I'm a fairly new player, but I recently noticed that when running a cargo aircraft the "image" factor is drastically effected by aircraft age. Though I can understand this as a factor for PAX aircraft, I have no idea why a cargo shipper would care how old the aircraft was.
Getting to the point; I believe that aircraft age should not be considered in cargo operations as a prospective shipper in MOST cases well not care, or even notice the aircraft age.
I see FedEx avoiding this potential problem all the time. Take an old DC-10-10F and put a new paint job on it. I jump seat with FedEx frequently and I am always impressed by how new the aircraft looks, even at almost 30 years old, when it has a new paint job. I'm assuming this would be covered under "maintenance".
If not, perhaps other suggestions?
I have to agree with North Star. Most cargo airlines such as FedEx and UPS usually buy old planes from passenger airlines and then convert them into cargo planes. For example FedEx brought many McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 from American Airlines and converted them into freighters. In Airlinesim, the age of a cargo airline shouldn't matter because in real life cargo airlines operate some of the oldest aircraft around. DHL even once wet leased a couple of Douglas DC-8. Another suggestion is to give players the option of being allowed to convert passenger aircraft to cargo aircraft. In real life many airlines convert old passenger aircrafts to cargo aircraft. It is quite common to turn a passenger aircraft to cargo aircraft. Cathay Pacific converted some ex-Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 and turned them into Boeing 747-400BCF.
Both points I have raised and had no response from anyone....
Yeah I saw your post concerning converting PAX to cargo FinnAvia. It would be nice if someone would explain how or why they wont implement this eventually.