My airline in BW1 has a fleet of 16 737s many of which operate transatlantic routes. I am based out of IAD, and I fly 737s to Aberdeen, Bristol, Lisbon, Faro, Barcelona, Hanover, Hamburg, Cologne, London Stansted, Geneva.
They are all leased and under 7 years in age. Everything I can find says that this is a terrible idea and I should be bleeding cash. But my airline is making $10 million a week? Odd.
Could it be because all of these routes don't trigger the "too small" warning?
Thanks,
A Crossworld CEO
Crazy, not, but optimized, even less. Short range line for single-aisle aircraft are much better in the early phases of life of a company, because they yield more immediate income. That, and transatlantic 737 routes are not making that much money. You are in BW, so "too small penalty" is a joke - this allows you to fly on routes that would kill your demand in real game worlds.
In current GW3, in 2023, the demand between Dulles & Aberdeen is 600/700. The limit demand for a 737 before kicking in the "too small penalty" is around 220 demand. And the distance is around 2000NM. Clearly, in a real game world, you'd be dead.
That being said, I'm doing quite a few transatlantic routes from JFK with 737s. With specific route profiles : demand between 130 & 180. Below, it's not enough to increase prices. Above, the too small penalty is threatening. I've got 5 routes tu the UK, for example, with daily income between 55 & 85M$. Btu the trick is : not all expenses are counted there. My 737 earn between 350k$ and 550 k$ a week, there. And they are bought. Take off 300k$ per week of staff and marketing costs, and you'll notice that it's not a very profitable business model, in a real game. I'm not losing money, but I'm doing my big bucks on more traditional route profiles. Those transatlantic lines are just here for fun.
TL;DR : don't try it on a real game world, especially while beginning a new company. Keep this for when you are already very profitable.
On thin routes, under 200 pax, you should be ok. But you will have problems when the demand goes up from there, to > 250 pax, and especially when someone else flies a widebody against your 737