Rapid early game expansion

[daveharnett]

Airline Mogul - See my airline
http://www.airlinemogul.com/airlinemogul/world_info.php?wid=2074

I've started in CDG in an underpopulated world where each player currently has a big area of operation to themselves. Early growth will be decisive here, and I'm also keen to discourage competition.

I've got about 10 turboprops (70pax) serving the smaller (<1M) nearby (<600nm) airports, for a DOC of about 5M. I'm on the fence about my next step:

A: Start buying mid sized 'backbone' aircraft to fill out the service from my starting base. (MD-82s?)
B: Establish 2-3 nearby bases, and spam 10-12 more turboprops out of each before starting on the more expensive 'core' fleet.

I'm leaning toward option B, but I'd like to get opinions from more experienced players.

[1993matias]

For quick money, go for B.
By spamming routes with small planes, you get more money. That is because the cost/revenue ratio of a small plane is bigger than that of a big plane.

If you want to have big aircraft, you can go for A. It will earn you almost just as much money, but you will have big aircraft right away, and you would not need to purchase them later.

On a sidenote; I have noticed that you don't fly to big airports. If you want to earn money, you have to fly to the big airports. Even though they may seem expensive, they earn more than the smaller airports.

Good luck!

[pseudoswede]

I agree with most of matias' assessment and also lean towards B.

It doesn't matter how expensive the airport is. If it's in range, you fly to it. (Same goes for the cheapest, smallest airports.) If you so choose, you can dedicate a few ATPs to do the "mainline" routes only. Then it will be easier to swap out to larger aircraft when your DOC is high enough.

You've only used 9 gates at CDG so far. I would keep buying ATPs and adding routes out of CDG until you have enough cash and ATPs to easily open another 350k base nearby without having to wait too long to recover (~10M DOC).

Once you hit about 15M DOC, I would start investing in F-100's. Replace the ATPs on the mainline routes and continue to expand. Open another base once you hit 25 gates at CDG and at least 10 gates at your next base. Just remember, when you open a new base, to invest in ATPs to use on flights to all airports within its range.

When your DOC hits about 45M, I would buy the occasional B762ER. Mix long-haul flights (@ 0.5-freq) to large airports with intra-Europe flights to the larger airports (replacing the F-100's).

[daveharnett]

Cheers guys!