CRJ:
In the game, CRJ are still marked as available as new and can be ordered by airlines. However, its production have ended for 4 years since late 2020/early 2021, and despite there were report of production restart after acquisition by Mitsubishi HI, there have been no such mention by Mitsubishi HI in recent years, and visions/prospect published by Mitsubishi HI regarding the aircraft model concentrated on aftermarket service.
Thus I think it is safe to say that CRJ production have been terminated in real life and consequently it probably should stop being available as new in the game?
Dash 8:
Dash 8 official production have also ended in year 2022, and all deliveries from the manufacturer now are refurbished used aircraft. While De Havilland have said theyâre looking into relaunching production in year 2024-2024, the wording on official press release De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Dash 8 Roadmap Announced - De Havilland Canada seems to indicate the intention being a new variant in case production is to be relaunched
So the availability of the currently variants as new probably no longer exists in the real world now, and can be marked as such in the game too?
Edit: 737 NG, A320ceo, A330ceo:
They have last sample produced a few years ago and all production line moved to MAX/neo already according to my understanding (Except like MRTT variant which are not related to the game)
Edit 2: A380, 747-8i, 747-8F:
Nothing need to said about them I guess?
They recently ended the 767-400ER production however, I think leaving those aircraft as new is just part of the game. While yes it isnât realistic it still keeps the game fresh. The current meta is strong these options give you a little more freedom in that meta.
Plus it gives new airlines options on how to play. I donât see any harm in leaving those in the game.
I think its still quite nice to have some fleet variety with aircraft that arenât really too out of date. Otherwise everyone would just end up operating one or two types of team airbus or boeing like in the real world.
Which would also impact the used markets & probably wouldnât be too helpful for new startup airlines unless you so happened to join when the majority of players were exchanging older fleets for new.
The other issue I find when it comes to deciding on fleet types is one where in some cases there are airports that operate smaller runways which get caught out by the generic performance calculations that AS uses. Which can restrict you on which aircraft types you could use even though some types would otherwise operate from those airports in the real world without the significant performance derogations that AS otherwise implies. So I have found that in some instances that it is quite handy to have access to additional options that could prove to be more viable depending on a route by route basis
As far as I know, AS ends the production of the aircraft when there is no way you can order the model anymore, which means the 747s and 380s are supposed to be gone by now. AS does allow pax versions of 767-300 to be ordered because of the cargo version, while 200/400 were out of production quite some time ago, so maybe this also applies to something like MRTT and P8 for the 330ceos and 737NG?
I think AS should follow whichever logic it has in the past on when to shut down the production of the type. The reasoning of âthere is no replacement, so it needs to be still in productionâ really doesnât stand: the 200/300 variants of the dash 8 are all out of production, and there is literally no replacement for them, especially after ATR pulled the 600S development, so you just need to use old planes to serves certain airports or not serve them at all in-game, same as in real life. If not, you will end up with people requesting most of the old planes being able to be produced, as there are always some differences between the types and the types they have been replaced with. There are servers set up that allow all the planes to be ordered as new, but thatâs not for all the servers.
Edit: ERJ might also be part of this list as itâs out of production as far as I know unless the game considers it can be produced through PraetorâŚ
The emphasis of airlinesim is to simulate the real world aviation, and the dilemma of lack of any actually usable new aircraft between Beechcraft 1900 and E195-E2 with the exception of ATR is part of the real world now. So I think these should be reflected in the game.
But I think one thing that should be discussed is, how should the game system deal with such phenomenon, especially given many AS game world do not come with used aircraft, and even other than those they can still have limited availability, compared to real world
I understand and fully second being realistic in regards to the new orders, though in order for this to fly and not kill the experience while being realistic, the older types still in service by any airline should be available in all servers, removing the âonly new types availableâ variable.
As unrealistic as it is to be ordering 320ceos today, the same applies to not being able to get a used 737-8, a 767 or a legacy A330.
If I remember correctly, the âOnly current types availableâ option was there to prevent over-expansion when the game world was launched. If you have no used planes when the server starts, itâs not really possible to add any old types that have been out of production before the server started⌠If you want older planes, you might want to just join one of the old servers in which they are available.
About not having older planes available, I think there are two scenarios:
There are planes that have a limited production number, and itâs hard for you to get one in real life or on the server if someone else has it and not letting it go
There are planes that are more readily available right after a large player leaves the server, but the used planes are taken out very quickly by new airlines for expansion, which ends up with no airframes on the market.
Either way, I donât see the issue being the AS used plane market, itâs more caused by the other game dynamics. If, in real life, new airlines can grow as fast as on AS, I doubt you will see used planes floating around also.