Hello,
Can someone recommend me a long haul aircraft? If you take a loot at my airline i think its the right time to go long haul, any advice and possible destinations would be great as I already have a few in mind but some advice and opinions would be great!.
Cheers,
Ben
Without saying, 787-800 is the most popular long haul aircraft in AS followed by 787-900 and 350-900.
Depending on your mission profile, A330 and 767 could also work well, especially if you can get the aircraft at substantial discount prices. And the 777 is the most orphaned widebody in AS, IMO.
As Rubio said the 787-8 is probably the best choice but looking at your airline I would recommend it because you can't fill something larger. Make sure to have a good partner and connect to their schedules at the destination you want to try.
Or do as I am currently doing with Indo investing heavily in long haul but with narrow bodies. I try to always have the perfect aircraft for the route that is why I have a combination of A319E (medium), A320NEO (heavy, medium) and 737-900ER HGW. I can reach destinations within 8000km, and all theese three aircraft types are extremely efficient and offer better economics than 787s. I am planning to have atleast 30 long haul destinations within the next days and my competitors seem to be wandering around within the deep jungles of Indonesia.
Take a look yourself. http://stapleton.airlinesim.aero/app/info/enterprises/63871?7&tab=0
I am planning to have atleast 30 long haul destinations within the next days and my competitors seem to be wandering around within the deep jungles of Indonesia.
I know this is off topic, but you will face issues when you start those 30 long haul destinations. ;)
Mideast, Australia, and Japan are all finest destinations you can have from Indonesia.
For example, USA to Indonesia is almost nonexistent traffic.
As Rubio said the 787-8 is probably the best choice but looking at your airline I would recommend it because you can't fill something larger. Make sure to have a good partner and connect to their schedules at the destination you want to try.
Or do as I am currently doing with Indo investing heavily in long haul but with narrow bodies. I try to always have the perfect aircraft for the route that is why I have a combination of A319E (medium), A320NEO (heavy, medium) and 737-900ER HGW. I can reach destinations within 8000km, and all theese three aircraft types are extremely efficient and offer better economics than 787s. I am planning to have atleast 30 long haul destinations within the next days and my competitors seem to be wandering around within the deep jungles of Indonesia.
Take a look yourself. http://stapleton.airlinesim.aero/app/info/enterprises/63871?7&tab=0
Why should I fly somewhere else if I can fill my planes on all domestic routes, Christian, and having the most transported passengers per week and also in total... with less planes... And by the way, you are hijacking this thread with your ego blasting.
The only meaning of the post quoted above is to hijacking the topic, there is nothing whatsoever that relates to the question asked... Plus insulting someone who actually answered the players question.Why should I fly somewhere else if I can fill my planes on all domestic routes, Christian, and having the most transported passengers per week and also in total... with less planes... And by the way, you are hijacking this thread with your ego blasting.
I could have responded offensively but I dont want to hijack the topic and counter attack as someone clearly did on my post which the only purpose of it was helping.
@highscore, please don’t attack my posts anymore. If you want for your ego we could have a community vote on the most successful airline in Indonesia on Stapleton. Who knows maybe the community will vote for an airline with 89 aircraft mostly based around 39 year old DC-9s when the other option is an airline which has 136 aircraft mostly based on the new A321Enhanced? One of my A321s is worth more than your entire DC-9 fleet and my 42 A321s are worth more than your entire fleet, this is not considering my fleets of new 737-900ERs, A319Es, A320Es, A320NEOS, 737NGs, etc. Yes, you do transport more passagers every week but due to the fact that I am no longer on vacation gives me considerably less time to AS thereby I currently have around 40 aircraft without schedules. I have more spacious and thought through configuration than what you have which make me more money at 99 ORS rating than yours.
I am very sorry @bennyhardy for writing this on YOUR topic but I am not left with any other choice than to respond to what I am accused for.
@highscore, please don't attack my posts anymore. If you want for your ego we could have a community vote on the most successful airline in Indonesia on Stapleton. Who knows maybe the community will vote for an airline with 89 aircraft mostly based around 39 year old DC-9s when the other option is an airline which has 136 aircraft mostly based on the new A321Enhanced? One of my A321s is worth more than your entire DC-9 fleet and my 42 A321s are worth more than your entire fleet, this is not considering my fleets of new 737-900ERs, A319Es, A320Es, A320NEOS, 737NGs, etc. Yes, you do transport more passagers every week but due to the fact that I am no longer on vacation gives me considerably less time to AS thereby I currently have around 40 aircraft without schedules. I have more spacious and thought through configuration than what you have which make me more money at 99 ORS rating than yours.
(cough) nobody cares (cough)
As for the OP's question, the 787-8 is by far the best passenger widebody in this game.
I was dragged here by the word 'Indonesia', but since the word also start an out of topic discussion, let's just leave Indonesia to me, lol.
Best long haul aircraft doesn't necessarily a wide body aircraft. By AS classification, long haul is route longer than 5000km as depicted in your route network map in your airline info page. Any aircraft capable of flying more than 5000km with maximum payload should not be overlooked. Coming from a reduced demand gameworld and a country with more domestic traffic than international traffic, I need to be careful with my long haul aircraft selection.
So my two personal favorite: Boeing 737-900ER HGW variants for long haul and Boeing 737-700 ER variants for ultra long haul.
It's a courtesy to use OP's hub for an example rather than own hub, so let's try TUN. Within 5000km range, you already cover all Middle East Mega hubs: DXB, DOH, AUH, JED, RUH, so I supposed you want to fly longer than that although so I far I only saw you sent 5x weekly 777 to DXB, 2x weekly 777 to RUH and ERJ to JED.
I'm not familiar with demand in Devau, but since you already have Boeing 737 in your maintenance list, why don't use the same maintenance type to test the water. If I were you, I would send some 737-700 ER to fly TUN-JFK/EWR/YYZ/BOS and some 737-900ER to fly TUN-DXB/DOH/DEL/BOM/AUH/NBO. With the right configuration and proper wave time, matching your short and medium haul routes, I'm confidence your long haul route will work. TUN has 60% empty slots so flying two narrow body back to back is better than one wide body, IRL business customer prefer frequency and in AS demand distribution also favor more frequency.
Why a narrow body vs a wide body? We saw the trend in real world, with airline using remaining Boeing 757 to fly over the pond, and how popular the Airbus A321-200 NEO LR, selling like hot cakes and dubbed the replacement for Boeing 757. So a capable narrow body should make a good long haul aircraft, lower density configuration and other on-board services and amenities might help minimize the perception of less inconvenient narrow-body for longer routes. BA 1 LCY-JFK a 5,500km route is flown on Airbus A318, (albeit with a stop in SNN for US pre-clearance), featuring all business class.
So I think the logic and the reality is there, for the narrow body to shine on longer routes. Of course, it doesn't hurt if you could snatch a wide-body for a very cheap lease price in used market, but still it's more expensive to fly as it consumer more fuel and add another maintenance type.
If you start with the suggested narrow bodies, you might want to schedule your flights with some gaps so that you can possibly switch to a widebody if the demand is there.
It’s a bit tricky, as the widebodies fly faster, but you might wanna try.
That is btw also the case for the 787-8. The turnaround time is faster than the 787-9. So if you want to be able to switch back and fourth, plan for a longer TA time.
It's a bit tricky, as the widebodies fly faster, but you might wanna try.
Frequently I schedule narrowbodies at maximum speed override so widebodies can be accommodated quite easily if the route proves itself.
Frequently I schedule narrowbodies at maximum speed override so widebodies can be accommodated quite easily if the route proves itself.
Does this affect fuel costs in any significant way?
Depends what you consider significant. You can use the route evaluation tool to check the fuel difference (multiplied by fuel cost). It’s usually not that much.
I agree 737s are a great way to start long haul. You can see what works and the margins can be huge.
However if you want to use a widebody, the 787-8 is great, but if you can get a cheap A332 that would be great. In my experience the 777 is not the best (admittedly I have 40something in my fleet but that's because they were ridiculously cheap).
Something else I would recommend for you is to fly to Lagos, Abuja and Accra. You are perfectly located between West Africa and Europe and those three airports are usually underserved and do not require long haul aircraft.
I was dragged here by the word 'Indonesia', but since the word also start an out of topic discussion, let's just leave Indonesia to me, lol.
Best long haul aircraft doesn't necessarily a wide body aircraft. By AS classification, long haul is route longer than 5000km as depicted in your route network map in your airline info page. Any aircraft capable of flying more than 5000km with maximum payload should not be overlooked. Coming from a reduced demand gameworld and a country with more domestic traffic than international traffic, I need to be careful with my long haul aircraft selection.
So my two personal favorite: Boeing 737-900ER HGW variants for long haul and Boeing 737-700 ER variants for ultra long haul.
It's a courtesy to use OP's hub for an example rather than own hub, so let's try TUN. Within 5000km range, you already cover all Middle East Mega hubs: DXB, DOH, AUH, JED, RUH, so I supposed you want to fly longer than that although so I far I only saw you sent 5x weekly 777 to DXB, 2x weekly 777 to RUH and ERJ to JED.
I'm not familiar with demand in Devau, but since you already have Boeing 737 in your maintenance list, why don't use the same maintenance type to test the water. If I were you, I would send some 737-700 ER to fly TUN-JFK/EWR/YYZ/BOS and some 737-900ER to fly TUN-DXB/DOH/DEL/BOM/AUH/NBO. With the right configuration and proper wave time, matching your short and medium haul routes, I'm confidence your long haul route will work. TUN has 60% empty slots so flying two narrow body back to back is better than one wide body, IRL business customer prefer frequency and in AS demand distribution also favor more frequency.
Why a narrow body vs a wide body? We saw the trend in real world, with airline using remaining Boeing 757 to fly over the pond, and how popular the Airbus A321-200 NEO LR, selling like hot cakes and dubbed the replacement for Boeing 757. So a capable narrow body should make a good long haul aircraft, lower density configuration and other on-board services and amenities might help minimize the perception of less inconvenient narrow-body for longer routes. BA 1 LCY-JFK a 5,500km route is flown on Airbus A318, (albeit with a stop in SNN for US pre-clearance), featuring all business class.
So I think the logic and the reality is there, for the narrow body to shine on longer routes. Of course, it doesn't hurt if you could snatch a wide-body for a very cheap lease price in used market, but still it's more expensive to fly as it consumer more fuel and add another maintenance type.
OK thank you very much, seem like a good answer to my OP, I've cancelled the 777-200 and now will start with the 737's on long haul duty. starting from DXB, DOH and then moving onto JFK.
I also quite enjoy the 767-400ER, it is not as good as the 787-8 but it flies at the same speed as 737/A320s and if the there is some extra time in the schedule, then the schedule could easily be transferred. And the economics of the 767-400ER is still pretty similar to the 787-8s. The other members of the 767 family or not either that bad but don't use them if you can fill the 400ER.