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Crap...I'm a deer in headlights.

flyNWA · 12 · 2256

flyNWA

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on: August 13, 2008, 02:38:59 am
Well I just started today (in W9)and was thinking about stating at KMSP (Minneapolis/St. Paul). But I didnt know how much money I would start out with so I went to a small northern Minnesota airport.  I bought 1 gate in the following cities: Madison, WS (100k), Fargo (Which I sold for some reason...), and a gate in MSP (For 300k). Right now I'm running a 100% load factor on Duluth - MSP x2, but only a 20% load factor on Duluth - Madison (also 2x) should I cut the Madison flying to 1x or try lowering the price ofa ticket, or should I drop the rout?

According to my finance page, I'll be bankrupt by tomorrow  ???

Any help appreciated. My airline is called Fly Northern.

Thank for any help.


LOT 737-300

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Reply #1 on: August 13, 2008, 03:32:01 am
Hm, well here are some questions to consider:
1) "Am I making enough for that route?" (typically over 6-7K is ok in my opinion, though I never started from a super large airport).
2) "Who am I competing with?" If you're not competing with anyone, or have reletivly weak competition, it could be good to cut it (though I imagine that MSP has to be filled with many airlines trying to strike it large). If they're much larger, it might be wise to cut it if it isn't going to make you money in the end of the month (remember, gate costs, maint costs, other costs). Also, don't be afraid to cut the freqs, typically 1 is enough with the current format.


Cheung Airlines

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Reply #2 on: August 13, 2008, 05:34:05 am
As usual, fly the shorest route and never exceed 1x freq. on every route.
(Use Gate search and paste them in Excel. Sort them out and you'll see)

YOu should be able to see how many hours left on your plane. Use up all the hours.
(aka shopuld be 0 hours left)

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Chavaquiah

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Reply #3 on: August 13, 2008, 07:40:42 am
You'll have a very hard time trying to break even from such a small airport. But that is not so terrible. Take a few days to experiment and "learn the ropes" of AM and, if things really go bad, just send an email to staff asking for an account reset.

You have no competition in Duluth - Madison. There's no need to have more than one daily frequency, just as LOT said. Use the time you free to create yet another route. Also, 20% LF is very low, so you should adjust fares down.

One gate is enough for 10 frequencies. Yet you're still keeping 2 gates at Duluth. Return one of them before the end of the month, so you can save a little on the rent.


Cheung Airlines

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Reply #4 on: August 13, 2008, 07:55:59 am
Just take a look at your competitor's price and undercut them by $1 or even $0.01 will be more than enough. :P

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LOT 737-300

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Reply #5 on: August 14, 2008, 03:15:59 am
Oh wait, he's in Duluth? My bad.  :-[ Looking at the airport pax number in W9, he should be ok, but he should avoid any airport with less than 400K-500K pax for the most part if he wants to break even in the end of the month until he is capable of flying larger 45-72 seaters.

Quote
As usual, fly the shorest route and never exceed 1x freq. on every route.
(Use Gate search and paste them in Excel. Sort them out and you'll see)

YOu should be able to see how many hours left on your plane. Use up all the hours.
(aka shopuld be 0 hours left)
In a smaller airport, it may be smarter to avoid that stragety immediately. Like I said above, get good coverage of those above 400K-500K until you can afford larger aircraft.


flyNWA

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Reply #6 on: August 14, 2008, 03:43:37 am
Flt No - Depart - Arrive - Aircraft Type and ID - Freq - Load - Profit   
167335 Duluth Thunder Bay Nord 260 Super Broussard (32364) 1  100.00% €4,983 
166813 Duluth Madison - Dane County Nord 260 Super Broussard (32364) 2 91.30% €7,875   
167307 Duluth Omaha Nord 260 Super Broussard (32364) 1 97.83% €11,590 
166826 Duluth Minneapolis St Paul Nord 260 Super Broussard (32364) 2 100.00% €20,017

thoes are my routs.  I checked my 2x freq's and they make me more money than if I only ran one.  Since I added Omaha, my finaces tell me I'll be in the black by the end of the month.  I'll probably but a few gates at 50k/ gate airports and test thoes.

Thanks for the help, and Fly Northern  ;)


Cheung Airlines

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Reply #7 on: August 14, 2008, 04:50:28 am
Still, two 1x routes will make more DOP than 1 2x freq. routes. ???

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Fox Airways

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Reply #8 on: August 15, 2008, 02:42:14 am
you're missing a whole lot of other gates in WI, MN, and IA
There's 4 airports off hand that are between Duluth and MSN that you could hit as well.


flyNWA

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Reply #9 on: August 15, 2008, 09:39:54 pm
Yeah I was thinking about that, but I dont know how small city to small city would work...(enough pax ect.). I'll flirt around with it but I need to get another plane to do some longer flying to medium sized cities.  So im in a bit of a pickle but hopefully I'll be able to lease out another piece of metal.

Thanks for the continued help


MrOrange

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Reply #10 on: August 15, 2008, 10:12:47 pm
Yeah I was thinking about that, but I dont know how small city to small city would work...(enough pax ect.). I'll flirt around with it but I need to get another plane to do some longer flying to medium sized cities.  So im in a bit of a pickle but hopefully I'll be able to lease out another piece of metal.

Thanks for the continued help
If you use smaller aircraft on low-demand routes, you'll still be fine. By the looks of it, your fleet doesn't really consist of 737-sized aircraft, so you'll be fine.


flyNWA

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Reply #11 on: August 17, 2008, 01:39:32 am
Well my starter piece of metal is all used up and the leasing/sale option is too expensive...I only have about 1.2m in cash right now :P


 

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