I've been playing in Quimby for about 2 weeks now and am doing pretty well. My aircraft are all full and I'm making money; bout to begin leasing my 5th aircraft.
I knew that moving into an existing world wouldn't be as easy as Quimby, but I didn't expect it to be an impossible task.
Initially, I moved into Aspern operating a European carrier out of Nice. I served a decent amount of destinations, 7x weekly each, on 68-seat economy E170s (starting small?). But after all was said and done, after each demand calculation, I started flying empty.
Then I tried a low-cost carrier out of Denver in Stapleton. I did a bunch of research that told me the A321 would do relatively well charging 75% of standard price on my routes. I went ahead and did my pricing and started the schedules. Demand calculations for Denver blew over leaving me with just about 10 sold tickets.
Do I just need to let my planes fly empty for a while to make a name for myself...? Or am I missing something huge here?
Please read the forums or google "AS guide for beginners". 68 seats in an E170 is far too many, low-cost-carriers do not work in AS and starting in EU or US is an even worse idea usually. Have you checked your ORS rating? You should be on the first page at least...
How long did you wait after scheduling of the flights? I remember seeing your name on Aspern for a couple of days but I assume that you did not even wait for 3 days to shut down the company.
Not only the seats but also your service profile most likely have been not enough. ORS rating would be nice to know to help you further.
Please read the forums or google "AS guide for beginners". 68 seats in an E170 is far too many, low-cost-carriers do not work in AS and starting in EU or US is an even worse idea usually. Have you checked your ORS rating? You should be on the first page at least...
I've googled it several times and read it. I can reconfigure the E170, too, back to a standard layout. And no, I'm not currently on the first page of the ORS.
I started in the US and EU because it's familiar territory and places I'm familiar with the flows of. If it's going to be impossible to get and airline off the ground there, I can move; but I'd really like to stay in the US or EU.
I can move away from the low-cost ideas, too. I just saw that as an opportunity to attract passengers.
It is very much possible to create an airline on old servers. Happens every day but if you insist to play EU or US, you might check all possibilities and situations on these servers. There are always some niches and it all depends on your strategy. Having one small regional plane with standard seats flying around is not the best strategy. And if your ORS rating is not 99 with an EMB, you are doing something wrong.
For newer players like myself its difficult, I found Iran quite nice on Stapleton based out of THR. However a new airline has opened up within 2 days with a fleet of 16 aircraft. Normally id rage quit, but I am determined to fight for my place as this is the first airline ive made profitable, following all the steps from the experts! Fun and games. Id try and find a niche market or go somewhere that has barely any competition!
Check the ratings of your competitor. And compare it to yours. Iran is big enough to feed 2 new airlines. Your competitor started with the same amount of money, now you can survive there. I know that it is hard sometimes to start somewhere but it is always possible. Keep an eye on your seats and your service offer and make sure that you have a better ORS rating, then you will crack it.
EDIT: I have not checked your airline on Stapletion. It is my general advice.
By the way to TO: are you aware that it takes 3 days until your planes start to fly? You have 3 demand calculations, and even after the third it could be that your planes will be nearly empty but after another 2 or 3 days, you can see if the fill. This all depends very much on connections you can offer, also in the very first hours of the game.
It works fine, even on old servers and in US or EU. I founded a new airline in the US in 2015 on Kaitak, just to find out if it is possible. Two big US airlines dominated the market. Now Iam on 4th place pax/week in the US and on 6th worldwide. My hubs are based mainly on small airports and it works fine.
It was nor your first airline I guess? I have also running an airline on Idlewild with 4 huge airlines operating there but it was not my first airline. I made my experiences before in other places. Which helped to Nr. 3 in the US and Nr. 4 worldwide after 10 months playing there.
Nope, not the frist one. Of course it is easier on old servers if you habe some experience. However, it is not impossible to establish a new airline even in the US or EU markets.
Thanks guys. I just started in the US at DEN on Stapleton. A player nice enough sent me some tips to follow, which are giving me a really good ORS rating. I've sold me some tickets. I also started my schedules immediately because I had some reserve cash. I started with 5x ~10yr old A320s and flew them to most the major airports in the US once a day.
I had one demand calculation between when I was founded and when I started flying, so I wasn't expecting much, as it takes 2-3 of them to fill a plane. Of course, the fact that the market is more competitive is also a bit of a contribution. I do have full crafts going to some airports though.
Right now, I’m about halfway through my first day of flying and, while I might not end with net profits today, I’m encouraged that I’m at least selling stuff here.
If you want to check me out, I’m Skyraft US (CXF) based out of DEN in Stapleton.
Any other help is greatly appreciated, and things I can adjust.
When starting in an established game world I try to:
-Find a good hub (obviously).
I look for a city where some non-stop routes with demand are not served. The shorter the route, the better, since there are less likely to be viable connection I’m competing with (DEN-LAX competes with flights connecting in LAS, PHX, SLC,and SFO while DEN-SLC does not).
-Practice capacity restraint.
That A321 might have had a low cost per available seat, but that does nothing for you if those seats are going out empty. You can buy a lot more CRJ-700s, which means you can offer more viable connections and have way fewer seats to fill.
-Offer useful connections.
Pretty obvious, but try to make sure you time your flights to connect, and make sure those connections make sense (have a bunch of west coast flight arrive in DEN at once, followed a bunch of departures to the east).
That A321 might have had a low cost per available seat, but that does nothing for you if those seats are going out empty. You can buy a lot more CRJ-700s, which means you can offer more viable connections and have way fewer seats to fill.
Fully agreed but remember that it might be illegal or having 20 daily CRJ700 flights is highly inefficient and annoying so having bigger aircraft and routing them into a hub structure is an option ;).
When starting in an established game world I try to:
-Find a good hub (obviously).
I look for a city where some non-stop routes with demand are not served. The shorter the route, the better, since there are less likely to be viable connection I’m competing with (DEN-LAX competes with flights connecting in LAS, PHX, SLC,and SFO while DEN-SLC does not).
-Practice capacity restraint.
That A321 might have had a low cost per available seat, but that does nothing for you if those seats are going out empty. You can buy a lot more CRJ-700s, which means you can offer more viable connections and have way fewer seats to fill.
-Offer useful connections.
Pretty obvious, but try to make sure you time your flights to connect, and make sure those connections make sense (have a bunch of west coast flight arrive in DEN at once, followed a bunch of departures to the east).
Thanks! This is kind of the model I've been trying to follow. My aircrafts are scheduled to start their day at 4AM flying to the east coast, back, and out to the west coast, creating some good connections in the morning. The rest of the day for them is a hit or miss.
Fully agreed but remember that it might be illegal or having 20 daily CRJ700 flights is highly inefficient and annoying so having bigger aircraft and routing them into a hub structure is an option ;).
Illegal in slot blocking rules? And I've been operating A320's to all the major airports, maybe getting some CRJ's or E-Jets after I make money with those.
I've been making some money in Stapleton. Over the last days I have an EBT of 200,000. My financial week-end this week is going to cost me a good $800,000, so I'm not making enough to pay it, but I have enough reserve cash.
My planes are still flying empty-ish, but I have some cities that are starting to come out as really strong connections to Denver. I'm doing service and stuff, trying to improve my ORS rating so I don't have to change any of the existing connections on my planes
Illegal in slot blocking rules? And I've been operating A320's to all the major airports, maybe getting some CRJ's or E-Jets after I make money with those.
I've been making some money in Stapleton. Over the last days I have an EBT of 200,000. My financial week-end this week is going to cost me a good $800,000, so I'm not making enough to pay it, but I have enough reserve cash.
My planes are still flying empty-ish, but I have some cities that are starting to come out as really strong connections to Denver. I'm doing service and stuff, trying to improve my ORS rating so I don't have to change any of the existing connections on my planes
If you can fly one 20 would not be illegal but it might be illegal to fly the CRJ700 whatsoever. I also thoroughly dislike player using this tactic to block slots. US is a complicated market on Stapleton as you got quite a number of skilled players. As it is currently quite open I have considered also trying my luck in the US but it probably wont happen. I am currently trying to break into Europe on Stapleton and to be honest I am quite happy with the results, even if I got very tight competition. As a main part of my cash is made from my long haul operations they will see great growth and as I dont have the possibility to collaborate with the Ganesha Group I need to find US partners in other ways. I will shortly launch flights to DEN, and I would need a new partner there.
When starting in an old world remember to do everything to drive down costs, every cost counting measure possible without hurting ones ORS is needed. For example I have been able to set the break even point at about 45% loads for my long haul flights and even if my loads are at 70% a lot of money is made.
I've been playing AS for 6 weeks now, on Ellinikon, and I find it very frustrating not being able to hit profit even at 100% SLF. There is no point in breaking your brains scheduling and benchmarking only to see that whatever you do, you always sink into red numbers.
Example: Say I have my best route with SLF 95%, operated with AT5. Say I can schedule 10 daily flights to this destination (which I doubt).
If I rent a new 42-600 it costs 65k a week + maintenance 50k = 115k a week. I tried a cheaper 14y 42-500 for 30k a week, but maintenance skyrockets to 140k weekly = 170k a week. This has absolutely no sense, it makes operating a "cheaper" old plane 50% more expensive at the end than a brand new version.
Say I can make 2k profit on each flight (flight related costs discounted), that will do 20k a day (providing I can operate all that flights to the same destination at 95% occupancy, which is unreal) = 140k a week. That is, covering the aircraft rent and maintenance, basically. Meaning my airline has to be run by either slaves or robots, as I can not pay a penny on salaries. Operating fully occupied flights on my most profitable route. This is a nonsense.
Maybe I am missing something, but I have tried different schedule models, cabin configs, aircraft types, salaries, interlines etc. and still nothing seems to be working out. And again, I would understand this if my operations were 50% load factor, but this is not the case....