With some of my new routes, there are situations where a flight is scheduled but 0 pax or cargo. Is it OK to cancel the flight (and return flight if empty) to save a few $AS or should I fly the route empty? Im wondering if it hurts the airline’s reputation if I cancel flights, but could save 12-14,000 $AS
Thanks!
I am not aware of any penalties to image and co.
be aware, that you have to compensate any pax that are already booked on a flight you cancel. I think, it is four times the ticket price? I can't really remember.
personally, I don't cancel flights that cover at least the direct costs or, if slightly below covering direct expanses, have enough transfer pax onboard.
also, don't forget that if you cancel either none or the return flight as well ;-)
I am not aware of any penalties to image and co.
be aware, that you have to compensate any pax that are already booked on a flight you cancel. I think, it is four times the ticket price? I can’t really remember.
personally, I don’t cancel flights that cover at least the direct costs or, if slightly below covering direct expanses, have enough transfer pax onboard.
also, don’t forget that if you cancel either none or the return flight as well
Thanks for the answer. I did not know that there were penalties like that but in my case it still save me money because I would have only a couple (if any pax) on board.
I don’t cancel an outbound if the return flight has pax on it. No matter what, I lose! 
I am not aware of any penalties to image and co.
be aware, that you have to compensate any pax that are already booked on a flight you cancel. I think, it is four times the ticket price? I can't really remember.
personally, I don't cancel flights that cover at least the direct costs or, if slightly below covering direct expanses, have enough transfer pax onboard.
also, don't forget that if you cancel either none or the return flight as well ;-)
The compensation is exaclty the ticket price, not more. I just cancelled two flights that had a single pax booked, and I paid just the ticket price.
well, that would still be a penalty as you have not received any money from the pax so far.
I'm sure it was four times or something like that under some circumstances, thou. maybe, when a flight gets cancelled due to maintenance reasons or because the a/c is at the wrong airport? I'm sorry, I really can't remember.
If you are trying to decide on whether to cancel flights, you should look at the flight detail report. I've included a copy of one of my flights for illustration.
Look at the total that is on the line labeled "CM II". In this one, it's a positive amount of $4492. If you are trying to determine whether you should cancel a flight due to lack of passengers, this is the one line you want to look at. If it's positive, you're going to want to keep the flight. The flight would cover all the direct costs, including maintenance, so it should be flown.
If it's negative, it takes a little more math to figure out if it would save you money to cancel it. If the line listed as "Direct Revenues" (in this case, $8596) is less than the sum of the subtotals above lines "CM I" and "CM II", you'd save the difference in cancelling the flight, but you are still going to lose money.
If you are trying to decide on whether to cancel flights, you should look at the flight detail report. I've included a copy of one of my flights for illustration.
Look at the total that is on the line labeled "CM II". In this one, it's a positive amount of $4492. If you are trying to determine whether you should cancel a flight due to lack of passengers, this is the one line you want to look at. If it's positive, you're going to want to keep the flight. The flight would cover all the direct costs, including maintenance, so it should be flown.
If it's negative, it takes a little more math to figure out if it would save you money to cancel it. If the line listed as "Direct Revenues" (in this case, $8596) is less than the sum of the subtotals above lines "CM I" and "CM II", you'd save the difference in cancelling the flight, but you are still going to lose money.
Thanks for the info. I've been using that sheet to make my decisions. I'm only in day 4 or 5 and my load factors are slowly moving up, no sense in burning cash if I don't have to!
