15 replies to this topic

[Hake.]

I at Cityjet and Citysaver am astounded at how hard it is to set up a successful budget airline. Does anyone run a budget airline at a profit and can they tell me how? If not I would like for someone to make it easier. eg able to reduce staff more easily and drop maintaining cost on some aircraft.

[Obelix]

take a look at this topic http://www.airline-e...pic/11464-tips/ it might help you

[Yuxi]

3 major tips for new airlines:

1) fewer aircraft types (keep to 1-2 families in the beginning) - each additional family adds huge maintenance costs that are uneconomical if you only have 1-2 aircraft in the family
2) more flight hours / higher aircraft utilization (especially in the startup phase)
3) spend money on leasing more aircraft, don't waste it on IFE/IFS

With these ideas, making a healthy profit should not be a problem.

[El Cobrador]

My first successful airline (i.e., it didn't go bankrupt) was a budget airline. I actually copied many of the practices of real budget airlines. I looked up several (Allegiant, Southwest, WestJet, etc.) in Wikipedia and made notes of what they do.

Some examples that I copied:
1. Point to point, not hub and spoke (this is probably up for debate among other experienced AE players). Hubs can add to costs.
2. Secondary airports or airports which have limited or no service from "mainline" carriers--the gate costs are often much lower.
3. I served only snacks on my shorter flights, of which the majority of my flights were anyway. This kept IFS costs down.
4. No IFE. This kept IFE costs down.
5. One type of aircraft--the 737 family in my case.
6. Maintaining low operational costs--payroll, etc.
7. High aircraft productivity (making the most of the available hours for each plane).

Again, this was a mix of strategies from a number of real budget airlines and seemed to work well for me.

[Hake.]

I have tried most of those but they still don't seem to work. But thanks anyway

[ar157]

I have tried most of those but they still don't seem to work. But thanks anyway

Just looking at your R1 airline, you have 8 aircraft types spread across a fleet of 25 aircraft. i.e. your maintenance costs are probably sky high you should really be having 1-2 aircraft types with such a small fleet.

[Mr Tree]

You have a Trilander, and yet you also have long range aircraft in your fleet. You should indeed be using no more than 2 aircraft. Find one aircraft, like the IL-18s you have, and use them until you have, say, 20 of them. Make sure you can afford to buy some before you add new aircraft, even if you chose to continue leasing. Find routes with may PAX and absolutely no flights. Cram as few aircraft as you can onto those routes.

[Preston]

Lay off all excess staff set prices and wages to lowest amount possible and use scam IFS to turn a profit.

[Hake.]

Lay off all excess staff set prices and wages to lowest amount possible and use scam IFS to turn a profit.

In the past 4 years I have learned differently.

[konj1]

Staff wages were never a problem for me. I always keep them above 80% satisfied even when I want more profit... This game is too easy so why not make it an additional challenge.

 

Scam IFS can be a nice addition, but it's not necessary for top valuation.

[Dumpster Fire]

3 major tips for new airlines:

1) fewer aircraft types (keep to 1-2 families in the beginning) - each additional family adds huge maintenance costs that are uneconomical if you only have 1-2 aircraft in the family
2) more flight hours / higher aircraft utilization (especially in the startup phase)
3) spend money on leasing more aircraft, don't waste it on IFE/IFS

With these ideas, making a healthy profit should not be a problem.

I actually do bother with the IFE and IFS, just because I fly european routes where there is a bit of competition. Other than that I agree

[eastwind]

Happy four year old thread resurrection...

[Preston]

3 major tips for new airlines:

1) fewer aircraft types (keep to 1-2 families in the beginning) - each additional family adds huge maintenance costs that are uneconomical if you only have 1-2 aircraft in the family
2) more flight hours / higher aircraft utilization (especially in the startup phase)
3) spend money on leasing more aircraft, don't waste it on IFE

With these ideas, making a healthy profit should not be a problem.

This is very ture.

[bAnderson]

Happy four year old thread resurrection...

This is very true. This should be like Infinite Flight forums, locked after 30 days with no reply.

[Iones]

This is very true. This should be like Infinite Flight forums, locked after 30 days with no reply.

Where is the cake?

[Preston]

Where is the cake?