197 replies to this topic

[P_E_Ts]

I thought this would be an interesting subject-which country is it hardest to make a profit in here at AE? Just for fun yesterday I opened an airline in Greenland and it didn't work out so well   so it got me thinking about this. What are your thoughts?

[Tesla]

I thought this would be an interesting subject-which country is it hardest to make a profit in here at AE? Just for fun yesterday I opened an airline in Greenland and it didn't work out so well   so it got me thinking about this. What are your thoughts?

Ukraine only has 23 airports, and no airport that would class as 1st or 2nd tier in the UK (Heathrow/Gatwick/Stansted).

 

Kiev Borispol-Los Angeles only supports 2 B787-8 a week!!

[LockheedTristar]

Luxembourg. One small airport. 

USA because Spamlines

[MyTravelGroup]

USA, UK = Spamlines

Tanzania = 3 International Airports but at the size of UK regionals and lots of tiny airstrips

[Tesla]

China cos size!!

 

Russia cos no airports of a vaguely semi-decent size.

[P_E_Ts]

I have to disagree with Ukraine. If you get the right sized planes you can get a pretty high frequency going.

[LockheedTristar]

China cos size!!

 

Russia cos no airports of a vaguely semi-decent size.

Disagreeing with russia.Open hubs in  Mosow Vnukovo , Domodedovo,  Sheremetyevo,  Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Khabarovsk and Vladivostock and you'll be fine. You could even open roues out of more smaller airports in Siberia etc.

[Chubby Bear]

I don't think it is so much the country you operate out of, but the airport you operate out of and how much traffic from competitors it has.

[me123]

Tried Burkina Faso a few times (flying out of the country's biggest airport, Ouagadougou), looking for a challenge. I don't think it's possible to make it work, every time I've tried I've just ended up making losses (FWIW, I'd have been happy to break even). 

 

With the starting aircraft, there are very few routes that make any money. You've got the disproportionately high maintenance costs for a one aircraft fleet (which is, realistically, the best you'll manage), and that aircraft is only able to fly very marginal (at best) routes at low frequency. There's not many airports close by, and the ones that are are pretty small. Even if you could get a second aircraft, there's not really many places you can fly to unless you go for LHR, CDG, and other such larger airports, but you'll need to have enough money to get at least a medium-haul aircraft. Even then, I suspect the costs of operating a gate at those airports for one weekly flight (maybe two if you push it) will really eat into your profit margins. Anyone who chooses to compete with you using the larger base airport will invariably have the upper hand. 

 

I suspect that quite a few countries in Sub-Saharan Africa would prove equally challenging. 

[TNT88]

Afghanistan? the demand was like 0 right?

[Austranadian Group]

Monaco... One airport?

[Tesla]

Monaco... One airport?

Singapore. Only 2 airports (Changi International and Seletar). Seletar is a secondary airport. Either way, you will have to operate hub and spoke in Singapore and Monaco.

[TNT88]

Singapore. Only 2 airports (Changi International and Seletar). Seletar is a secondary airport. Either way, you will have to operate hub and spoke in Singapore and Monaco.

Singapore is pretty easy.

[Ongots Khaan]

It would be a tie between Laos and Mongolia

[TNT88]

Lesotho would be hard too.

[Luft]

I feel the biggest problem with running a realistic airline out of a small airport is that there's no demand, so you're forced to fly to the larger airports and incur a larger gate cost.

 

From experience, I would have to say it's:

 

Kiribati/Wallis & Futuna/New Caledonia/Vanuatu/Micronesia/Solomon Islands: Little to no demand anywhere but Australia/NZ, better off with Fiji (even though it's crowded).

 

Burkina Faso: I was able to make it work, but it's tough as s*** to do that. You're scamming the whole way through, and your only demand is from the big West African cities (Lagos, Abuja, Accra) and the European capitals.

 

USA: If you're joining late in the game, FORGET ABOUT IT. Unless you find a few airports with massive holes (once we were a quarter way down the game, and I found TPA had one route out of it, same thing happened in another game with PDX), there's not a chance you're going to survive. America is spamline territory.

 

Greenland: You'd have to spend 24 hours a day micromanaging to make this work. You rely on Europe for traffic, and without a hub you're dead.

 

Namibia: It's tough as well, assuming you can tap into the South African market. There's really not much you can do with a Namibian airline.

 

Bhutan: India's your only shot at making money, and SE Asia if you have planes with the range (but then likely they're too big for the routes).

 

Papua New Guinea: Same reason as the Pacific, no demand except Australia.

 

(I won't count places like the West Bank or Gaza that have no in-game demand)

[LockheedTristar]

Swaziland

[sound_guy0918]

The small island nations with one airport and low demand are tough.  If you get competition, it will be fierce going to the closest big airports.

[LockheedTristar]

Seriously, swaziland. It is the most difficult airport to operate out of.

[Hake.]

Ukraine only has 23 airports

To my main point, Chad is hard enough to operate (certainly not difficult though).