9 replies to this topic

[Diverskii]

Hi, I started my first Sandbox airline in S4, and it's going pretty well. I'm moving up the ranks and making good profit. 

 

I have trouble competing though. On two occasions I have set up exclusive routes, then someone else comes and sets up the same route to compete. I have the same or LOWER prices and the same reputation yet he has 73% market share. 

 

 

Any advice? 

 

 

I started by operating empty routes and was avoiding competing to start with, but now that other airlines are moving in on my routes I can't understand why I am 'losing' so to speak.

 

Thanks

 

[edit: I've tried increasing my flight frequency and that seems to have had a positive effect. Are there any other ways?]

[**OLT@22.Hrvatska**]

All you need is to keep the price lower than your competitor(s). It's hard and pointless to to get 100% market share because you'd just be losing profit. I always prefer to have at least 50%-60% on a route with one competitor.

[ChiJohnAok]

Competition is inevitable and not only part of the game, but the real world as well.

While having 100% of market share can be lucrative (until someone else comes along), I prefer to use my planes to establish more routes (with a Smaller slice of the market) than less routes with a larger market share.

By spreading your fleet around on more routes, you help minimize your risk of being affected by competition on any one route.

[Diverskii]

Thanks for the replies guys, I have no qualms with competition and I actually quite enjoy competing with the big established airlines. 

 

At the minute I have 23 aircraft, 5 owned and 18 leased, with 1 on order. I've established 41 routes mostly short/medium haul with some new long haul routes recently established. My airline is about 2 years old. Would you guys have any advice, does it sound as if I am not expanding as I should be or am I roughly on track?

[**OLT@22.Hrvatska**]

Looking at your airline, you have a lot of aircraft from different families, which causes the maintenance cost to go up. Try to stick with only a few families until you need to quickly expand and/or you're ready to commit to a new family, for example: placing large orders(20+). As for expansion, always try to have a steady flow of aircraft coming in, either brand new or used. I prefer to buy/lease used aircraft younger than 10 years and know with what aircraft I'm going to replace it with when the time comes. Just make sure you don't have too much aircraft sitting idle.

[Northern]

I would also like to throw in the tip of not buying leased aircraft until you got enough to buy lots of AE and you are fully established

[Diverskii]

Okay guys cheers. I have a plan for my fleet that involves phasing out the original airbus fleet so I'll be left with a fleet of 737, 757, 767. All my planes are used to the max with very few hours left over. For now I'll wait to get some money in the bank before expanding my 737 fleet and buying up my leases. 

[vistaraR1]

How to make widebody aircrafts profitable?

[pablo8019]

Such a thing - I want to create a route e.g. to Frankfurt, I can see that almost half of its' gates are leased but after adding my flights the only "seats on the market" (red column) are mine... Where are competitors?

[pablo8019]

Oh, I understand - it shows only flights from my city to Frankfurt, not all flights to it. But in that way almost all our flights will have 100% market share - there are too many airports and too few players...