Airline Mogul Forum
Airline Mogul => Game Strategy => Topic started by: TruemanQLD on August 28, 2008, 05:03:25 am
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Hi,
I have an airline in W9 and I would like some help with a few decisions
Firstly my airline:
GC Airways
Fleet: 13 (Nord 260, AN2P, F27 etc (maximum 52 seats and range of 4,000km)
Routes: OOL - All over Eastern Australia, New Zealand, Perth and Bali (plus close pacific)
Airline Value: 12million
My questions:
I am running out of profitable routes to start should I:
-start long haul
-Create a base at another airport in eastern Australia
-Create a Base in another country
I want to streamline my fleet should I:
- Buy Boeings + the aircraft I have at the moment
- dont worry and buy whatever is cheap at the time
Should I charge for food and drink?
Thanks
Trueman
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You're not doing bad at all, considering Gold Coast is a very difficult base to make a profit from. But, for this very reason, maybe you its time to move on to another, bigger, airport. Eastern Australia would allow you to make better use of the bases you already have, thus saving a lot of money renting gates everywhere.
Oh, about gates... you should get rid of the extra slots at Lauceston!
Later on I would look for a foreign hub in North America, Europe or Asia. But, for a second base, staying close to home is not a bad idea. Just make sure to pick one of the top airports.
Do not go long haul yet. Certainly not from Gold Coast. You'll notice that, in AM, LH is even less profitable than most short routes even to smaller airports.
Same about Boeings or any other more expensive jets. Very hard to justify out of smaller places. I suggest you leave them for when you're operating from a bigger hub and, for the time being, go with the cheaper aircraft you can get.
And you should most definitely charge for food and drinks!
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Join an alliance ;)
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Personaly, at value 12 million, i think thats way too early to join an allience.
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Ive started a small base at Launceston because I wanted to capitalise on the lack of routes but that didnt turn out to be at all profitable :roll:'
Im away for a few days so that should save up some money and then I will start a base somewhere in Eastern Australia (what about NZ?) Also - it is incredibly expensive if I want to set up at MEL, SYD or BNE it would cost 12 mill or so but what about CNS or TSV?
Also... running a profitable airline at OOL is rather easy as I dont have much competition on the routes I want to use
Joining an alliance costs about the same amount of money as my airline is valued at! :P
Trueman
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am running out of profitable routes to start should I:
-start long haul
-Create a base at another airport in eastern Australia
-Create a Base in another country
I want to streamline my fleet should I:
- Buy Boeings + the aircraft I have at the moment
Ok I recommen you to begin with aircraft like ATRs , Embraers , Fokkers , thing like that because Boiengs and Airbusses
- dont worry and buy whatever is cheap at the time
The Cheap is not always the better , alwaqs compare fuel usage , turn times , ranges ,e tc
Should I charge for food and drink?
yes.
Thanks
Trueman
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Hi,
I started a base at Beijing and am running very profitably from there and soon I hope to create a base somewhere in between so, potentially, I can send an Aircraft from Beijing to Launceston. A quick question: should I rent a 707? Or am I better off with small aircraft?
Thanks
Trueman
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A quick question: should I rent a 707? Or am I better off with small aircraft?
It's close to impossible to cover a 707's rent, even from Beijing. Buy one, if you must, and when you have enough money. But, for the time being, either lease smaller planes and concentrate on shorter routes (the ones that bring in most money, btw) or start saving for your own planes.
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if you try Melbourne,you will be crushed with competition,and im not even in australia
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I was not thinking of trying MEL as I prefer to try the cheaper airports - but generally pull large numbers. I was thinking of establishing a base at Broome or Darwin for easy access to Asia as well as creating a base somewhere in India - is that a good idea?
Trueman
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No. Not at all.
Certainly not Broome (344K PAX). Darwin (1.4M PAX) is not so terrible but is still a hard place from where to launch many routes.
Also, you can only create a base in India if you close the one you already have in China, as there is a limit of one base outside the starting region.
May I suggest Guam? ;)
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G'day, I'm Jesters from Australia, look me up ;).
I think Launceston was bad place to start a hub, Australia is hard enough to make a profit so by basing yourself in such a small airport you've shot yourself twice in the foot.
I'd suggest maybe some of the NZ airports, the market is there not AS saturated there, it's still pretty tough. Once you get more experience, you'll discover, your Beijing based will probably own all your other Aussie bases combined - I did with my Seoul base.
Simply, Australia isn't profitable.
As for your Broom base - :o :o :o. Basing yourself there would be suicide! Broom is very small airport to be basing yourself in + there are hardly any airports in the Western part of Australia. If you must, definitely pick Darwin over Broome. There's not much competition at Darwin and like you said - easy access to Asia.
Best of luck!
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Thanks for the help... I have made a base at darwin and with 1 aircraft and with 3 flights I have managed to become more profitable then my Launceston Opps. O well Im learning as I go. Would I be best at CHC, WEL or AKL or even Guam?
Thanks
Trueman
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Auckland and Wellington are very bad bases IMO.
There is an airline that wrecks both bases with multiple frequencies on small aircraft each game round (I won't mention names...) so that most other airlines will make little or no profit there at all...
CHC is an ok base though, but there aren't many airports in New Zealand.
I would recommend Adelaide as a good base, it's fairly central in Australia, but small enough so it doesn't get all the action that can be seen at SYD,MEL and BNE.
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Ok, so I might set up ADL after Im finished with DRW. I joined United World but what can you do? create routes out of other members bases? So I could set up a route from LHR - MUC if a person in my alliance had a hub at LHR or MUC?
Thanks
Trueman
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So I could set up a route from LHR - MUC if a person in my alliance had a hub at LHR or MUC?
Yes, provided you have a gate at both LHR and MUC. Also provided the flight limit from LHR or from MUC hasn't been reached. With such a large alliance... I don't know...
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G'day, I'm Jesters from Australia, look me up ;).
I think Launceston was bad place to start a hub, Australia is hard enough to make a profit so by basing yourself in such a small airport you've shot yourself twice in the foot.
I'd suggest maybe some of the NZ airports, the market is there not AS saturated there, it's still pretty tough. Once you get more experience, you'll discover, your Beijing based will probably own all your other Aussie bases combined - I did with my Seoul base.
Simply, Australia isn't profitable.
As for your Broom base - :o :o :o. Basing yourself there would be suicide! Broom is very small airport to be basing yourself in + there are hardly any airports in the Western part of Australia. If you must, definitely pick Darwin over Broome. There's not much competition at Darwin and like you said - easy access to Asia.
Best of luck!
Basing at Launceston...sounds familair (I did it in W8-but had to shut down)
And also, Darwin, it's an absolute hole for profits. I based there in W8 as well, and it was both of them that forced me to shut down.
I had something like 100 flights out of Launceston, and trust me, always base at airports with over 2 Mil pax, otherwise planes won't make enough money to cover their maintinence costs.
(I've been in Australasia for 4 Worlds now.. :))
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I sugjest u switch to one type of plane that will cut down on a lot of fees like RW Southwest Airlines u dont see them flyin 747s (just example) but seriously cut back to something like an fokker F100 or what ever ur choice.
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Ive found DRW to be quite profitable actually - well compared to Launceston and OOL
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Okay Im Southern Cross Airways World 8
MEL-BRISBANE-SYD-CANBERRA-GOLD-COAST-ADL-and possibly hobart.
Perth is a tricky situation. far away from regional routes and to long for the true long haul routes.
NZL would be tricky as there is only 4 main hubs Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. Possibly Dundeian again but not recommended. creating a Hub in europe would be a good idea as high PAX airports are close together and good money to be earnt their. i started a base in Ireland and it;s great. maybe some airports are crowded but there are some great locations with high PAX but low competition. Speaking of low paxs my first AM hub was at Merimbula then New Castle. both didnt work out. WA is a hell hole for profits never go there. 747s dont work in Australia im doing the MEl-LOS route and it's not working. 707 and A340s for me are the gods of long haul routes in Australia and Ocasionally the MD-11. With the right technique you can make Australia profitible.
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Just an update of my airline at present
Antonov An-2P 8
BACC H-250 1
Convair 440 2
DHC-4 Caribou 2
Douglas DC-3 2
Fokker F27-200 1
Fokker F27-400 1
Gulfstream I 1
Hamilton Westwind III 1
HS-748E 1
Nord 260 Super Broussard 2
PAC Tradewind 1
Page Herald-200 1
Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer Srs 1 1
Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer Srs 3 1
Vickers Viscount Srs 810 1
Plus 5 or 6 leased aircraft
Hubs: Beijing, OOL, DRW, ADL, Launceston.
Value: 78,000,000
Passengers: 6000 odd
Soon to purchase more long haul aircraft (4000 + range)
Trueman
BTW I quit United World as it was to big and wasnt helping... any suggestions as to what alliance I should join instead or should I make my own? (Is there any advantage to that?)
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Closed Beijing and Launceston in hope of opening a base thats more profitable in Asia and a base in NZ. Where in Asia?
Trueman
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I sugjest u switch to one type of plane that will cut down on a lot of fees like RW Southwest Airlines u dont see them flyin 747s (just example) but seriously cut back to something like an fokker F100 or what ever ur choice.
Well, fleet commonality is being worked on, though right now, it doesn't have any effect on your airline. That is what I recall anyways.
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Actually, it lower MX costs...
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Well.... I joined Bluewing alliance and now fly all over the world, I have alliance routes from Toronto, Kuala Lumpar, Mumbai, Dehli, Los Angeles and San Juan - and if there is one thing i have learnt from this time is that OOL is not profitable (only SYD is really). I have over 21,000 passengers (and am ranked 12th by value - 140,000,000) but if it was to be ranked by passenger numbers i would be 4th or 5 th
Is there anything wrong with leasing aircraft if I make them profitable? I can expand alot easier that way and I have now many VC-10, 707 and 727 aircraft on lease and all are making profit (by the way - do I multiply daily profit by 24 or 31?)??
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It is all by 24, but also remember to check the Fiance screen to make sure you are making profit. I once leased in a VC-10 while waiting for a Tu-114D to come in, and I remember it cost a pretty penny to lease them in.
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Ok thanks for that info - if I wish to leave an alliance - do all my routes from alliance hubs close???
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Ok thanks for that info - if I wish to leave an alliance - do all my routes from alliance hubs close???
I'm not sure, I had a situation where a competitor had been in a mega alliance (actually, the one you were in), later that day, he quit and left the alliance as well, and the competition was still flying the routes it appears.
I really do wish that something could be done there, as it is basically giving a hub to those huge ones in the mega-alliance.
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I am now stoping my fast rental expansion and buying many F27-200's and expanind out of DFW, SIN, Mumbai, Dehli and Doha. This seems to be raising my DOP a little bit but also reduces the amount of fees I have to pay - as I hope to onyl have a rental fleet of VC-10's and Boeing 707's by the end of next week.
I now am ranked 9th in Australasia but 4th on Passenger numbers
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Hi guys,
My airline is now worth 480million and I have a fleet of 86 including Convair 440's, 580's and 640's and 20 odd Fokker F27's aswell as my rental fleet of 707's and others.
Hope to close either DRW or ADL, not sure what though and then I will open a hub at PER, SYD or NAD.
Trueman
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Very annoyed! Game ends in 2 years and I am just starting to expand dramatically. I have alliance hubs at JFK (I found a gate :)), LHR, SIN, KUL, BKK, MAN, DFW, LAX, Mumbai and Dehli. I am making a DOP 10.5mill and an airline value of 670 mil. On Px numbers I would be 3rd, but at present I am 9ths. So for next game I am going to base myself at either SYD or MUC
Trueman