The Most Profitable Aircraft in AM

[Fox Airways]

I've had awesome luck with the Boeing 717 HGW.
I've got 4 that are making over 650k, and 15 that are making over 500k.
They were doing better early on when there competition allowed for higher fares, one was over 750k.
Cheap to buy, cheap to fly, and you get them in 24 hours.

[iranair777]

Fuel?
Who cares about fuel?
XD

I think the best ~70 turbo props for Short haul is the BAe Jetstream J-61.

I do as even the pennies count towards pounds

[steventommyobama]

Fokker 100's are cheap, have quite a few pax, a good range, and don't use THAT much fuel!

[jetrc]

The A320 family for me is the most profitable in AM. They earn me about 400-500k a day. Embraer E-Jets are also good too.

[blue25]

Short Range: ERJ-135

Medium Range: ATR-72-200

Long Range: Boeing 747-400

Modern Rounds (1980-Present)*

[Shawa]

My personal favorites:

Rombac 111-495, quite frugal, long range for such a small plane, which is perfect if you're not in a big market.

But i'm a nut job who likes to go off the beaten path. Heck i started an airline in Kazakhstan once

[CHR]

747? Where are you using it? I found they barely make more money than something 767 size.

[sla31]

747? Where are you using it? I found they barely make more money than something 767 size.

Yeah I've always found the 747s do not make much money at all.  Right now in my world it is 1960 and I'm having pretty good numbers coming in from the Boeing 720.

[blue25]

747? Where are you using it? I found they barely make more money than something 767 size.

Yeah I've always found the 747s to mot make much money at all.  Right now in my world it is 1960 and I'm having pretty good numbers coming in from the Boeing 720.

Aha! I have made upwards of 250-300k per route! My best route was ATL-LHR (no competition) at about 255k!

[Iconoclast]

747? Where are you using it? I found they barely make more money than something 767 size.

Yeah I've always found the 747s to mot make much money at all.  Right now in my world it is 1960 and I'm having pretty good numbers coming in from the Boeing 720.

Aha! I have made upwards of 250-300k per route! My best route was ATL-LHR (no competition) at about 255k!

If there is no competition have you tried the same route using a smaller plane?  I would think you would get higher profits using a smaller plane if you are by yourself on a route.  The only time I could see a 747 be profitable is to just eat up all the market share from competitors.

[wishfulanthony]

If I might jump into this forum...

My most favorite aircraft so far (that make a lot of profits) include:

- Saab 340B - with a max. speed of 282nm/hr, seats 37, max. range of 1,123nm, fuel usage of 153, and turnaround time of 0.24hr, I think this is a wonderful aircraft for all those regional and local trips around certain regions (like right now, I'm also on 958, and the aircraft is performing very well, with profits over 100,000 spread over 9 active a/c), and with its good turnaround time, I could say this airliner works for those medium- to heavily-traveled routes without spending too much fuel.

- Embraer EMB-120 series - the workhorse of my airline right now, I have 17 examples of this model right now, including:
   - EMB-120 model - with a max. speed of 328nm/hr, seats 30, max. range of 1,021nm, fuel usage of 143, and turnaround time of 0.21hr, I just ordered five of these to replace my Vardax aircraft (that I may be selling off) so that it could be used for domestic and some regional trips.
   - EMB-120RT model - with a max. speed of 300nm/hr, seats 30, max. range of 1,978nm, fuel usage of 143, and turnaround time of 0.21hr, this is a great model for those regional trips that do not have much demand (let's say from large city to small towns), or it can be used for point-to-point major airport trips (i.e. SFO-LAX). I think this aircraft is very viable also for long regional trips that only require short runways to land on, or for those who want fuel economy on their planes because it does not burn a lot of fuel as an A319...

I might add a tip on how to make your aircraft profitable: maximize the use of the aircraft, provided that you note the following:
- Maximum speed of aircraft (for long range aircraft, multiply speed by 12 to see how far it could go, then subtract turnaround time from 24 hours)
- Maximum range of aircraft
- How far your destinations are

For example, I have an aircraft that only has 0:01hr left for turnaround after completing 6 to 8 domestic and international flights on a small aircraft -- bringing in efficiency and diversity (of destinations) at the same time.