Best Routes for Best Planes
✈️ Here you will find the BEST ROUTES for the BEST PLANES to help you on your way! ✈️
General Tip 📢
Many Alliance members have built their fleets upon one plane: the Irkut MC-21-400 (Under “Other” tab when ordering aircraft), which is arguably the best CONTRIBUTOR in the game! Plus, it is relatively cheap to buy, fast and it’s cheap/quick to maintain. If you are starting out, it makes sense for this to be your go-to plane, and you should fill your hangars with them! (You can find it under the “Other” tab when ordering aircraft). ✈️
Best Strategy for the MC214 📢
To get the most out of your fleet, you should stick to a 3 x 8 hours departure schedule. This means you will be departing three times a day, and each flight will take 8 hours (a little under in practice). The best distance for contribution is just under 6000km. The MC214 can cover this distance with a stopover!
Other Planes Are Available! 🚀
Alliance members are at different stages, so here you’ll find spreadsheets for everyone, for both EASY and REALISM players! The featured planes are as follows:
Boeing B727-100 – great little starter plane for new airlines! (B721)
Irkut MC-21-400 – the foundation of a contribution focused airline! (MC214)
Airbus A330-800neo – affordable aircraft for established airlines! (A338)
Airbus A380 (Trent 972) – the money maker! Big cost but big rewards! (A388)
⚠️ Cost Index – Applicable to All Planes ⚠️
When you start to plan your routes, you will see that they can be flown in (a lot) less than 8hrs/12hrs. This is where the COST INDEX (CI) slider comes in! This is essentially a way of slowing down the plane – by reducing the slider from 200CI, the speed drops, but so does your fuel consumption. Conversely, it acts as a CONTRIBUTION MULTIPLIER! So, everyone is a winner.
You should REDUCE the cost index so that the total flight time is actually JUST UNDER 8 or 12hrs (depending on 3x8 or 2x12 schedule). Build in a buffer – so aim for somewhere between 7h40 and 7h50, or between 11h40 and 11h50. When you have a fleet of 100s, it takes time to depart, and you may need to spend a few minutes setting up maintenance/A-checks, so you’ll be glad of this spare 10-20 minutes!
So, adopt a 3 x 8h or 2 x 12h schedule (depending on spreadsheet) and use that COST INDEX slider to control the flight times. You only need to do this once! :9721airplane:
⚠️ Spreadsheets – Basic Assumptions ⚠️
The spreadsheets have been calculated with the following assumptions:
SPEED MODIFICATION has been carried out. Speed is everything in this game. You should ALWAYS choose the fastest engine (i.e Rolls Royce Trent 972 for the A380) and ALWAYS carry out the SPEED MODIFICATION.
AIRLINE REPUTATION OF 95%. Whilst there are things you can do to increase your reputation (e.g. 10 hubs gives permanent +10%, keeping on top of maintenance of aircraft/lounges etc), MARKETING CAMPAIGNS are always a roll of the dice. You should always choose the highest level of PAX marketing. If you have done all that is in your power to improve your base level reputation AND have bought the Eco-Friendly Marketing (+10%) this will give you a rep of between 89 and 99%. The spreadsheets assume 95% REPUTATION (and therefore 95% PAX capacity)
ALL CREW TRAINING HAS BEEN COMPLETED. This means that the columns are arranged HUB > STOP > DESTINATION. For bigger planes, the STOP columns are intentionally blank.
You will see DEMAND, CONFIG and TICKET PRICE info. When ordering a new plane (or modifying an existing one) you should copy the CONFIG layout and use the suggested TICKET PRICE when setting up your new route.
Also included is the MAX AIRCRAFT column. If the number here is higher than 1, it means that the PAX DEMAND on that route is sufficient to service MORE THAN 1 aircraft. In this instance, you can buy duplicate aircraft, up to the number shown.
