Hi,
I started playing with a cargo subsidiary in Aspern.
I have a few ideas that I feel might make cargo ops simulate real world a little better.
1)
Remove flight time effect from ORS ratings. Why ? Unlike people, cargo doesn't really care weather it takes 12 hours to get from A to B or if it takes 20 hours. So as long as the cargo connects (the 8 hour window), it would get the same rating regardless of travel time. That would allow us to schedule cargo flights like they do them in the real world, capacity over frequency. For example Cargolux only has B747-400Fs in it's fleet, but I doubt that would work in AS...
2)
Introduce trucks. Yes trucks ! That's what real cargo carriers do too. They have trucks that appear as flights in their schedules to do some extra short distances that are not viable to be flown in any case. For example something like DUS-LUX is never worth flying, even with a ATR72F. Truck connections can suffer in the ORS rating, but be easily offset with a price. Also trucks do not consume slots...