Hello everyone. I'm new to airlinesim and so far I've only had one major difficulty. That is which airplane to select for a specific route. As there seems to be a huge number of aircraft available I just can't get to find the "perfect" one for each route. Even after significant time of comparing airplanes I just can't seem to find what I'm looking for!
Are there any tips, or any preferred airplanes (or airplane versions) we newcomers need to know? For example on the Las Palmas-Barcelona route which airplane would you suggest?
First, I should say welcome to one of the most enjoyable, most frustrating game you'll play. :) Don't get discouraged if you can't master this game right away. No one can. I've got a relatively profitable and strong airline on Aspern, but I've had dozens of airlines fail before I got this one to work. I've also lost about a dozen airlines on Aspern itself trying out new things that didn't work. Don't give up without giving it a good try.
Most of the 'What plane to use?' question is better asked by 'What kind of airline do you want to run?'. Are you wanting to fly jets or props? Are you wanting to create a mega-airline or just a little small regional one? Even which routes you want to run, and which game server you want to play on, are better determined before you choose the type of plane.
If you're just looking for profit, the answer is pretty simple. Go to your Aircraft Type Evaluation tool and put in the route (BCN-LPA) then choose some different airplanes. Look at the costs associated and do some comparison and math. You're going to have to find the answers yourself, because everyone here has their own answer to what is the best plane. Everyone has a different type of airline.
Well if you can't decide, take any widebody aircraft out of consideration. That will help you narrow down your focus. In terms of narrow body and regional jets, there aren't many bad options. As mentioned, use the Aircraft Type Evaluator to find the best type for the routes you want to run.
Not the best of ideas, since the 739 and the 321 are pretty much identical airplanes when it comes to performance numbers. However, since the former is made by Boeing and the latter by Airbus, you will lose a maintenance slot. After the third maintenance slot your total maintenance costs will increase by 15% per slot.
Therefore it is always a good idea to decide for one family (either Boeing or Airbus) and then stick with it. Both companies offer very similar planes in that size bracket and are pretty much interchangeable (well, in this game anyway).
Confusing. Spezialist, can you confirm that the following formula represents the increase (where Mi is the maintenance "relative" cost for i categories as a function of the maintenance for three or less categories, Mb)?
I think before considering which aircraft you are going to lease (you will only have enough to lease at the beginning) , think about which area are you going to base your airlines, what kind of airlines are you going to be. If your base has a very high demand (8-bar to 8-bar) you can choose slightly bigger planes such as 738, 321 etc. You could also try smaller planes with around 100 seats and turn it into an all economy LCC airlines, that would be fun!