoping to replace 744's with something more fuel efficient 77W or 748I.
My question - Is it worth the extra fleet penalty to replace 744 with 77W's.
I have 85 aircraft now, by the time 77W deliveries start arriving i will around 100 aircraft, and 7 fleet types operating. Fleet types will wind up 3 or 4 in the end, but will the 6/7 types kill all profit while i wait for all deliveries? I have 22 x 744's which takes a long time to replace at 1 per month!
Fleet choice considerations:
- 748 - commonality with 744, replaces 744's though with more capacity - not flexible for thinner routes, would need to use A332 with a fuel stop or add a fleet type
- 77W - can replace exactly 1 for 1 capacity, commonality with 772/77L - flexibility with competition and i need them for about 10 longer/thinner routes
I currently run:
717's - replacing with E195's
734's - replacing with 738's
A330's
744's
thanks for any help,
Neil
Sticking to 3 types is important as there is a significant penalty at 4 types that grows exponentially as your fleet grows. That being said, with a fleet of 100 or so planes, you will not feel too much pain during fleet renewal. If you are posting a 15%+ margin now, you will be fine during transition with upwards of 7 types. In the end, though, it is wise to shoot for 3 types. I would combine the 330 and 747 group into 777's to make that happen.
Fuel stops are not recommended if there are planes capable of flying the route. Techstopping 332's will hurt you quite a bit.
Keep in mind that for the main game worlds, you'll want to tighten up your strategy a bit to the point you have 2 main fleets and one transition fleet, otherwise you will run into more trouble (as the game world isn't set to easy-mode in those worlds like it is in BW).
Thanks for the fast advice.
I've ordered 77W's and 77L's I think I think i will only have 5 types in my fleet during renewal for about 2 years or so.
I will shoot for 3/4 types in the end
profit is around 20% with 6 types which will soon 4 types, and my fleet will only get to about 140 at most, so i think the penalty for 40 types may not hit me so hard, of it does i'll drop the 332 and 333's for some 772's
Thanks again
Neil
So. Let me make the game mechanics a bit more clear to you. The incremental cost for adding fleet type 2 and 3 is fairly minimal in the grand scheme of things. Adding the 4 type will increase all commonality costs for all fleets in a significant manner. Then, types 5 and 6 will be more of a linear increase. Type 7 will then exponentially increase all costs again (and so on). Additionally, the exponential increase depends on your fleet size. At 100 planes it's not very big. At 1000 planes, you're talking hundreds of millions of dollars per WEEK.
So, at the end of the day, the difference between having 4 and 5 types is minimal compared to the difference between 3 and 4 types.
In hindsight, since switching to 777's:
Maintenance isn't costing me, but the lease rates on brand spanking new 777-300ER's is a loads more than 8-14y/o 747-400's! That is the killer at the moment, plus a little more competition on my ULH routes!
Neil