There is no reason to not be friendly to your competitors. Especially good ones such as reto. Lasting 1 year with me flooding every route he ever tried was really good considering all others went under after months. I still keep in touch with many of my old competitors.
That website indeed is impressive but you can join the forums PR releases too. Always fun to write here whenever I feel like it. Done it for about 8 years now, since I started the CBE Airways news thread. It’s insane how quickly time has passed by. Always enjoyed giving my commentary on whatever I think while doing it from a fictional airline’s point. Hopefully someone also enjoys reading my banter.
Yes, I agree, the competition with ChristianPalsson was friendly and challenging. This is what the game is about - especially in a big market like Russia, where a couple of airlines can co-exist.
Time for a debriefing of where I failed:
My strategy of using only new aircraft prevented me from flooding the market with seats, although financials seemed OK during the first couple of months. When slots became scarce at a certain point, figuring out good connections to/from the secondary hub (Novosibirsk) was part of the fun.
Where my strategy started to fail, was the attempt to get a better foot in the Far East region of Russia by opening a third hub in Khabarovsk. Catering three hubs (DME, OVB, KHV) with only new aircraft was doomed for failure.
The final straw that broke my camel’s back (to my opinion) was the introduction of international long-range flights with two wide-body aircraft (DME - JFK / VNK - JFK). Even building terminals just for those flights wouldn’t help attracting passengers.
All these factors combined were recipe for disaster.
However, I still believe in the concept of F/C/Y on shorthaul flights in AirlineSim. I have been working at Swissair in the 90s where they had first class cabins on shorthaul flights. Back at that time, this was a money-making machine where celebrities and VIP would spend any amount of money to have their privacy when flying within Europe. I think, the game mechanics in AirlineSim support that “historical” setup.
(However, the VIP seem to use private jets these days. So to any real-life airline CEO out there: Please, don’t introduce first class for your shorthaul flights. It probably won’t work anymore)
Starting with brand new planes slows down growth but you got quite a good position while I spent 6 months or so on fleet replacements. That’s when you really grew.
Using cheap planes and 200% prices allowed me to expand quickly, this gave me an upper hand. What you did was expand into my main hub of DME. I need those slots and needed to get rid off you to get them. That’s why I started chasing you in OVB, KJA and VKO. I copied your schedules at those bases, mostly loosing me money. If you would have stayed in Siberia, I probably wouldn’t have bothered and built a partnership with you. Of all Russian airports you choose my main hub.
Those 777 flights to JFK were costing you loads. I copied them and was loosing about 100k per day. With your brand new inefficient 777s you must have lost more. There barely is any US demand from Russia, the long haul demand is to the east.
Thank you for introducing me to first class. In my 8 years of AS I have never before offered F, but you made me try it. It is usually pretty good, although some routes don’t work at all.
FlyRuss has for the first time ever finished a week in the red. Last financial week we lost 6.4 million dollars which is less than -1% margin. This is mainly due to various fleet screw ups as well as pricing that wasn’t adjusted on new routes. This week we will break even again. In order to reach capital we have retired 10 older A320NEOs which were already in the replacement pipeline. Unexpectedly, we also retired 10 factory new A321NEOs which did not have cabins installed. This is due to the current economic climate where we want to somewhat limit growth due to our current inability to launch failing routes. Our weak financial position is due to the insanely high fuel prices and the utterly bad overall economic climate. We are loosing loads while the cost of operation steadily goes up. While all airlines around the world struggle we are certain that FlyRuss will stay and ones we are out of this nightmare FlyRuss will be stronger than ever.
Happy Pride! FlyRuss has brought back it’s rainbow logo and multiple aircraft have been painted in a special pride livery, including about 30 787s. FlyRuss will always fight for the equal rights of all and everyone’s right to be respected and loved. While Russia is one of the world’s most restrictive countries for LGBT pride we will make sure that this incredible month will be seen by most Russians, that is our duty. Through the months of June and July all staff have been given special pride themed uniform accessories such as scarfs and ties and all our napkins given onboard have the rainbow pattern. We believe that the 100 year ban on pride is disgusting and we will do what we can to give this marginalised group recognition. More than 50 years ago the brave people at Stonewall set the example, that spirit now has to continue in us all.
Our latest venture which although is completely separate from FlyRuss but headed by the same CEO also has introduced a pride logo. IndoSky is an Indonesian airline based in one of the most homophobic countries in the world. There our work could not be more important. Together with our friends at Malay Pride we run awareness campaigns in East Asia and work for everyone’s equal rights.
FlyRuss is launching a brand new logo and visual identity. At the start of the Ukraine war we removed all association to the Russian flag and instead used the pride version of our logo. Now we believe a change is necessary to better reflect who we are. We have completely replaced the red from our corporate colour palette with the light blue of the “free Russia flag”. Going forward this will also be the official flag we will be using on all channels. We do not belive in the violent Russia of the past but the peaceful one of the future.
We also very saddened by the developments in Russia. The latest changes to the propaganda law include further worsening of the ability to advocate equality. We will ceaselessly work for the rights of all, at our company everyone is respected as they are. Our boycott of all Russian government flying still stands. We currently refuse all government cargo or personell. No uniformed Russian forces are allowed on our aircraft. As a company believing in peace we will play no part in massacring life.
Whether it is in Russia, Indonesia, Iraq or Somalia we will continue spending sizable efforts on advocating our agenda of mutual respect. Other negative developments we have seen recently is the latest Indonesian criminal code banning extramarital sex. Considering that same sex marriage is completely illegal this creates an even bigger problem for homosexual couples than heterosexual ones, who have the option to marry. As a corporation we are very worried of the direction that the world is turning. Our love and prayers are with all persecuted. Our companies will always be a beacon in the dark and be accepting of everyone.
With FlyRuss’s new visual identity, the old uniforms have also been replaced. A new uniform in our new colours designed by Laurence Xu is currently being rolled out. It aims to evoke the unrivalled luxury that FlyRuss offers. Isn’t it stunning?
I have no right to image. But, from my side I would argue that it is fair use. It’s for educational/news purposes that from my side is non profit. But, I removed it just in case.
