Hi,
you can change the price of your tickets at any time. However, the flights that are already on the flight list won’t change. The next flight that is entered in the ORS (three days ahead) will use the new price. The same goes for changes changes in the cabin configuration or he on-board service.
Jan
Thank you. I was hoping I hadn’t missed a function somewhere.
You need to wait…Once the ORS has your flight, you cannot modify it!
For some reason my earlier post didn’t make it. My connection wasn’t the best. When it comes to maintenance I’m still confused. I have an older plane I purchased that is down to 67%. At what point does that percentage go back up? I have the maintenance percentage at 120%. Is that too low? Why does it go over 100% anyway? Any tips on this would be great. I don’t want to lose a ton of money by having flights cancel.
I keep checking and the flight is still at 67% does it only update it when it’s time to depart again?
Yes, it will be repaired prior to departure. The maintenance status will be updated, when the plane takes off.
Why 2 FA’s in Economy? I have a similar config, but with only 1 FA. In fact, I specifically did 50 seats in Economy to Have 1 FA in Economy, since the game requires 1 FA for every 50 seats BY CABIN. I intend to use this knowledge as I grow to minimize costs. No need to add an extra FA on every flight to have 52 seats in Economy.
Thats what I used to do until I started looking closely at my flight ratings. It is almost impossible to know how effective each individual aspect is in determining the final rating, but having another F/A only amounts to an extra ticket or two per week, so I figure it is probably money well spent.
Hi,
the number of flight attendants influences the image rating of the flight, so it has no direct influence on your ORS rating. But the average image rating of all your flights forms the image rating of your airline, and that overall image rating is part of your flight’s product rating. And that product rating (or value for money rating) is the basis of the ORS rating.
If the passengers like the type of plane, your plane is new, staff mood is okay and the plane gets its daily maintenance, your image rating should be fine.
If you operate planes that are disliked by the passengers, that are older than 10 years, and your staff mood shows red bars… then you have to worry about your image 
Jan
What can you guys tell me about the aircraft type evaluation? I’m a little confused on how to read it. Does it take into account lease costs? I was looking at the MD11 and an A330 the other day and was getting some pretty shocking results. Made me wonder why spend $7mil plus $700,000 a week on an A330 when you could purchase the MD11 for a little more and save the $700k per week.
***The numbers might not be exactly correct I’m just going from memory.
The lease is included in capital costs. Were you looking at a route that had the 330 weight restricted? I just typed in LHR-EWR and the MD-11 burned about 35% more gas. In addition, a 21 year old MD-11 would cost 21 million (3 times the deposit of a new A330) and have twice the maintenance bill.
I’m unsure. I was just looking at total cost at the end and both were showing a very close relative number. I didn’t know if one didn’t included lease costs which would change things. Knowing it does show the lease rate makes a lot of difference.
Hi,
when leased, and on the EWR - LHR route, the cost per seat would be…
new A330-200: 261 dollar
new A330-300: 246 dollar
20 year MD11: 273 dollar
This is the standard cost, everything included except the on-board service.
If you owned a 20 year old MD11, the cost would be 183 dollar per seat.
But you would have to invest 21 million dollar, which is the price for a 20 year old MD11.
Jan
How did you calculate the dollar per seat for the MD11 if you purchased it?
It all depends on how you want to do the accounting. You could just take the total fixed cost ([color=#333333][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]116,290[/size][/font][/color]) and subtracting the capital cost (37,091) for 79,199. Divide this by seats for 193. This of course does not take into account the opportunity cost of the 21 million dollars you’ve had to lay out for the purchase, any interest you’d be paying on loans, or the depreciation of your asset. It would make a proper account either angry or sad.
Practically speaking do you want 3 new planes or one old one?
Hi,
as Firtree said… add the MD11 on the aircraft type evaluation page and select 20 years. It will then use the maintenance cost for a 20 year old plane. Subtract the capital (= leasing) cost from the total cost and divide by the number of passengers.
Leasing a new plane is always more profitable than buying a plane. I operate a bunch of 737-500’s and 737-400’s. They are cheap to buy (when 20 years old) and fuel efficient. With my cabin configuration and pricing, a new 737 generates a net profit between 25% and 40% if the plane is fully booked. A 20 year old 737 generates a net profit of 30% to 45%.
You can lease three new planes for the price of buying one 20 year old plane. The return on your investment will be bigger if you lease the three new planes
I only see two reasons to buy planes:
When starting an airline, especially on a new server, you may decide to buy a few crappy 30 year old planes. Then you go to the bank and ask for a big loan that enables you to lease new planes. This more or less doubles your starting capital.
Or you are an idiot (like me) who likes to play a more realistic airline that owns most of its planes. And then you end up buying 5 CR7’s instead of leasing 50 CR7’s
Jan
Thanks for all the info.
Do you guys bother with first class or just stick with business?
I’ve never [successfully] done first. There are VERY few first class passengers, and those that do exist will take business if no first is available (likewise, biz pax will take coach if they can’t find biz).
I have a 777 with 12 first class seats. I’m hoping I can make them work. It’s not worth the $400k to adjust 12 seats out of the configuration.
Or is it possible to change the seat configuration without having to pay the whole bill? If I wanted to remove the 12 first can I just do that? If I lower the price enough will business travelers use it?
Hi,
no you can’t. You can’t even add a flight attendant without paying for a whole new cabin configuration.
First class passengers will travel if there are first class travelers on that route and if the ORS rating is okay. But Firtree is right, there are few first class passengers and they fly business class if there is no first class available.
Jan