kellykeli

Good to know. Will not abuse at all. I can also trust the AE community to not abuse this at all as well.

Reputation is dec

Thank you again.

I am on my fourth hub. Almost 250 planes for a little less than a destination and a billion in profits per month. Nothing stops me anymore.

With only 20 companies, 5 of which are active, it's immediately easier.

As far as long-haul routes are concerned, it's not really profitable for me. I can only make them take off from Edinburgh... And I don't know why but nobody wants to go to Edinburgh (surely an error ) . It's less attractive than Paris or London.

I still have to find out more about the reputation, the IFE and the alliances. I really want to play for real.

Reputation is decided mainly by route frequency. IFE and IFS also can help, but they take a bit of micromanagement. Advertising is a free 14-16% on reputation and kind of feels like cheating tbh.

Edinburgh is 757 heaven, give them a try. They've got good range but small enough to serve smaller airports.

Wikipedia can help you find some large airports that people usually don't think of. My airline operates from the US when I play and the number of airports with good demand but is never used by players is surprising.

Here i am, thanks to you I'm a multimillionaire. My company is probably not optimized, but there is not much competition on this server to refine the details. I've got the marketing and salaries up to a good level.

95 destinations, 53 aircraft (A319s for the large majority, A330s for the more distant places, ATR72s for the minor airports, and still my 737s not to be renewed). All this producing a profit of 180 million per month.

What's next?

I ask myself about the hubs. I admit that I still don't understand everything. Above all, I can't understand why they are limited to the country of the HQ, which, outside the big countries, is still very limited.

I am based in Edinburgh, my only other viable choice would be London? And in the same idea, why an Italian company based in Rome could build one in Barcelona? Because of its alliance?

Find the largest hub you can operate from and find all of the routes without competition. Dominate those. Compete for the largest routes if you want to, but those tend to be high maintenance over time and you will need to revisit them a lot.

Develop your international long haul network. 747's at ~6000-8000 miles earn crazy amounts of money for minimal effort.

Develop your domestic network, starting at large airports. You can compete now.

Explore the 757 family and the A300 family. You will miss them once they're gone.

Many answers to be noted. Thanks again for your time.

Concerning the "spamlining" strategy, I won't use it. I like to play more "RP" than just to reach the top of the ranking. I want to make a profit to keep playing, not to break records. Even though I've accepted (for now) the scam model and the salary drop.

Otherwise... A lot of changes. I've understood the supply and demand thing a bit better.This means I'm making more profit, especially in places without competition. I have also started routes to the Middle East, Eastern America and North Africa. These are the most profitable at the moment.

I didn't go for the A320s but for the 737s. It was cheaper. I now have 7 of them. The advantage is that they are leased. So I could change them in 3 years by not renewing the contract?
Concerning the other aircraft. My A320 is on the end of its contract and will be replaced by a 737 to keep the same family. I have my ARJ for another three years. And my ATRs are purchases... Do I really have to sell them? Can't they be used for short-haul transport to the north of Ireland or Scotland?

Well, if you've got your money situation under control, keeping them around/getting rid of them won't be a critical issue anymore, but I'm not sure that it's really gonna make much money either. It's just that each aircraft family has a base maintenance cost to it, i.e. having 1 747-400 and having 100 of them will charge x dollars per aircraft in addition to the base maintenance cost of the 747 family itself. You can still keep them around if you want, I just never personally use anything smaller than a CRJ705 because... well, it's just a lot of hassle finding routes for them when an A319 or E190 even can make 5x the money with 1/2 the effort.

Regarding 737 vs A320, generally the 737 variants are cheaper, but they tend to have slightly more fuel burn, a bit less range, are smaller, and slightly more runway requirement (compare B738 to A320 or B739 to A321). The A320 aircraft are more expensive but I just enjoy using them since their variants come earlier (A319LR and A321 v.s. B737-700ER and B737-900ER). Towards the mid-game and end-game though I operate both families, mainly A319LR/A321-200 alongside B738. It's really more of a preference type of thing, you will likely use both families as your airline grows larger simply for the reason of "more planes = more routes = more profit" later on.

I usually lease aircraft for 10 years at a time and basically hold onto them... forever, lol. 

Finding new routes is one of the biggest things to running a successful airline, that way if someone comes along and sets up base at one of your hubs you won't lose all of your routes.

Just took a look at your airline, you seem to be running a hub-and-spoke model. See if you can open a second "hub", it will let you operate to the airports you are already leasing gates at without having to pay to lease more gates (unless you've managed to use up all 50 slots...?)

Also check your seat layouts, all-economy is technically the most profitable but you would be losing out on F (First class) and C (business class) demand if you don't run any. AE is one of those weird games where there's always someone willing to fly first class for a 30 minute flight, because... reasons?

Smaller aircraft generally aren't as profitable as larger ones, which means that larger aircraft can help you grow faster IF you can afford them. Given that you're based in EDI, invest in the B757-200 aircraft (once you get your economics in a more stable position) and fly them transatlantic to major US airports (and some secondary ones as well) like BOS, JFK, PHL, etc.

Generally I start my airline with A320 family and B757 family. The A320 is just a great for 90% of routes below 3300 miles and the B757 is great for 70% of routes below 4800 miles.