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Helping starting off without losing money


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#1
Damo333

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Whenever I start off an airline, I am always, on my finance thing, losing nearly $2m, and I don't undertsand why, how can I avoid this???



#2
Hans.

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First, you need to make sure you are utilizing your aircraft as much as possible. If you're trying to run a realistic airline (using your aircraft for less than about 15 hours a day), that is hard to do. But you need to make sure your aircraft are making enough money to keep your airline profitable. If you aren't making at least $300,000 a day, then it will be really difficult to stay in operation. Also, you need to utilize your gates as much as possible. Empty slots means you're spending money on gate space that you aren't using.

 

Second, using regional aircraft doesn't make you as much money. Although I usually use regional aircraft because it's more fun (in my opinion), you can be much more profitable with aircraft like the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320. 

 

Third, create in-flight services. This will make you extra cash (if you create one that is profitable). 

 

Fourth, make sure you focus on routes that aren't already taken by another airline. Find some routes that nobody operates on yet and use those to slowly build your airline. Then you can compete on other routes that are already being operated. Also, don't make hubs until your airline is able to sustain the extra costs associated. Fly point-to-point and try to fill the gaps left by larger airlines.

 

Finally, what I usually do when I create an airline, is use up most of my cash by leasing as many used aircraft of the same type as I can (usually 5-8 aircraft). I then sometimes go into a negative balance for a while (because of the costs for renting gates and opening new routes), but I regain it pretty quickly because I have a reasonably sized fleet. 

 

Mostly, a lot of this game is just trial and error. :) There's a lot of other tips in the new players forum.

 

Hope that helps somewhat!


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#3
Damo333

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So where would you say the best place to start and make a route is?



#4
HanTseng

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So where would you say the best place to start and make a route is?

Any country or airport with no competition, which would be different for every game world.


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#5
rotaryspd

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The biggest thing is a lot of thin, expensive routes with no competition--at least early in the game.  Start at a nation's second tier airports (20 - 40 million annual pax) with no HQ or hubs, and try to get 3-5 routes with 7x weekly frequencies.  Keep a 15% / 85% balance of C / Y seats.   And most importantly, adjust prices upwards to the highest you can while keeping the aircraft 98-100% full.  Focus on short, thick routes to maximize your aircraft's potential.  That price adjustment will give you a nearly 40% advantage in daily operating profit over other airlines (in a 1970s / 80s game--it gets less pronounced as fuel consumption goes down later in the game).  That will effectively give you almost double the cash in your war chest vs. other airlines.

 

Be mindful of the 15th and 24th of the month as large monthly expenses hit on these dates.  So, order your aircraft or build terminals on the first 5 days of the month, or between the 15th-18th to give your cash reserves time to recover.

 

Bonds can be used, but I would only do so to pick up some used aircraft--which you're unlikely to find early in a game.  If you get them, remember these are the last item paid on the day, so you MUST have cash to cover all your expenses.  Issuing bonds on the 12th - 15th or 21st - 22nd of the month will minimize the chance of default.

 

If you buy used aircraft, maintain a common family early on (i.e. DC-9s and MD-80s are all DC-9 family).  The per type maintenance cost is pretty steep, and it will stack with taxes after the 24th of the month.



#6
zortan

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Hey - if you need help - just put in 84154 into the Shared control of the airline options tab - I can look over your airline and help you get started.



#7
Damo333

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Thanks for the help, I think i have started pretty well this time!

 

I currently have 2 Lockheed L188-A Aircraft, if I order a Lockheed L188-C, will that count as a whole different maintenance cost, or will it be a low cost, as it is still a Lockheed?

 

Thanks!



#8
Pasti

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It'll be different. Manufacturer doesn't matter, what matters is the plane.

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#9
zelalemon

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It'll be different. Manufacturer doesn't matter, what matters is the plane.

Won't those be the same, since they're both L188s? 733s and 734s have the same so shouldn't these too?

CLT, BOS, JFK, LGA, EWR, ALB, BDL, SYR, HPN, EWN, RDU, PHL, ATL, CVG, MCO, DCA, IAD, BWI, MDW, HOU, DFW, PHX, DEN, BZN, FAT, SAN, LAX, BUR, SBA, SFO, SEA, ANC, KOA, MTJ, MBJ, SXM, CUN, PVR, YVR, SJO, JNB, LLW, LGW

 

A319, A320, A321, A333, A346, B734, B738, B752, B762, CRJ2, CRJ7, CRJ9, E145, E170, E190, DH8B

 

AWE, AAL, DAL, UAL, SAA, SWA


#10
H2O

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It'll be different. Manufacturer doesn't matter, what matters is the plane.

I think he is talking about the family here.



#11
Damo333

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I got a few 188-C's and they are the same, no huge extra cost for maintenance :)



#12
RJM

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Check your employee salaries too. Many times they are automatically set high.


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#13
zortan

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It'll be different. Manufacturer doesn't matter, what matters is the plane.

not in this case - the 188c is the same family as the 188a



#14
zortan

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Check your employee salaries too. Many times they are automatically set high.

 

true - if I'm running a spamline I put them all at 7



#15
Book Siberia

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One very important point to take note of:  Just because you end the month with a cash deficit does NOT mean you are losing money.

 

It is possible to to be in the red yet the dop is sufficiently high as to climb back out from that deficit within a matter of days or weeks, so that by the end of the following month you are in the green again.

 

If you discipline yourself to place all received planes on new routes as soon as you get them, you will continue to expand the dop aggressively.  Obviously the more hours utilized per plane, the better for your dop.

 

Also helpful is to have some short-haul routes to help expand your dop faster.

 

Note: dop means Daily Operating Profit - you can observe your dop in real-time by clicking  ROUTES on the left-hand-side menu.



#16
KINGXyro

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Whenever I start off an airline, I am always, on my finance thing, losing nearly $2m, and I don't undertsand why, how can I avoid this???

Every player went thru that experience. I even remember getting debts as much as $100 million lmao 

 

Anyways go to Airline Options > Human Resources and then set all of your staff's salary to $7 and then click Save All. Secondly, Do layoffs click all the boxes on the left corner then click Downsize.

 

^ First thing I ever learned in A.E lol

 

However, once you are doing good I recommend setting them to the "Industry Avg" salary for reputation.



#17
Maldivian

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If there are less airline in a server yet,start operating in India,China and Indonesia if you are based in a small Asian country for example; Maldives or Bangladesh.Its important to use 1 type of aircraft,like 4 Boeing 737's when you're trying to grow your airline.Also cut down salaries of your airline staffs to $7.






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