Competition Strategies

I'm new to AE and having a blast playing so far! I'm in R3 and have a reasonably profitable low cost carrier setup. Another airline has started up at 1 of my hubs and is dropping prices on almost every route I have going from that hub. I've been dropping prices right back at them in return but was wondering if there were other strategies to help me? Any advice is appreciated!

If you have already met the demand for a route & another guy comes along with equal capacity, he will naturally have to drop the price just to fill his seats. That's not nefarious, that's just the basic law of supply & demand: If you increase supply on fixed demand, the price has to goes down.

My advice: dump more capacity. In other words, put more planes on the route. Sure, it's less profitable, but it makes a point that you're not going to be pushed around & not going to be the one to quit first. Review the route regularly & if they quit, you can adjust your capacity & pricing accordingly.

Also, where you have a hub, sometimes it works out better to charge a higher fare & fill seats with your hub connection passengers (the blue part of the line). I've had many instances where I've constantly matched my competitors prices in a race to the bottom, but then just hitting the reset button on the fares can sometimes actually make more money. Not always, but sometimes.

Yeah my competitor from the 1 hub is using the exact same aircraft I'm using on those routes so it's a wash there. However, I've figured out when he logs in and I just wait for him to change his prices.....then undercut him when he logs off lol   I do make money off IFS although not much.

There are two ways to deal with a price war. You can keep sniping at each other, like you two are, or you can go for one killer blow. Cut your price to just about break-even, see what happens.

If you're really worried about maximising profits, though, 'the only way to win is not to play at all': either you two stick with the usual prie and run no more flights than the route can handle, or dump the route and go find another with no competition.

Don't just compete with him on a single hub. Buy whichever mid to large capacity aircraft available including less fuel efficient ones and dump all of them onto all his routes at a fare of $1, make sure you fully saturate each route before moving on to the next. Keep doing this and he will be dead in a few weeks.

Scam IFS in coach. Add business class now and first class once you have a bit more money.

Scam IFS in coach. Add business class now and first class once you have a bit more money.

Internationally fly all 3 classes and use all 5 star in first.

My advice: dump more capacity. In other words, put more planes on the route. Sure, it's less profitable, but it makes a point that you're not going to be pushed around & not going to be the one to quit first.

I don't understand this. Why it's better to put more planes on the route than putting less planes with more capacity? I thought it's more efficient with huge plane than multiple small planes?

Other than efficiency, I can't think of other differences it will make.

In my airline Texan Air I am thinking about replacing 71 737's and 10 757's with a fleet of 767-300's. The main reason being because on a lot of my 737 routes (usually less than 2000mi) people put 747's and 777's and other planes with a high max pax. Do you think it will be worth it or just be a big waste a fuel?

In my airline Texan Air I am thinking about replacing 71 737's and 10 757's with a fleet of 767-300's. The main reason being because on a lot of my 737 routes (usually less than 2000mi) people put 747's and 777's and other planes with a high max pax. Do you think it will be worth it or just be a big waste a fuel?

Waste of fuel

In my airline Texan Air I am thinking about replacing 71 737's and 10 757's with a fleet of 767-300's. The main reason being because on a lot of my 737 routes (usually less than 2000mi) people put 747's and 777's and other planes with a high max pax. Do you think it will be worth it or just be a big waste a fuel?

It'll be worth it, but everyone will despise you for it.

It'll be worth it, but everyone will despise you for it.

I don't think people would despise me for it, on a flight from Denver to Mexico City 747's 777's and A340's are being used by three different airlines...

I don't think people would despise me for it, on a flight from Denver to Mexico City 747's 777's and A340's are being used by three different airlines...

It's still a waste of fuel. Just trying to be helpful.

It's still a waste of fuel. Just trying to be helpful.

Ok, Thanks that's what i wanted to know. I guess i'll use them only on high traffic routes.

Ok, Thanks that's what i wanted to know. I guess i'll use them only on high traffic routes.

Good idea!