19 replies to this topic

[Airplane09]

What was your biggest AVERAGE utilization ever on an aircraft type? Mine is 19.72 on the 23 saab 2000s I own. I would do something about it but the 2000 is not on production anymore... I have bought some sec hand 2000 to fill up my demand but now I am looking forward to replacing them with some ATR 72-600. What about you?

[Coco X]

19.82 on my Air Miami MD-81s, unfortunately all to be retired shortly...

Coco x

[DeltaA350]

19.72 on the Bae 146-300 and the MD-88s

[Mr PAG]

I aould try to keep my AC util rates to around 15h for all types

[Stevphfeniey]

Right now? About 13 hours on my DC-8s. It's a little unrealistically high, but I need dem multiples of 7 for scheduling. 

[konj1]

Pfff, whatever, it's like if you asked "what was your lowest salary", you can't go lower or under what system allows and it's no achievement to get there.

 

Anyone can easily chase it to 20, I had that full usage in new games when every penny counts, but afterwards it's nothing to brag about, it's actually opposite.

 

Keeping it lower makes up for some bit of "realism" and gets some OTP points for rating, and as already said, it's easier to replace them, so even when I'm after high valuation I'm worried if it's above 17-18.

[Airplane09]

Pfff, whatever, it's like if you asked "what was your lowest salary", you can't go lower or under what system allows and it's no achievement to get there.

 

Anyone can easily chase it to 20, I had that full usage in new games when every penny counts, but afterwards it's nothing to brag about, it's actually opposite.

 

Keeping it lower makes up for some bit of "realism" and gets some OTP points for rating, and as already said, it's easier to replace them, so even when I'm after high valuation I'm worried if it's above 17-18.

Well, I'm not exactly proud of that, but I wanted to know if high utilization is common practice among the "virtual industry". Why should I avoid these high utilization numbers? I'm relatively new to the game...

[AlwaysBenevolent]

I've personally used to have my aircraft operating at around the 19 hours mark, however I've chosen to pursue a more realistic approach whilst playing.

 

It increases your on time performance rating which helps boost your overall reputation. I also read somewhere it influences your maintenance costs (but that could be a rumour / AE4 feature).

[Viero]

Right now? About 13 hours on my DC-8s. It's a little unrealistically high, but I need dem multiples of 7 for scheduling. 

Oh sweet, I'm not the only one who does that.

 

On topic, I tend to keep mine in the 13-16 hour range. Usually leaving 30-50 hours left per aircraft.

[TNT88]

Close to 20 hours. Airplane don't make money if they don't fly.

[Airplane09]

Close to 20 hours. Airplanes don't make money if they don't fly.

THANK YOU!

[Airplane09]

But still... is there any REAL advantage to keeping the utilization low? I mean, I know it increases on time performance, but are maintenance costs lower? Is it economically worth keeping my planes more relaxed? Why do real companies not put their airplanes to work and just leave them at 13 hours/whatever???

[TNT88]

But still... is there any REAL advantage to keeping the utilization low? I mean, I know it increases on time performance, but are maintenance costs lower? Is it economically worth keeping my planes more relaxed? Why do real companies not put their airplanes to work and just leave them at 13 hours/whatever???

No, 20 hours have the most and economical advantages. Real airlines would do so if they could.

[Airplane09]

No, 20 hours have the most and economical advantages. Real airlines would do so if they could.

Why can't they do it? FAA regulations?

[TNT88]

Why can't they do it? FAA regulations?

Alongside with scheduling and other s***. Also, the scheduling in AE is imaginary and unrealistic. So there's that factor on it.

[AlwaysBenevolent]

One reason I would imagine is that real airlines will not operate at 20 hours a day as they couldn´t compensate for any delays/cancellations if for example one of their aircrafts were to have a technical fault.

[TNT88]

Also, the shorter the flight is, the more the plane spend time on the ground. 8 hours flight is better than 6 1hour 30minutes flights.

[konj1]

Maintenance and scheduling is the main reason.

 

If you're familiar with any logistics or transit system you know it's impossible to get total usage out of any vehicle.

 

Imagine the real world with 20 h usage - almost no planes would ever be on time, almost all seats and overhead compartments in your planes would be flimsy because mechanics couldn't get enough time to fix anything apart from essentials, and simply if you have zero replacement your plane must be pulled out of circulation sometimes, and if it needs a 2 month works with more serious problems, for 2 months all those flights would be cancelled because no other plane can jump in.

 

And safety, even harder to think of in airline world, if you have a public transport bus with questionable mechanics like brakes or transmission in most cases you can send it on the road and hope it will go on and return to depot somewhat safely even if they get worse, in air transport world all that stress on equipment is more serious and problems if you cut corners are exponentially more dangerous.

[TNT88]

it's possible to get total usage out of any vehicle.

 

You just have to stretched it.

[Airplane09]

it's possible to get total usage out of any vehicle.

 

You just have to stretched it.

Yeah, one thing which is not possible in the aviation industry. Next game, I'll focus more on realism and I'll take this into consideration as well.