Miscellaneous Tips for New Players
Item 1: Don't be afraid to ask the top ranked players questions like, what strategy are they following, how are they set up (IFS/IFE, whether they took out loans or not, how did they use them, etc)
Most of us will be happy to answer (although it might take a little time to get back to you).
Item 2: Join an Alliance. It helps to have other airlines in your home country, especially those who have numerous hubs set up that you as a fellow alliance member can make use of by flying to and from such hubs.
Item 3: When you get your starting aircraft, one of the things you can do is extend your lease from 1 year to at least 4 years (you can extend all the way out to 9 or 10 years [I forget which]). Extending that lease for the starter plane will lower your monthly lease payout by quite a lot.
Item 4: Understand that no matter which airport you choose as your HQ, for the 1st month only you will pay 250k for 5 gates - so it makes good financial sense to choose an airport where the monthly lease per gate is at least $25,000 (oops, correction: that should be $50,000, as pointed out to me in a later post)- as you benefit from operating at an airport that normally you would have to pay a higher gate lease cost for. By the time that the second month comes and goes, hopefully you will have filled all 250 slots (you get 50 slots per gate.)
Item 5: You are more or less forced to pay all your employees the minimum wage allowed for the 1st few months; otherwise you will be at a profound disadvantage. After the 1st few months, if your preference is to play realistically, you can 1) adjust the salaries to the appropriate level, and 2) pay out one or more bonuses to make up for the below market wages your employees endured in the 1st few months.
Item 6: utilize all 140 hours for each aircraft you acquire/lease, especially in the 1st few months, otherwise - again - you will be operating at a financial disadvantage.