5 replies to this topic

[NTA]

Hello,
Im a completely new player and I have tried getting an airline to work multiple times which all ended with my money dropping to somewhere arround $-5.000.000. Is there something Im doing wrong? I always start with one Plane and make one first route wich ends up giving me up to $50.000 per flight. After following a tutorial in my latest try I leased 1 additional a319 plus leasing gstes and all that...this brought me to arround $1.700.000 which seemed ok becaused I noticed that money was coming in but due to aircraft maintenance of one single aircraft (the other one didn't arrive yet) I again ended up with a total of $-3.000.000...Am I playing the game wrong? How am I supposed to tackle these massive costs with one or two airplanes and the same number of routes? I concidered leasing money or something but this doesn't seem to be included in the game...some advice would be really nice.

[OKla]

Hello,

 

it´s a little bit difficult to reply to your problem, as you describe it in very generic terms. Basically playing AE requires patience and consistency, I tend to the opinion that this is the most important "secret".

 

It is normal to be in deficit at the beginning when you have to pay for maintanance, leasing of aircraft(s) and gates etc. But as some months pass by you will run a profitable airline, at least if you follow some basic rules:

 

At the beginning choose an airport that is only medium-sized (avoid for example JFK, ORD, LAX, LHR, CDG, FRA etc. as your initial airport) in order to be charged with only moderate gate leasing fees. When you choose your aircrafts, try to use only fuel-efficient ones - fuel costs make up for 50-75 % of your operational costs. It´s up to you to operate a low-cost airline with Y-class only, but in order to make the most out of your routes it is better to include at least M-class as well. Furthermore, don´t compete with significantly bigger airlines on the same route as they have the power to push you out of the market by underpricing or flooding the route with flights. Check your routes regularly if a competitor entered the market. Get rid of unused gates, this is especially true at the very beginning as you get 5 gates at your initial airport, but basically you need only one or two. When your airline is growing, try to buy leased aircraft from the lessor after three or four years of lease. "Exploit" your leased gates - try to use as many slots as possible instead of flying only 10 weekly flights to that specific destination.

 

I sincerely hope that these handy hints will help you to establish a profitable airline.

[RJM]

Hang out in a sandbox world for a little and try some different things. Don't necessarily look at aircraft configurations at first. or frequency. Avoid competition and selecting a route with reasonable gate cost and high demand allows for higher ticket prices. The sandbox world will let you play with different ideas and see a faster result. Spending money on starting a hub at first in not always necessary as well. The game sets employee salaries too at the beginning that you may need to reduce.

[airfoiled]

Look at Hollywood-Burbank and Philadelphia Int'l, those two airports tend to have pretty good demand and it seems like a lot of people don't seem to know that they exist in the early game.

[RubberDuckGaming]

Hello, 

 

     Everyone plays this game differently, but here’s what I do to make a profit at the start. I start in a mid-sized airport like Salt Lake City. I then start several routes: one to a big city like Denver, and another to a smaller destination like Boise. This gives me a good profit. I also pay my employees a very low wage because from what I’ve found it’s impossible to profit at the default wage the game sets them at. I get rid of employee reserves too. Set up a profitable IFS as well. To save on maintenance, order the same kind of plane because maintenance is one of the biggest expenses at the beginning. 
 

This is what I do, and it may not work for everyone.

[GooseSpitte]

I find that you have to put as much money as possible into expanding your fleet at the beginning. You simply can't make money with a one aircraft airline.

Just keep trying new things and eventually you'll figure it out!

Also it's best to try to find places that don't have any competition when you are new.