A call for regulation of interline agreements

English Boards General
1

So the new player has found an airport with reasonable slots availability, reasonable local demand and even was able to get the airline off the ground by serving local traffic.

The next logical step is international expansion. So the new player researches the routes and finds out that the natural pax traffic flows from his base airports go to US, EU, China, Japan etc… but wait… all these countries are already slot congested. And even if the new player can find a weekly set of slots, his home base being just a 6 bar airport maybe cannot even fill with O/D traffic to this international destination.

So the new player does what’s logical… requests an interline contract. AND HERE COMES THE PROBLEM. On old servers there are just a handful of mega airlines dominating the major air traffic countries. New player’s interline options are limited. But the new player, ever brave, sends the interline request to the mega airline indeed.

Then comes the big surprise… the mega airline rejects the interline contract. So the new player’s door to access the US, European or Chinese market has just been shut in his face.

What joy should the new player have now in the game if he cannot move beyond borders of his country or his continent?

I propose a very BOLD new game rule, or better to say, a regulation, concerning interline agreements. The same way as incumbent telco carriers had to grant rights to new startups to access their networks, incumbent mega airlines should be regulated in the same way.

Below are my proposed rules for regulation of interline agreements on older server. I hope a lively discussion will follow and some rules are implemented as a result.

  1. A regulation would encompass major airlines based in 7 to 10 bar airports. Basing would be considered if the airline is the largest airline in such airport by number of total departures from such airport and given the airline is based in the same country where such airport.

A 7 bar airport would cover top 1 airline.

An 8 bar airport would cover top 2 airlines.

A 9 bar airport would cover top 3 airlines.

A 10 bar airport would cover top 5 airlines.

  1. An airline that would be covered by regulation would be required to sign interline agreement with an airline from other country if such foreign airline request s interline with this major airline. This would not be implemented by game mechanics but by a game rule.

  2. A major airline that is covered by this regulation would be fined if it rejects or stalls interline request. A fine should be equal to interline cost of the requesting airline. Stalling would be considered not replying to interline request for one week from request and from the last logon of manager of the requestee airline.

  3. If the interline is being rejected or stalled, requesting airline can contact AS team, which in turn would fine the requestee airline and would manually implement the interline contract.

  4. In order to prevent abuse and injustice towards the requestee airline, the requesting airline would need of interline agreement regulation.

  5. Requesting airline would need to have at least one daily flight to the base city of airline (requestee) of which it is requesting interline.

  6. Requesting airline must have been in business for at least one month in order to protect requestees from set-up-and-reset airlines.

  7. Requesting airline must not have an existing interline with same size or larger airline in the same market as requestee…if the requesting airline already has an interline with same sized or larger company, the spirit of giving access has already been fulfilled and in such case the regulation should not apply.

  8. Requestee airline must have been in business for 6 months or more in order for requesting airline be able to use the powers of interline regulation.

  9. In order for requesting airline to be able to use the powers of interline regulation, it must be serving at least 80% of its domestic airports with 3 bars or more, or show why serving those airports is not feasible (e.g. slot congestion). This would assure that only airlines that have filled the local market are able to use powers of interline regulation.

So fellow AS players…what are your thoughts, comments, and opinions? (And I am quite sure mega airlines will reject this from the onset as it’s them being regulated, but I am also inclined to think smaller players would support this as it would allow them to expand.) But I also know this would be for the benefit of all players and could add a lot to the game dynamics… there is a lot of regulation in real life, especially when market access constraint is concerned… regulators and trade commissions do not look with kind eye on monopolies and companies that restrict others from accessing the market.

2

You know the principle of the Freedom of contract or? Nobody can force me to sign a contract with someone.

3

Hi,

An interesting idea but I don't think there is much thought for the major player in this game. Let me explain a few of my issues with it... (some may be convered but Its a large post so apologies)

1) Requestee starts a direct route  to my hub from an airport I already serve. Why should I be obligued to help the requestee out when he is compeeting with me?

2) Requestee starts a 1x weekly flight to my hub with  a Let 410. Why should my airline pay 12068 (cheapest interline rate I currently have) for 19 potential pax a week? Thats about 800AS per pax for no gain

3) What you define as hub can cause issues. Take Gatow and LGW. It's a 9* airport so 3 operators are regulated. Well I run two of those airlines, so I would suggest you go to the 3rd with you let 410.

4) Again take a look at Gatow...JFK, a 10* so 5 operators....my airline is number 5, but JFK most defenately isnt a hub...I don't have traffic rights to do anything but UK from JFK?

I appreciate its very hard for a new player to start in an exisiting world. I did, and do so every so often, sometimes it works, sometimes not. If your airline is succesful enough in 6 months for the bigger airline to pay attention they are likely to sign an interline contract with you, but I dont think larger airlines should be forced to help out those they don't want to.

My 2 cents...

Ian

4

I sorta agree with Ian. Interlining is one of the biggest tools in the game, and unlike a player-computer interaction (such as leasing planes, setting schedules, or figuring out cabin services), it's a player-player interaction. What is good for you may not be good for the person you are interlining with.

The older servers have those mega airlines because that's what the system gravitates to. It takes planning and a lot of attention to detail to get one of those mega airlines... but the biggest thing it takes is time. Most of them were started when the server started, or at least have two years under their belt. Having a new airline in one of those older worlds can really suck because the connections just aren't there.

What I use the older servers for is to test things, at least I used to. I would test airplane configurations, routes, scheduling, transfer passengers, and the like. When I would get to a point that I needed to test something else, I'd restart while waiting for the new server (Aspern) to come out. Taking what I learned on all those tests, keeping records and figuring out what works and what doesn't from my planned hub, I got right to work on what would be the best start for me.

Starting on an "old world" is difficult if your aim is to be one of the mega airlines. They have the money, the connections, and the ability to squash the competition. Trying to get them to change is going to bring about a lot of negative feedback from those that have put in the years of time it takes to build a mega airline.

5

I'll also add that your suggestions, while they might end up being fair in the long run, would require either a lot of additional website/server coding and personal oversight by the AS team while it was implemented to check for cheats, bugs, and the like.

6

I am neither a mega airline or a small airline, however I very rarely sign an IL with an airline under 1 month old as they normally just liquidate.  Anything over 1 month I will normally be keen to sign assuming they are not a competitor of me or my alliance partners.

Do you also send a message to airlines when sending an IL request?  I do this as a rule, and I normally reject IL offers I receive without a message....

7

Do you also send a message to airlines when sending an IL request? I do this as a rule, and I normally reject IL offers I receive without a message....

Yeah I don’t have any interlining agreements going yet, had a couple of offers but I believe I am currently 90% booked on average and it’s still a bit early before looking at branching out in interlining agreements. However in regards to messages, I doubt I would accept an interlining agreement unless a message was sent with it (although if the contract would greatly benefit me I would likely overlook that because money talks). I feel though that if there is good communication from the start then it would show opportunity for dealings in the future be it alliance and such. I’m still inexperienced though so I may be reading too much into it.

8

Interlining is a very big--and essential--part of my small Congo-based airline (over 50% of traffic on some routes being IL). Without it, it probably would not survive. Most of my contracts are with what I would call medium to small airlines--the costs related to the large numbers networking staff that would be required to IL with a "mega" airline seem too steep for my airline and its relatively narrow profit margin. That said, my interlining agreements with the medium/small airlines are working out pretty well. "Bridge" traffic between other airlines also helps.

It seems to me that if you have a network, fleet, and operating plan that appear to make sense, your odds of successfully negotiating IL agreements are much better. The creation of more rules cannot make up for poorly thought-out business plans, nor should they (this is a general statement and not a reflection on the original poster's airline, with which I am not familiar).

Also, I had no problem gaining a number of IL partners very early, even before my flight schedule started. At this point, CAA is in its third week of operation.

9

I would like to add that I am somewhat picky about the airlines that I submit IL requests to. It is important that they meet the basic criteria that I mentioned above.

Compatible flight schedules are also vital: while researching, I will put up adjacent windows containing my schedule and that of the potential IL partner at a particular airport (with both set to UTC time) to confirm that we both have flights between which transfer would be possible and viable.

10

I dont normally check flight times, simply because they can / will be changed and adjusted after the IL is signed.

11

I agree with some of the posts above:

  • I usually don’t sign interline contracts with airlines that are just a couple of weeks in the game, because experience shows they are often gone as fast as they appear.

  • My view towards an interline agreement is much friendlier if I get an accompanying message, which - in my eyes - is simply a ‘basic rule of business’. Otherwise I ignore it because it shows me that the other airline has not made any thought about my airline and the benefits of an interline. It’s amazing, I write in my company profile that I ignore such interline request, yet more than 50% of the requests are without message!

And no, any “rules” aren’t appreciated at all. It does not happen in real world, except for one worldwide exception (BA was forced to sign an interline agreement with Virgin Atlantic on several routes due to competition issues in LHR).

12

Usually it's the newcomers fault that major players don't sign interlining agreements with them. I have stated in my company profile that i will not sign interlining agreements with companies that are younger then 2 weeks. This is my ONLY rule. All other interlining requests are welcome and i sign them all.

But when i see that the newcomer didn't even bother reading the message on my company profile that he should wait for 2 weeks before sending an interline request then obviously the answer is a reject. For me that shows a lazy player who is not committed to this game and i don't want to waste time with him.

Other players have other rules, as stated above some need a message, some need an average fleet age and so. 

So it's up to the requesting airline to comply to these requests. So i don't see any reason to regulate the interlining agreements.

13

Normally I accept interlining unless it is my direct competitor, or from competing alliances. In addition, I will not sign interline that is meaningless (e.g. I connect A-B and A-C, when a company serving B-C offers me an interlining, I will just reject it)

It's your responsibility to provide a sound plan and before offering an interline.