It depends on where you are and who you are competing against. Key things to consider are:
- speed
- range
- number of seats
- price
Generally maximising the first 3 and minimising the 4th is best. But you usually have to compromise on one of the three - at least early on in your game. If you are in an area with a lot of airports close by, then you can compromise on range and possibly speed and get a plane which carries more pax. If you are in a remote airport, with few close by airports, then you'll want range, speed will be useful (more rotations!), so you may have to compromise on seats...
select all planes in the buy plane option, and you'll get a list you can sort by all of the headings... play a while, sorting by the above 4 factors, and you should be able to find something which kind of suits your situation. I've worked up from Lets to Mohawks to F27-500s to HS Srs 2B/A to BAE 146 and SE Caravelle 10b. Will probably hold it there for a bit since I'm not sure where I'm going yet...
