[W9] Airline Management Help

[TruemanQLD]

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

[Chavaquiah]

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!

[mashimaro_1]

Join an alliance

[Tiger In Training]

Personaly, at value 12 million, i think thats way too early to join an allience.

[TruemanQLD]

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   '

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! 

Trueman

[shaq]

 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

[TruemanQLD]

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

[Chavaquiah]

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.

[zenmen5]

if you try Melbourne,you will be crushed  with competition,and im not even in australia

[TruemanQLD]

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

[Chavaquiah]

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?

[mashimaro_1]

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 -  . 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!

[TruemanQLD]

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

[cameron1991]

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.

[TruemanQLD]

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