Currently you can only create flight plan for an aircraft you have. I propose an option to create a draft flight plan where user could create such draft for any aircraft type and configuration (either default or custom). Such flight plan would obviously not be flown, shown in the schedule, or use slots.
The benefits of this would be twofold:
- Ability to create proof of concepts. Sometimes I’m considering a route/schedule and want to know how it would work in terms of departure/arrival times, maintenance ratio and other factors but this is basically impossible to do, especially if it involves a type I don’t own yet.
- Ability to create flight plan before the plane is delivered. Sometimes a plane gets delivered mid day or simply on a day when I’m too busy to spend half an hour perfecting the flight plan so it just lays on the ground until I’m available. With this feature, user would be able to create a flight plan while awaiting delivery, then simply transfer it to the newly delivered aircraft with one click.
Additionally, if a plane is “lost” for some reason (e.g. unpaid lease), its flight plan could be moved to a draft so it can easily be reused later, rather than having to create it again.