Airline Mogul Forum
Airline Mogul => General Chat => Topic started by: scottj63 on April 12, 2008, 09:02:08 am
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Well I moved away from the Philippines in my second round and boyyyyyyyy am I learning a good lesson. This round is slow for me. I pick my bases on where i have lived during my life. So this round "Honduras Airlines" is based in Honduras. I sure don't make any money based there. It isnt even a good idea for me to lease a 160k a month plane because I dont know if i can make enough from my routes to pay the lease and the gates. I have 2 planes now with a 3rd on order. I just can't believe how little money I make there. I have one route that makes over 10k a flight. most are around 5k. Any practical ideas for improving are greatly appreciated.
Scott in the Philippines on a longggggggggggggg vacation
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Either up sticks and move to somewhere with more oppertunaty, or just wate a looooooooooong time untill you have the oppertunaty to open a new base with somewhere with more oppertunaty :P
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Well I am going to try to stick it out and see what happens, even the folks in lower Central America need an airline. I will just see how it goes and buy planes as the opportunity arises. Wish I was in an alliance that sold planes cheap when they were done with them (laughing)
Scott on long vacation in the Philippines
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well I leased a 160k plane and with 5 gates I will make about 30k a month profit on it, going to be a longggggggggggggg round (laughing)
scott in the philippines
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Just save up for a new base, It will be slightly easier because you would of accumalated a reasonable amount of airports until then, so all you really need is a plane. :wink:
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And make sure its a good airport, may be more expensive but it will be worth it. :wink:
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where in honduras ? if its in san pedro its not bad
just choose cheap planes with range in the begining and u'llbe fine
canadair is fine costs around 3m 1295 range and 30 pax
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Scott,
Which world are you in?
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Heh, every time I started a round on here, I always based at PIT. It's my home, and my heart will always be in Pittsburgh, even when I live someplace else. Every round tho, I try different markets to supplement my PIT base.
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well, i own 3 small planes and leased in 1. Leasing now isnt viable because every place i can make money now is out of range for a plane i can afford. But my dop is up to 116k, so I hope to be able to afford a plane with 20 seats and 1000 mile range over 200kts in a month or month and a half. Patience will be the key this round. Being a small country carrier is not going to get me a mansion quick, but it will be satisfying if i can pull off a nice rise of the companies value.
Fleur, I am in world 3 I believe. My airline is "Honduras Airlines"
scott in the Philippines on a longgggggggggg vacation
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Scott,
I looked at your airline (we are in the same world, after all).
You're in a tight spot, going to be hard to make money.
Stay with small craft for now.
I freed up one of my old clunkers, and sent it to you in a private sale.
You'll need $483,444 to buy it. Sorry, I couldn't price it for any less (I made sure it was my cheapest clunker too).
Other option is, that I can send you some "el cheapo" leases when I free up some more.
Edit: All right, I have one on lease too. If you would rather buy it, let me know. My airline name and number are in my signature.
I admire your style, and enjoyed your posts when you're airline was in the Philippines last season.
Take care.
Have Fun.
Fleur-de-Lis
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I finally got enough money to buy the plane from Fleur. Thank you very much Fleur, the Otter will make me about 70k a month profit, twice what my lease plane makes. If you get another old plane with about 1000 nm range let me know, i will replace my lease plane with that.
I will try to make a second base at an airport with a bigger base population, but that will take YEARS at the profit rate I have. It will cost me 6.4 mil to do it and that is, well, very "ambitious" thinking for Honduras Air. I am sure this round will be a "personal satisfaction" round for me. I have no way to make money with the way I started and it will be fun to just slowly build up what I can offering what services that I can to the region I am in.
I appreciate the advice and help that I get in the game. This is a great community here and I enjoy being a part of it.
Scott in the Philippines on a longgggggggggggg vacation
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Well my dop is now about 130k a day, and I'm very happy with that. We are and will be just a small regional carrier. I have 5 small planes in service with my first 32 seater on order for the last 4 1million plus cities within reach of my base. That should hopefully get me to about 180-200k a day. Then i will sit back and try to save about 7 million dollars to make a second hub for our airline which will greatly increase the bottom line for us. I was able to return my lease plane when i found the same plane priced much below its book value. In 3 months it will have paid for itself just in lease savings. So that was a great move.
Let's see how things go in the next couple years.
scott in Philippines on a longgggggggg vacation
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You should have started somewhere with a good amount of airports within 1000 miles as well as a good amount of PAX (5 mil +)
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I've been so busy Scott, sorry.
Glad you're doing better. Happy that plane worked out.
I can send you another Otter, or a DHC-100, or both - if you can afford them.
(I'll give you another really big deal on them too. ;) )
If you got enough cash, I can also offer an Aérospatiale N 262. These are great, would work well with your airline. I still am able to find a use for all the ones I bought.
Else; take a look at the aircraft my airline has in game (see signature for details), and just message me with what you'd like me to send you.
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You should have started somewhere with a good amount of airports within 1000 miles as well as a good amount of PAX (5 mil +)
He's playing a conceptual game.
Not trying to be the biggest airline, but trying to make do with where he started.
Read his posts about his airline last round.
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I know I should have Fuou707, but I am making airlines in cities i have lived in around the world. Last round i was in the philippines (where i live currently) and this round I went to Honduras (where i lived in the early 90's) Business is hard there obviously, but that is ok, I realize my place in the airline community this round and am enjoying myself trying to scratch out a little more profit from my little airline.
scott in philippines on longggggggggg vacation
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Hey Fleur, thanks for the offer on the aircraft. I am to the point where i need planes with a 1500 mile range or better due to my home base being such a small facility. If an airport has less than 1mil passengers it is hard for me to make money on a route (my home base has 500k passengers) If you get any planes that have 1500+ mile range i will be interested (when i get the money of course lol) I dont care how old they are, my maintenance guys can paint over the cracks.
scott in philippines on longgggggggg vacation
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I know I should have Fuou707, but I am making airlines in cities i have lived in around the world. Last round i was in the philippines (where i live currently) and this round I went to Honduras (where i lived in the early 90's) Business is hard there obviously, but that is ok, I realize my place in the airline community this round and am enjoying myself trying to scratch out a little more profit from my little airline.
scott in philippines on longggggggggg vacation
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1500 NM range?
Hmmm...
Be a while before I rotate out my Hawker Sidley 748 props, or Super Caravelle jets.
I can always give you my B-737-200's at half price - I don't like these any ways - but that's still over $20 million each.
Or tell me which type of aircraft you want specifically, and I'll see if I can pick up something from another airline, or the open market, for you.
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20million? (laughing) I think it will be many years till I can afford that. I will keep my eye out for deals on older airplanes. I think I am pretty much at my limit of what I can do with what I am working with. If i want to make money i need to expand to a second airport in Honduras that has a larger base, but that will take 6.5 mil I think based on what I figured, oh and another plane to use the new base (laughing). I have my work cut out for me, so we will see what happens
scott in philippines on longgggggggg vacation
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my dop is 184k a day. I wish it was little better because I would like to provide the small airports in the region service, but I would lose to much monthly on gate fees. Man this is frustrating. I need another plane with a 1500nm range so i can up my dop a bit to be able to afford the loss of the small city routes. Well I hope the local folk understand what is happening due to business.
scott in the philippines on long vacation
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Hey Buddy,
I got a surprise for you: Check your 'Incoming Private Offers' box, in the Aircraft Market.
You'll need 2.6 million though - but I think it's right in with your concept.
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Thanks to a private plane sale which brought in 30k more dop a day for Honduras Airlines, we shall be looking at the used markets for small regional planes to provide service to the outlaying and isolated areas of central america near and in Honduras. These routes will not make money, but they will provide an invaluable service to the indigineous folks our the area that has been long overdue in coming. Thank you Asylum Freight for help in making this happen
Scott in the Philippines
CEO of Honduras Airlines
"If there is a runway, we will fly there"
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Well, we have connected all of honduras, nicaragua, el salvador and are working on the last few regions of Panama to make Central America accessible to everyone in the region. We found a reasonably priced aircraft and put it into regional service to the areas that larger airlines wouldn't go to. Are we gonna get rich doing this? No, but the bills will get paid and it should spur increased economic benefits for the affected regions.
I think we are about done expanding out of our base and will now concentrate on expanding to a second hub in the region to increase our volumne of local passengers.
scott in Philippines
CEO of Honduras Airlines
"Profits? We don't need no profits, well maybe small ones"
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i think our growth is going to be a slow process. I need 6.5 mil to expand to a second base in honduras but i cant seem to get there with my monthly profits (laughing) I hate having to be so patient.
scott in philippines
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Well things took a turn for the better in Honduras. I got a Hurel-Dubois HD 321 pretty cheap for me and it instantly became my largest profit margin in the fleet. So that is great news for the company. The beginning of the month took us to -5mil so i have to wait 12 days or so till i have cash to spend again. Expansion is the only way we can make the airline any larger, but it will be probably 2 yrs of saving to get it done. On a good note we have 11 aircraft in the fleet. True not modern jets, but we move our passengers with well maintained older planes.
scott in philippines
CEO of Honduras Airlines
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The Airline is doing quite well. Some additional funding came available and we were able to expand to a second base which opened up more markets for us. Thanks to a very well negotiated transaction with a larger airline, we had an influx of 11 aircraft to the fleet and our schedulers are fixing routes for them now. Our dop is up to 1.45million a day and the outlook is better for our long term future. True we have "future considerations" to look at with the company who has become our supplier for aircraft, but it is in our best interest to stay in business with our "partners" and to keep the relationship a good one for all parties. (right now it is a much better relationship for Honduras Airlines)
We have had small expansion into the US markets, but with our limited range aircraft, it is only regional expansion. We are in negotiations for a couple larger range and seat aircraft (ie... saving money to buy them (laughing) to fuel expansion to major north american hubs to try to attract foreign investment to the region. Hopes are high with this strategy.
Scott in Philippines
President, CEO, tyrant, grand poobah of Honduras Airlines
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Is this turning into an Airline Report? :wink:
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Stephen, it sort of is, but I also ask questions here on gameplay and advice.
scott in the philippines
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I have seen some interesting things in the short time i have been in the game. But this is a first. I flew from one of my hubs to chicago midway in world 3 and someone is running 1.5 freq at 1 euro. Only problem is that there isnt a price war there (laughing) only 3 planes fly there. I hope he is new and just doesnt know better. Or could we have a AM version of a griefer (laughing).
scott in philippines
ceo of Honduras Air (w3)
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"I doesn't see anything wrong here given that it's legal." by admin's model answer.
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I have seen some interesting things in the short time i have been in the game. But this is a first. I flew from one of my hubs to chicago midway in world 3 and someone is running 1.5 freq at 1 euro. Only problem is that there isnt a price war there (laughing) only 3 planes fly there. I hope he is new and just doesnt know better. Or could we have a AM version of a griefer (laughing).
scott in philippines
ceo of Honduras Air (w3)
Most likely either the remains of an old price war (in that case you could agree with the two other guys to raise the price bar again) or some paranoid guy who thinks that he has to start a price war against the other guys.
Or someone who accidently typed 1 instead of 1000 :lol:
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Or someone who accidently typed 1 instead of 1000 :lol:
That's probably. That person should be a lazy guy. :lol:
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Well think of it this way...at least they're losing money.
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Yes Dora i know it is legal, I was in a hub last round where the 1 euro war started on a few routes, but there were a lot of airlines doing it, not one guy who has no real competition in the hub. I put a decent price for my flight and got 100% load even with his 1 euro freqs, so I know he is losing his butt with that, but hey, not my airline. It just took me by surprise seeing that at an airport that isnt one of the big ones.
scott in philippines
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the round is going very nicely for me now. I am slowly starting to repay considerations to other companies who have helped Honduras Air. The game is very enjoyable. From making so many routes i have a suggestion. when we do gate searches, it would be nice if you could highlight the 'range' or 'passenger' columns so they could be in order by size, would make finding routes so much easier
scott in philippines
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Thats why we have gate search ;)
http://airlinemogul.com/airlinemogul/gate_search.php
One drawback is that you cannot choose the range from airport to airport. This from what I recall is going to be for paid membership in the future
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yes i use the gate search iranair, what i suggest is that you can highlight the tabs in the gate search to put them in order by range or pax like how in view and buy you can sort your planes by various tabs,
scott in philippines
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yh, thats the only function we have, as I said, will be implemented in the future for maying members
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wow i really must be a backwoods airline company. On one route I started today (domestic) My only competition is a 747 (laughing) On a shorter domestic flight. Now that airline has money coming out its azz to be able to do that. I actually got a good little laugh sitting here at my computer.
scott in philippines
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laugh now, while it's funny.
Wait till you see multiple frequencies, on multiple routes, and the price at $1.
Your own airline's DOP drops by millions over night.
Then when you look at the airline in question and figure they cannot possibly keep it up, they get another 10 large aircraft a day added to their fleet?!?
Somethings just don't add up.
:?
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Fleur,
I know what you are saying, at my Manchester hub the other guy based there is undercutting every route i have and every route he is doing it on has a 737 on it (laughs) and he is worth 10% of my worth so you are right about not know how things add up sometimes. Well it is only a game.
Scott in Philippines
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then why dont you buy 737's? they are really good money makers
also, instead of typing 'laughs' every time there is a smilie ;) :lol:
:lol:
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Well now I know this is nothing at ALL to do with real life economics (laughing) I make more money on a small plane from san juan to dallas than I do with a large aircraft flying from san juan to charle de gaulle. I am not complaining, I am actually here laughing. I was testing a theory that a friend in the game told me and well it is true as far as i can see it. I fly long distance international in real life all the time (due to work) and I know how much it costs, maybe a tweak on long range pricing should be thought about in AM.
scott in philippines
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problem is changing long haul routes pricing has a knock on effect. and anyway, long haul routes in AM sometimes give less revenue than short haul routes