I'm trying to run a fleet of PC12s to fly to airports not served by anyone else as they have very small demand. Some routes I get a warning for at 277nm and 15pax demand as its too small. Other routes at 420nm at 15pax (same size airports) I do not get any warning. What gives? Also, having warnings for routes that are 1/4th of the range of the a/c seem aggressive.
That is not a "penalty" but passengers simply do not prefer to fly a tiny airplane if the route otherwise would be suitable for a larger/ more appropriate plane.
400nm is fine if the demand is very small (no sense in flying 100 pax jet on 20 demand route, so they are happy with that since they "know" it's a small city/route). But 300nm route with 500 pax daily demand: they for sure do not like a 10-seater plane. BUT if nobody else is flying that route then any aircraft will do just fine!
Depends on distance and demand. Range of a/c is not relevant.
Quote from: lazerr11 on November 23, 2018, 07:58:33 PM
Some routes I get a warning for at 277nm and 15pax demand as its too small. Other routes at 420nm at 15pax (same size airports) I do not get any warning.
Domestic vs. International, probably. Is the longer route inside the same country? And I'm guessing the shorter route crosses a border. Passengers tend to have the view that any trip within their own national borders is shorter than any trip that takes them to another country, or the added hassle of clearing customs means there's one less thing they'll put up with on the journey (a tiny plane, for example). This is modeled into the miniplane warning.
It's very hard to be profitable with 9-seaters. Better try a 15+ seater to get bigger margins and less small warnings. Basing in a small airport with cheaper fees and fair demand within 500 NM also helps!