Does maintenance ratio change by using more efficient or better quality maintenance provider?
I guess it does based on this phrase under Maintenance tab: "Please keep mind that quality and efficiency will have an impact on your aircraft maintenance ratio."
So, is it more efficiency or is it better quality that affects maintenance ratio?
What is more important in AS maintenance... efficiency or quality?
Which provider do you prefer? I have always been running on system default (Amethyst).
Regarding price, how much difference in cost is among "average", "poor" and "lousy"
Most people use either Avia or Helvetic, I believe. I use Avia Technik myself. Figuring out the difference between all of them and all the levels (lousy, poor, average, good, excellent)... that sounds like a migraine waiting to happen. Without anyone else helping you gather data, it'd take you at least five months to get through them all for data gathering.
So, is it more efficiency or is it better quality that affects maintenance ratio?
Depends on what you are looking for. The better the efficiency, the faster maintenance will be carried out. So if an average company may need three hours to bring an a/c from 90% back up to 100%, a good one may do it in two and a half hours while the best one does it in just two (please note that these are just random numbers).
The better the quality, the longer it takes for the a/c to lose "healthpoints". So if a 100% a/c maintained by an average company can fly one cycle before its maintenance status falls back to 90%, the one maintained by a good company can fly two cycles, and the one maintained by the best company can fly three cycles. Again, random numbers, but I hope you get what I´m trying to say.
It´s up to you to decide what you need most. If you have many flights in a row without a maintenance break in between, you will probably want to go with a company that offers good quality. If you have flights with constant (short) breaks in between them, a company with good efficency may be the one for you. One company will never perfectly cover the needs of your entire fleet, so you need to find out what the majority of your a/c need and adjust the rest of the fleet accordingly.
I have recently changed my maintenance from African to Helvetic because I want cleaner planes for my passengers....and now the rescheduling nightmare begins.
Yeah, be careful when you change to different maintence provider. I always make sure that the Efficiency is the same, otherwise, I would have to reschedule all my flights. I have gone from Amethyst, to Avia, and now to Helvetic. I think Hevetic works the best because it keeps the maintance status above 90% throughout the day. I think it also gives me a better image rating for airplane condition.
I have virtually all of schedules with 1 or 2 maintenance windows during the day. I do not think the ratio would drop to 50% at any time because of this. i think efficiency is more important as you can get more % in ratio and schedule more flights. I have not yet made a switch from standard provider as I try to get more information on how much more expensive is African vs default.
I have virtually all of schedules with 1 or 2 maintenance windows during the day. I do not think the ratio would drop to 50% at any time because of this. i think efficiency is more important as you can get more % in ratio and schedule more flights. I have not yet made a switch from standard provider as I try to get more information on how much more expensive is African vs default.
When I was flying a fleet with mostly older aircrafts African was actually much cheaper then the default maintenance provider.
I filed a support ticket and the answer I got was that it was working as intended since they are more expensive per hour, but complete maintenance so fast that the final price gets lower anyways.
The standard provider works only when you start new. Once you have more than a handful (say 5-10) you really will need to switch to a diff provider. I’ve tried both African and Helvetic and I’ve found African works best for my fleet. It has little trouble with the SSJ’s but keeps the rest of the fleet well above 92%.
While pick a provider has an impact on your fleet you must not forget that AS calculates damage points for every take-off and landing. So, if a plane does 8 short flights a day it’s like to take a larger hit on condition (due to hits on engines, landing gear, airframe, etc.) Obviously Everyone wants to maximise productivity, so an a provider with higher efficiency will be able to bring the planes condition back to 100% sooner than others but if quality is not great you may require more maintenance stops. Bottom line, you really have to work through the combinations to find what works best for your fleet and routes, there is no magic formula.