4 replies to this topic

[Pagan]

I've noticed that my on time performance rating has been static whether I'm giving a plane its first route or using up remainder of multiple plane's availability. I looked up past posts and saw that utilization and employees are the factors, but my highest employee attrition rate is .03% (every emoji is dancing lol).

I opened one route using the last bits of two plane's availability, then opened another using just part of a new plane's 140 hours, but ontime performance rating is the same for both routes, reading the bar at the bottom of the route research page.

Are there other factors at play? I am not getting a congestion penalty at the airports, though one has 45 gates in a terminal. Would I need to be consistently not hitting 140 hours in my entire fleet? In other words is it being assumed that if I am over-using planes across a large fleet (over 1,000 planes) that the delays from that affect every route, no matter the specific breakdown of planes used?

[Jamesthomeson]

In AE even if all your aircraft have full 140 hour utilization they still have to be maintenanced and repaired. If your aircraft have full usage, then the aircraft repairs may take place during the time that they are supposed to be in service resulting in delays and possibly cancelled flights (low OTP).
The reason that the aircraft with only a few of its hours in use brings a bad OTP is because its extra hours have to be used to make up the time that your other aircraft are being repaired. The OTP is effected by your entire fleet, not just one aircraft.
The above is just a logical explanation to how OTP works. I haven't found anywhere in the game where it says this but it's completely legitimate and makes sense.

At first I never really cared for OTP because it never seemed to change, but then I went to apply for Skyworld alliance where they require your airline to have 11-13 aircraft utilization. At first my R6 airline had a utilization of 15-16 now I've managed to get it to 13-14 and still improving. What I did was order a bunch of new aircraft (maybe 20% more) and left them idle. With this I found that my OTP was improving on a lot of my routes with the aircraft I ordered.

[Jamesthomeson]

"Are there other factors at play? I am not getting a congestion penalty at the airports, though one has 45 gates in a terminal. Would I need to be consistently not hitting 140 hours in my entire fleet? In other words is it being assumed that if I am over-using planes across a large fleet (over 1,000 planes) that the delays from that affect every route, no matter the specific breakdown of planes used?"

I've never seen congestion penalty have an effect on anything in game. Ive only ever seen it at 0% but perhaps someone else could explain it. I've looked at your airlines and your aircraft utilization for both is pretty high, which results in low OTP. Now your commutair airline has a pretty large fleet, so going on every route and trying to save 50 or so hours would be too much work, and take to much time. So I would suggest doing what I did and start buying new aircraft and leave them idle. These idle aircraft are going to replace your current aircraft during their repair times automatically (which will improve your OTP). That's why you must leave them idle. You'll notice that the more aircraft you have idle, the lower your utilization will be.

[Pagan]

Thanks for all the good info, your reasoning makes a lot of sense. I was initially just curious really but lately I've been getting more interested in playing to match real world conditions. I wasn't planning on fixing this but your solution is quite simple and easy. I wonder how many of the top ranked airlines also do this? Is this where those inflated fleet numbers come from I wonder. 

[Jamesthomeson]

Thanks for all the good info, your reasoning makes a lot of sense. I was initially just curious really but lately I've been getting more interested in playing to match real world conditions. I wasn't planning on fixing this but your solution is quite simple and easy. I wonder how many of the top ranked airlines also do this? Is this where those inflated fleet numbers come from I wonder.

No problem. Most people don't even pay attention to OTP. Even I thought it was a lost cause until I figured out that it was based on my whole fleet.