On Yeager, the old planes can be purchased new. Yes, maintenance cost is high for some and ok for others. I am well aware of where my cost emanates from. Four days ago, I was hitting a profit of $6500 on certain routes, whereas right now it has decreased to a mere $2900. Maintenance has not changed. the only thing that changed was oil prices.
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Brand new old planes can be purchased in certain worlds because there is a need for different scenarios. Some of us want to experience what it felt to do business with those planes or what it took to fly them . The point is this is a game, not reality and the idea of a game is to have fun.
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At least for the future it might be a fun idea to open a game world with something like historic fuel prices. Just a simple algorithm that might still produce fluctuating fuel prices, but on lower levels and with a predetermined minimum and maximum. That way, players that want to experience the challenge of these old aircraft can do so in specific game world(s). And in such a game world also ticket prices and personnel costs can be reduced to 20th century levels.
As much as that would add to realism, as someone who is originally from South America, let us please leave the entire issue of inflation to the real world…
I have to admit, I like it! I like the idea of real world inflation, even if I am taking a serious pounding right now. This is suppose to be a simulator - what is the point pretending to run an airline if you are not subject to the rigours and idiosyncrasies of life? Anyone can set up a schedule, have a full load and kick up their feet! Playing the executive role in an airline means attending to problems and crisis that could both be foreseen and unforeseen! If oil prices gets very bad, some of us who use old planes may be forced to reconsider our options - that is realistic. It is life. I love it!
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Hey everyone, thank you for all the input! I already posted this in a related thread, but we decided to share a blog post regarding the recent fuel price development - here’s the link!
That would really be a disappointment! I was hoping AS would be based on real life. If fuel is expensive, then so be it. I used to use low spirit planes in vain. My airlines have no problems with current fuel prices.
The operators of scrap metal must now switch to modern aircraft in order to save costs. That is why there are also political parties that advocate making fuel more expensive in order to protect the environment.
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where in the world is flying an 100 seat A320 realistic?
American Airlines operate A321s with 102 seats.
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how about a 350 seat A380, a 30 Seat Q400, a 50 Seat E90?
Singapore Airlines operate 379 seat A380s. Close enough.
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AFAIK not anymore…because it didnt work out
Exactly. I highly doubt an A380 would work in AS today. Airlines in the real world and in game need to adapt. Singapore Airlines have adapted while AS players till think they can profitably fly ancient MD80s and expect to make high profits.
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There is also the availability of the aircraft that need to be considered. On my server, there are far fewer newer aircraft than what you have in real life. I don’t think anyone should expect MDs becomes your cash cow, but it is probably one of the best options you have to start and grow fast on my server. I just don’t see too many replacements for MDs when you have multiple airlines growing on the server at the same time.
To be fair, older players have been benefiting from using narrowbodies for cross-ocean flights in the past even though they are not rated in real life at the time. The point to point traffic has changed the real-life traffic pattern and how aircraft works in real-life fundamentally. if you still have the old hub and spoke system like AS is preferred, i am pretty sure you will see far more A380s running. So saying the plane doesn’t work in RL therefore it just shouldn’t work in AS is never really a good auguement
I’m not questioning the possibility to fill it. That’s the easy part. I am doubting the economics to operate the A380 in game. I used to operate 100 A380s a couple of years ago when fuel prices were half of what they are now. Nowadays, I would probably not even break even with A380s. That’s the same issue real life airlines are facing.
i still run them, and they are making a profit with that last week’s fuel price. You just need to put them on your trunk routes and you are using them specifically to save slots. they will work. I will probably make more money with couple of narrowbodies, but they still work
This is my first post here and would like to communicate my opinion regarding the fuel prices.
A few years ago I starting dabbling with existing worlds to develop an airline, sadly a few life issues occurred where I never finished.
I started again back last August on Junkers and now on Otto. I now have the time learning from my mistakes by applying what I learned moving forward to each new entity that I start.
When my profit declined and I started looking at my infrastructure realizing the connection to fuel prices.
After reading that there will be no changes I can see that my competitors who have much more experience than I will overtake the slots faster as they have higher growth. To me I cannot find any sense in staying in this game of futility to never make it to #1 or even top 10.
I’m not getting into my technicals as to what I can do better, I’m learning that now but I am still in a stage where I would like to at least finish a game without losing my position, which already to some degree I have.
When it is time to buy credits I will be evaluating my time spent and how much MORE difficult it is to get into the top as this game in not considered challenging but frustrating to compete for someone at my experience level.
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Hey, again, thanks everyone for participating in the discussion! We’re aware that this situation isn’t easy on your airlines, especially for players that have just started out. Of course we want to keep the game enjoyable for everyone, but as the prices have gone down a bit compared to last week, we’ll observe the price development for now & keep you in the loop about any news 
AirlineSim is not an easy game. It wasn’t for me either. I think it took me at least 2 years to get on the top 20 leader board. What is most important in AS early on is P/E or profit to equity. It’s irrelevant how you do it. You can have old planes, new planes, whatever but if you are good att geting a high P/E ratio then you will be able to beat your competition. I suggest you try out a small market without competition. Practise to build up a high P/E and profit margin and with that experience and knowledge you will be able to take on any market in the future. It’s almost impossible to directly jump into one of the large markets and think that you will become top 10. You will be butchered by the competition.
When you actually face real competition rating to profit margin is also a very important metric. You need to find a strategy to get the highest possible rating while keeping a high profit margin to stay solvent. That you can easily practice in a smaller market.
It’s the competition that caused me to wonder how they grew. Still learning when to upgrade, how much to upgrade before it drags you down. The competition can be watched to see SOME of thier strategies. Without competition you can dominate unchallenged but when it comes in you can see your weaknesses.
I started at a large hub airport and so far have done well, relatively speaking. I am sure if I were senior I could have done better. When the fuel prices went up it brought stagnation to my growth. Junkers I think will end next month so I cannot change the fleet out successfully to counteract it.