.... only started a day ago, it's a steep learning curve and I am expecting to have to start over. I've read the tutorials but just checking I am at least going in the right direction....
So... based in Manchester (GB)... I leased three aircraft, two A320's that are flying once a day to European destinations such as Malaga, Barcelona, 7 in total. I have picked destinations where the current flights are fully booked or there are none. Also a Bombadier Dash 8 which is flying short hops in and out of Manchester to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast etc, 6 routes once a day.
I have 80 departures out of Manchester a week and 2M left in the Bank.
I know there's a lot more to it and not looking for the instant success button but Is that about right for a new airline?
For starting airlines, some of the most important things are connections for your passengers. On the airport information tab, you should be able to see the connecting time that your hub provides. Transferring passengers from one destination to another is a great way to ensure your planes stay full.
Also, it helps if you click “Activate Schedule in 3 Days” instead of “Activate Schedule.” By doing so, it allows your flights to book passengers for three days instead of one day.
Thanks for the welcome. Yes I understand that connections is the key and the minimum connection time.
The problem is that starting out with three aircraft it's very difficult to schedule local flights to arrive within a couple of hours of the European flights departing.
I have read somewhere that UK - UK - Europe the max connection time between UK - Europe is around 4 hours.
On the few flights I managed that nothing shows up in the connections tab or in the ORS (unless it's buried on Page 500 but that may be because I only scheduled the UK-UK flights a few hours ago.
I will have patience, wait 2 or 3 days and see how things are going but am I generally heading in the right direction? Or am I doing it completely wrong?... Thanks
AS is effectively a game of trial and error. You will find some tactics work, some don't. You are never ever going to be perfect from day 1. Looking at my experience with the European airlines in AS and yours I've got a few comments. Don't take this as your doing everything wrong, more what I would change.
Scheduling
So looking at your airline effectively your schedule is...
DH4 - MAN-ABZ-MAN-EDI-MAN-GLA-MAN-IOM-MAN-LBA-MAN
320 - MAN-TUN - MAN - BCN - MAN - RNS - MAN
320 - MAN-AGP-MAN - CAG - MAN - PSA - MAN
By doing the schedule this way you are missing out on connections on the first and last flight of every aircraft. This approach works for a traditional airline which has crewroom costs etc. However in AS you are doing yourself no favours. Why not start and finish your aircraft days at a non-base. So an A320 could do the same sectors...but finish and start the day in AGP. Have all your aircraft arriving into MAN at the same time at the start of the day.
Seating
The reason for the poor ORS rating is that your seating is very bad in your aircraft. To give you an idea your biggest airline in Manchester has 737-800s (similar size to A320s). They are configured to 120 seats, your squeezing 162 passengers in there. Consider changing the configuration to be more generous
Routes
Like I said before, massive trial and error. From my experience TUN, RNS, CAG are exceedingly hard to make work from the UK, you might be lucky, but not as such a small airline. Try bigger more popular airports (AMS, FRA, MUC, CDG).
Hope that gives you another few steps in the right direction
current flights are fully booked or there are none
If you check the ORS for competition, make sure to enable " Ignore full and ineligible connections " . As long as you dont have a network or big interlining partners you are relying on direct passenger demand.
The shorter the route the less competition you will have from other airlines networks as there are less viable connections available. For example your flight from MAN to BCN will have a lot of flights already either direct or through other connections.
Ideally you will want to search for destinations that have no direct flights already and cannot be reached by multiple other connections. Even if there is no direct flight from A to B, if there are 50 other connections, AS passengers are not smart enough to primarily book your direct flight.
Thanks Helix. I find it impossible to find routes that cannot be reached by other connections even if it's Europe -> USA -> Europe or something just as silly. So I think I will concentrate on direct routes that don't already exist.
Having said that I have taken Ians advice... changed seat configuration, changed service levels and completely re-worked my Dash 8 flight plan so it tries to arrive within a few hours of the European departures.
My first plane took off earlier today with 6 passengers and came back with 7 lol. With no service and crap seats and only 1 day of bookings I get that
There isn't much more I can do now except wait ... everything takes 3 days lol. So if I get through the first two weeks I might be okay but if not then I have a lot more knowledge to start again.
Okay so... sorry to reply to my own post but....just my impression as a brand new player so I hope you will take it as that.... I like the game and have read everything
I can
I have taken in all the advice... now I have to wait 3 days to see if it works.
My problem is what do I do now? I can't lease more planes so I can't create more routes I can't do anything at all not just for 3 days but a whole lot longer because even if my flights start making a profit it will be a whole lot more weeks before it generates enough to lease more planes .I'm really wondering if I have the stamina.
I do understand the concept of patience but really this is a game that I have to wait a couple of weeks before I can do anything? Is that really the idea for new players?
My suggestion would be to start trial accounts with the 10M but increase that to 50M when they upgrade.
Also what some people do is they start multiple airlines on different servers and see where the future takes them. Then they keep the most viable and profitable airline.
One more thing, if you are a trial account you are missing access to one of the most important features that make or breaks any airline - the Online Reservation System (ORS).
Try bigger more popular airports (AMS, FRA, MUC, CDG).
My advice would be to start with domestic routes first. That is UK + Ireland. Going straight to european mega-hubs from day 1 will get you less profit due to much higher landing fees. Also, unless your area is greatly under-served, filling up A320's for a start-up airline will be difficult. Might be a better idea to start with regional aircraft and then switch to larger ones as you grow.
My advice would be to start with domestic routes first. That is UK + Ireland. Going straight to european mega-hubs from day 1 will get you less profit due to much higher landing fees. Also, unless your area is greatly under-served, filling up A320's for a start-up airline will be difficult. Might be a better idea to start with regional aircraft and then switch to larger ones as you grow.
I agree that regional airliners should work well for you. The two widely used turboprop airliners are the Dash 8 and the ATR. The most commonly used regional jetliners are the Embraer EMB-series, and Bombardier CRJ-series.
Details:
Dash 8 - 400 series flies faster than the ATRs, allowing you to use a larger schedule. If you’re playing on a server with used aircraft, the Dash 8 series includes the 100/200, 300, and 400 types/sizes, allowing flexibility when scheduling without increased maintenance costs.
ATR - The ATR series includes the ATR 72 and the much smaller ATR 42; this gives you flexibility without increased maintainence costs. Unlike the Dash 8 series, you can order the very small ATR 42 as a new aircraft.
CRJ - The CRJ series has three main types/sizes: the 700, 900, and 1000. On older servers, you have access to the smaller CRJ 100/200, which give flexibility without increased maintenance costs. The 700 and the 900 are both more cost effective than their Embaer competitors of similar size.
EMB - The EMB series has four main types/sizes: the E170/175 and the E190/195. The E195 is hands-down the most cost efficient regional jet out there.
I hope this breakdown of commonly used regional aircraft helps!
Thanks for all the advice... I am taking it on board. Yes I have access to the ORS
At the moment my flights are all operating at a loss. BUT having changed the schedule, cabin and service I am encouraged... one of my flights in 3 days time is already 50% booked. I'm not actually scheduling to European mega-hubs... more like Barcelona. Malaga etc. The advice here is a bit confusing as Ian said I SHOULD schedule to the likes of Paris, Frankfurt etc whereas Helix says go for routes that don't have direct flights already.
I guess all that proves is that there is no right or wrong approach.
I doubt I will get beyond Week 2 but I will use what works and what doesn't and restart. I will certainly use that time to view the YouTube tutorials.... Thanks
oh and another thanks for making me feel welcome and answering my questions.
Just another question... does time of day affect bookings?
I mean is a passenger less likely to travel at 02:00 than at 14:00? I can see in real life that would apply to business and first passengers but is the AS software that intelligent? I don 't have anywhere near the data to work that out myself so I was wondering if the big airline dudes had noticed. Do you see a reduction in business and economy demand when normal ppl are asleep?
So I kinda wanted to update a little as I am still here!
I tried three times in Europe... really I could see early on that it wasn't going to work each time. My advice to newbies like me is don't bother with Europe... even if you find a country with no flag carrier its really irrelevant as Europe is considered one country so the big guys will have mopped up your internal market already without having to be even based in the same country.
So I set up in the Near East, just passed the two week mark. I haven't gone for cheap old aircraft but I am sticking exclusively to A320's. It means it's slow growth but it IS growth and my business model is quality and steady rather than an explosion.
Have 5 A320s at the moment, about to lease another and have a 92% seat load so quite happy.