14 replies to this topic

[ElMenduko]

I recently came up with an idea to compete better against other airlines in the first years, or when moving to a new country in a no political restrictions world: Make your hub/HQ in an airport that has high amounts of traffic but has short runways.

 

I've realised that most people don't fly to those very much and they rarely place hubs in there, while the biggest airports of some countries are sometimes the HQ of 4 airlines and hub of 6, and the competition there is terrible. So I've been trying to open hubs in these with airplanes that meet the runway requirements, and once I have a decent profit I can start trying to compete against the other airlines for the bigger airports

 

So, I'm trying to make a list with some airports with a considerable amount of passengers but with short runways. Preferably if there's another bigger airport with longer runways on the same country, but not neccesary. If you guys know about some please tell me

 

USA: Chicago Midway (MDW) and New York La Guardia (LGA) have a lot of passengers (around 20mil annual IIRC) and of course there's lots of bigger airports in the US. There might be more but I haven't checked if they have decent amount of passengers

 

Ireland: Dublin Airport (DUB) has lots of passengers and is the largest of its country. It's runway is not THAT short (~8600ft), but it is still enough to keep some competitors away, specially during the 50s, or the early jet age when some planes have >9000ft runway requirement

 

Brazil: Sao Paulo Cogonhas (CGH) is Sao Paulo's secondary airport but it is still one of the biggest in South America. Lots of competition for regional/domestic flights but not so much for international long-haul ones. There's also Rio de Janeiro - Santos Dumont (SDU), but it has a terribly short runway (4300ft) so I doubt you can use many planes there. There's big airports in Brazil to expand to later (GRU, BSB, GIG)

 

Argentina: Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP) has ~10mil annual passengers and a runway just below 7000ft. It is the biggest airport of the country so there is some competition, but there's also Ezeiza (EZE) that has ~8mil annual passengers and a long runway

[kingoftheskies]

Having a HQ at either MDW or LGA is pointless unless you're a regional carrier.

[hayhaa]

Having a HQ at either MDW or LGA is pointless unless you're a regional carrier.

Or an LCC

[ElMenduko]

Having a HQ at either MDW or LGA is pointless unless you're a regional carrier.

Wait, does the location of your HQ change anything? I thought it only depends on what country you start on. So even if I chose Miami helipad as my HQ, I can then expand to big airports (LXA, JFK, MIA) and make hubs there

 

If we're talking about realism then yeah, it sounds like only a small regional carrier would make their HQ in one of those airports. But if that troubles you, you could pick a big airport for your HQ and have a hub in MDW or LGA

[Michael.]

Wait, does the location of your HQ change anything? I thought it only depends on what country you start on. So even if I chose Miami helipad as my HQ, I can then expand to big airports (LXA, JFK, MIA) and make hubs there

 

If we're talking about realism then yeah, it sounds like only a small regional carrier would make their HQ in one of those airports. But if that troubles you, you could pick a big airport for your HQ and have a hub in MDW or LGA

No. La Guardia has rules that flights to and from that airport cannot go over a certain distance and aircraft cannot surpass a certain size. I do not know the numbers but such principles do exist. 

[ElMenduko]

No. La Guardia has rules that flights to and from that airport cannot go over a certain distance and aircraft cannot surpass a certain size. I do not know the numbers but such principles do exist. 

Are you talking IRL or inside the game? Because inside the game I have  Gatwick - Midway flights with no problems (with Bristol Britannias), not sure about LGA

[Michael.]

Are you talking IRL or inside the game? Because inside the game I have  Gatwick - Midway flights with no problems (with Bristol Britannias), not sure about LGA

I think Midway is actually alright with regard political restrictions but just has a short runway. LGA has political restrictions if I remember correctly (as does Reagan National) in both the game and real life. Someone correct me if I'm wrong - I don't really fly to the US with any of my airlines.

[Thefireset]

In the game, LGA and DCA have some political restriction on the distance you can fly to and from those airports (I think it's maximum 1500 miles but I'm not sure). In real life, those airports can only fly on domestic routes and routes to and from Canada and The Bahamas, but no restriction on the distance. 

MDW don't have this restriction in the game but I'm not sure in real life. 

[dazwalsh]

The dubblin runway is indeed annoying, no 777-200LR or -300 of any kind.

[Zentorno]

You'll be limited to A318/A319s and 737-700s if SDU's your HQ. CGH on the other hand can accomodate the 767-200, in addition to the entire A320 and 737 family.

[NNR]

I find the length of the DUB runway annoying as hell, for example when I was new to the game I bought like 100 777-300s to route from DUB and I had to use SNN instead

[tyriq]

Having a HQ at either MDW or LGA is pointless unless you're a regional carrier.

Actually depending on the age you're in you can make MDW work. LGA not so much. If you use the Boeing 752 you can operate routes from MDW to Europe. I've also used the 752 to do flights from kahului (OGG) to large US mainland airport's.

[Nick of DC Airways]

I think Midway is actually alright with regard political restrictions but just has a short runway. LGA has political restrictions if I remember correctly (as does Reagan National) in both the game and real life. Someone correct me if I'm wrong - I don't really fly to the US with any of my airlines.

At LGA, the range is limited to 1500 NM while DCA is limited to 1250 NM in game and IRL. There isn't any size restrictions that I know of besides the operational restraints of the airfields. As of now, the largest scheduled plane that flies into DCA is a Delta 757-300 but 767's and 787's have visited in the past.

[5280_Av8r]

In the game, LGA and DCA have some political restriction on the distance you can fly to and from those airports (I think it's maximum 1500 miles but I'm not sure). In real life, those airports can only fly on domestic routes and routes to and from Canada and The Bahamas, but no restriction on the distance. 

MDW don't have this restriction in the game but I'm not sure in real life. 

I'm pretty sure that there is a distance restriction for LGA and DCA in real life, but most airlines IRL fly further than the restriction do to some contract/license agreement or something.

[Michael.]

At LGA, the range is limited to 1500 NM while DCA is limited to 1250 NM in game and IRL. There isn't any size restrictions that I know of besides the operational restraints of the airfields. As of now, the largest scheduled plane that flies into DCA is a Delta 757-300 but 767's and 787's have visited in the past.

Thank you for clarifying that!