As a newbie, I am really enjoying this game and look forward to building my airline.
Regarding subsidiary, what it is the main benefit in making one? Why not build one huge airline?
Also, if I have two subsidiaries out of the same hub, one for domestic flights and the other for international, will they automatically feed each other
passengers since they are owned by the same holding company?
Several reasons for subsidiaries:
To save on maintenance categories
To get new flight numbers after running out of them
Keeping things more organized by focusing subsidiary to a certain area
Starting up airline in investment country
Creating leasing and handling subsidiaries because of certain financial aspects
Just because …
etc.
there is a multitude of reasons
As for the feeding question, no. They won’t automatically feed each other. You still need to sign an interline agreement between them. It takes a few seconds, but you only have to do it once.
I have two subsidiaries, one operates ‘regional’ type aircraft so that I can stay under the allowance of three maintenance categories, and the other is an LCC-type experiment. This allows me to offer drastically different service levels without affecting the rating of my main airline.
There’s both an upside and a downside to operating subsidiaries. Subsidiaries don’t inherit customer rating from the parent, so it will take time to build that up. There’s also the added cost of duplicate staff.
There's both an upside and a downside to operating subsidiaries. Subsidiaries don't inherit customer rating from the parent, so it will take time to build that up.
There is a way around that though (which in my opinion needs to be corrected some day).
You start your airline with an image of 0 in all categories. If your first flight offers a high image rating ("image overall" in flight rating) it will instantly push your airline rating to that level. You will, of course, lose this rating if you offer flights with a worse rating after that. But if you plan to offer high quality flights anyway you don't have to worry about it. Meaning you don't have to build up your reputation slowly over a long time but can easly start at the rating you are going for anyway.
There is a way around that though (which in my opinion needs to be corrected some day).
You start your airline with an image of 0 in all categories. If your first flight offers a high image rating ("image overall" in flight rating) it will instantly push your airline rating to that level. You will, of course, lose this rating if you offer flights with a worse rating after that. But if you plan to offer high quality flights anyway you don't have to worry about it. Meaning you don't have to build up your reputation slowly over a long time but can easly start at the rating you are going for anyway.
But you would have to raise staff mood before starting the first flight to achieve an ultimate high image score. This requires personnel in all required categories and one week-end closing.
Besides, I agree there needs to be a more balanced system in the future.
But you would have to raise staff mood before starting the first flight to achieve an ultimate high image score. This requires personnel in all required categories and one week-end closing.
You sure? If I recall correctly I had a 4 bar rating for my subsidiary after its first flight left the ground. But I might be wrong as I didn't pay special attention to it since I didn't even know it works this way before noticing my instant high rating. But I think it didn't take a whole week..
But even then.. 1 week to gain an almost perfect rating still supports my claim that one doesn't have to build it up over time as stated in my first post.
I think a very close 4 is achievable this way, but you really have to tailor everything the right way to achieve this. 5 is impossible.
Your claim is perfectly right, yes. As said, I don't like it much either. Anyway, as most people go for high ratings nowadays, this has only a measurable impact within the first days to weeks.