Lease length

[alfkan]

Long time (>10 years) lease?

Anyone number crunchers out there who have any feedback on how long one should lease a (fairly) new a/c? I've discovered there are hugh discounts if you go for the "extreme" 15 years option! Over 27%!

[dmoose42]

It's about trade-offs - generally you can save a lot of money with long-term leases, but then you are locked into a strategy and using that plane for a long time as the fee to break the lease can be prohibitive.  If it's under 5 years and you are pretty sure you will be using that plane type for the next 10-20 years, then by all means lock in - for example, locking in a A320 in 1993.  If you uncertain or know that there will be a lot of turnover in fleet types - for example a 727 in 1993, then a long-term lease is a bad idea.  So it really depends on your situation.  Feel free to post for details to get more responses...

[alfkan]

To always serve a route with the latest or "hottest" a/c in the marked seems (to me at least) to not being weighted as one of the most important factors to obtain and maintain the routes LF. Perhaps with routes with three or more competitors this will weight in, but most of the routes in play are not that "popular".

Off course fuel demand will always be an issue when choosing a/c - no doubt about that. But AWS games covering the 2010-2020 timespan shows that the manufacturers have been coming to a position where they are not able to squeeze substansial more milage out of the fuel. That's my impression! 

With the new accounting system another thing has crossed my mind. Maintenance class D are now being treated like an investment and is reflected so in the balance. If you "invest" in a D check on a leased a/c, what happen with the balance when you deliver it back to the broker?

[Curse]

So it really depends on your situation.  Feel free to post for details to get more responses...

This makes me even more curious what you want with those purchased Comet 3 in GW#4.


@ alfkan

What aircraft you use is basically not important. Pax don't prefer 737-200Adv. over DC-9 or A320 over 737-800 to an amount you can notice.

I guess those leased aircraft will have their value increased. At the end it doesn't matter who paid the D-Check and who fullfilled it, right?

[dmoose42]

Curse! Everyone knows that the Comet has the fastest sounding name in the until the concorde and i want to be part of the magic!  Seriously though, I'm planning on replacing my Comets with the BAC/737/DC-9 trifecta so I figured I would save on cost by buying since I had the surplus funds...

Got a little bored trying the same old strategy so I'm going for something a little different this time!

Cheers and good luck.  Seems like Lady Lax is kind to you this time around

[Curse]

Sounds like you have a strategy for them. I'm curious.

I'm trying my old strategies... making LAX the middle of aviation business. Hope it turns out similar to the last times I did this but this gameworld is really long. Should be good fun for a while.

Good luck to you, too. Competition in ORD seems a bit more in quality and quantity, so I guess there will be some nice fights.

[dmoose42]

Yes a strategy!  I know that is heresy to some people at this forum, but I'm glad you recognize it.  We will see how it pans out.  We are currently in negotiations with the airplane manufacturer to install some afterburners on the comets to reach Mach 3 to cut the transit time to anywhere in the US down to 1 hour or less.  I will keep you posted on progress.

Peanut out.

[Curse]

Yeah? Honestly my last information was the Comet isn't a very longlife product with standard parts and you want to install some prototype insane things? Be careful!

[dmoose42]

My chief engineer's cat just got sucked into an intake...fur and turbines don't mix so we will definitely have to be careful.

Agree that the usual shelf-life of a Comet is limited, but my engineers tell me that if you want jets then you have no other options.  We've heard rumors of this DC-8 thing, but don't you think podded engines are ugly?  Including them in the wing is such a cleaner looking solution.

[Curse]

I don't believe in rumors. I also don't believe in jet engines. We just got those things to make fun of them and throw eggs at it.