I am no experienced player and I have only sort of get hold of how to play this game, so apoligies if this is not possible under the current game structure.
As a late starter at a 7-year old server, I followed what was suggested by Yb in his youtube tutorials (thanks for the work, btw) and try to start up with second-hand aircrafts instead of leasing new ones. I found 2 16-20 year old jets in the market and started off with them.
I noticed that aircraft age has an impact on passenger reviews and in my opinion, this is disadvantageous to new players and does not really reflect what was happening in real world. Delta (and NWA) flies 43 year-old DC-9s only to retire them because of their fuel consumption, not age. Also, premium legacy carriers may also have a high average aircraft age and no one seemed to be bothered about it, take BA for example, its average aircraft age is 12+ years old but no one would avoid BA for their aircraft age. (Take it more extremely. who would have complained when they travelled on the last DC-9/10/MD-11 flight inspite of the equipment age?)
Understandably, this policy can work against static gigantic airlines because as time passes, their aircraft ages and no one would fly with them, so their profit drops. However, I would like to suggest an alterntive that would not harm start-up airlines that much, that is, to use extra turnover time prior to the flight.
My rationale behind this suggestion is that as extra turnover time increases, the less likely the plane will be delayed due to weather, atc and other factors. Passengers prefer flights with a smaller possibility of a delay. However, the curve should be a square root one and maxes at 1 hour or so (otherwise players may capitalise on this and do maintainence while earning more for the next flight)
Also, it helps late starters in old servers because often they cannot get the optimum slots and their aircrafts will have to sit at big airports doing nothing until the time of the next available slot. In this scenario, this helps late starters to earn more as a compensation for their inability to grab a gate.
There is no delay and has never been any in AS. The only thing that can delay and cancel flights is the condition. Still a old aircraft has higher maintenance costs and it takes more time to get it into good condition.
I do not understand how you can start on such a old server whit such big aircraft anyway?
Well and I am sure that any big airport still has no slots left in such an old server.
I have no idea what to start with apart from the suggestion I got from the youtube tutorial so I started off at a small-ish airport at average location, didnt like 19-seater props so I started off with CRJ-100, not too big for a 5-bar airport i guess. Also, start-ups with old jets are not uncommon i think, especially in less developed parts of the world.
Back to the topic, yes i understand delays wont happen in AS but it does in real world. Flights would be prone to delays if the turnaround time is at its bare minimum, especially at busy airports, and passengers wont like this.
I think it could be more realistic if passengers in AS ignores aircraft age but take into account of the likelihood of a delay.
Just my thoughts anyway.
RE: coz i have no idea how old each server was when i was at the home screen so i picked one with the fewest players and it turned out to be an ancient server. I stumbled accross a page which states how old each server was but Ive lost it.
I think there is a real image effect coming along with aged a/c, so I don't think a turnaround or delay effect should replace it. Further, I don't think the age has a direct impact on turnaround time, but more on the maintenance, so you rather would go for increased damage points or a higher time to reduce damage points.
Anyway, reading between the lines, if we would have something like delays at any time in the future, an impact of aged a/c on delays would be a good idea from my point of view.
IMHO, the image effect caused by aged aircraft comes from various channels, each tackled in AS through various variables already and need not to be repeated again.
- Shabby interior: Possibly cabin layout
- Goes tech or failure in-flight: Aircraft condition
- Noise: Passenger preference
Furthermore, it seems that the era (not sure if this is the right word) which aircraft was built already had an impact on passenger preference (compare 737 Classic and 737NG), it would be a double or even triple punishment on those who uses relatively old planes on top of MX and fuel costs (due to lack of cash like most start-ups), which is why i think it is redundant in AS.
I have watched every AS video YB made and I do not see where he says "Start whit old aircraft not new" or "start whit jets". Please before writing such large sugestions etc get a feel of the game and learn it. I wouls suggest to you to watch YB´s let´s play sesson 1 and sesson 3 and your self try the game before saying such things. Really if you do not like the game do not play it, anyway even if this might happend it will not happend now at this moment.
I sort of agree with wongtkfreddy that the actual age of the aircraft is not so much a decision that keeps a passenger from flying. How would I know, if a A330 is 5 years old or brand new? Or a A320? Put an aircraft in a C check, paint it new and add a new cabin and nobody will be able to tell it's 10 years old.
What I do believe though is that passengers can judge the age of the interior (seats, IFE, cabin etc.), which will have an impact. So I would support that the image factor would more (so it should probably be a combination) depend on the age of the installed cabin. So a player could simply replace the cabin and add a new one, to improve the rating for the aircraft.
I sort of agree with wongtkfreddy that the actual age of the aircraft is not so much a decision that keeps a passenger from flying. How would I know, if a A330 is 5 years old or brand new? Or a A320? Put an aircraft in a C check, paint it new and add a new cabin and nobody will be able to tell it's 10 years old.
What I do believe though is that passengers can judge the age of the interior (seats, IFE, cabin etc.), which will have an impact. So I would support that the image factor would more (so it should probably be a combination) depend on the age of the installed cabin. So a player could simply replace the cabin and add a new one, to improve the rating for the aircraft.
No passager who is not intrested in aviation will know, but changing the seats every 3rd year would be great in AS and having seats of the next generation whit the newest comfort. It makes me think of LuftHansa´s old first cabin where you had both a bed and a chair.
For my last airline I started using old aircraft (15-25 years). While the image rating is indeed lower, so are financing costs. Therfore I applied a more spacious seat configuration that balanced the downgrading a little bit. Because of the lower fixed costs (leasing rates) these aircraft are good if you're geographic location or shedule system forces you to underutilize your aircraft (e.g your opearting on a long haul route that only fills 15 hours of your daily schedule)....
About the age problem, passengers might complain about the old cabin layout, but it doesn't make sense when ago also becomes one of image factors of the cargo flights. I don't think anyone will care or even know whether FedEx is using a new 777 or an old MD11F to carry you cargo. No one will go to the airport and checks which airplane is carrying their bags. :)
Also, it helps late starters in old servers because often they cannot get the optimum slots and their aircrafts will have to sit at big airports doing nothing until the time of the next available slot. In this scenario, this helps late starters to earn more as a compensation for their inability to grab a gate.
If you know you can't get slots at an airport, why do you still lease aircraft for this airport? Maybe you can just change an airport to use your new plane. Also, I think if you know the airport is going to run out slot, just don't choose that airport as your hub. Running out of slots is always a problem. Check CGK on KaiTak server. Both FENCC01 and i feel great about it. :D
Hello everyone, first post in a long time. But I also think that aircraft age is not a factor in passenger demand in the real world and shouldn't be a factor in the game. I do know though that aircraft size and type (turboprop vs jets) are a big factor in customer opinion of an airline, as most passengers think that jets and larger aircraft are safer than turboprops and smaller aircrafts. The only biggest complains about old aircraft on the passenger's side is the cabin features, many airlines, in the US especially, will keep their aircraft with the same cabin feature from the day of its first flight to the day of its last flight. And people don't like sitting in a cabin that belonged to the 1990's eras when they could be flying in a super modern cabin configuration with personal everything and chairs which decor is of the time. So if you have a good cabin configuration in game, passengers should really not care. This I am saying out of empirical proof and not just a hunch, as studies in this area have been done more than once in calculating demand and studying potential new routes in the real world. And through these studies, it has been shown that even when considering aircraft size and type, the influence over customer desire to fly with a certain airline is relatively low, existent, but low.
P.S.
Aslo does anyone know how to take out the footer with my airline? The airline showing in the profile is not mine anymore...and I don't remeber how to take it out.
Hello everyone, first post in a long time. But I also think that aircraft age is not a factor in passenger demand in the real world and shouldn't be a factor in the game. I do know though that aircraft size and type (turboprop vs jets) are a big factor in customer opinion of an airline, as most passengers think that jets and larger aircraft are safer than turboprops and smaller aircrafts. The only biggest complains about old aircraft on the passenger's side is the cabin features, many airlines, in the US especially, will keep their aircraft with the same cabin feature from the day of its first flight to the day of its last flight. And people don't like sitting in a cabin that belonged to the 1990's eras when they could be flying in a super modern cabin configuration with personal everything and chairs which decor is of the time. So if you have a good cabin configuration in game, passengers should really not care. This I am saying out of empirical proof and not just a hunch, as studies in this area have been done more than once in calculating demand and studying potential new routes in the real world. And through these studies, it has been shown that even when considering aircraft size and type, the influence over customer desire to fly with a certain airline is relatively low, existent, but low.
P.S.
Aslo does anyone know how to take out the footer with my airline? The airline showing in the profile is not mine anymore...and I don't remeber how to take it out.
I totally agree to you even if my self I would be more happy to fly a turboprop then jet on short distance flights. I am very happy flying 737s but only whit sky interior. I do not care if it is a 737 300 or a 737 700 but if it is whitout sky interior I am not so happy flying both of them.
Aircraft age is no factor in passenger demand, but in image IIRC. Meaning after deboarding an image is build and transported (forums, chats, personal talk etc.). And the age also like the other impressions are combined in this image.