A388 vs. B748 | Fleet Comparisons

The A388 and B748 are the two only passenger aircraft in class F due to their wingspans. Class F is defined by a wingspan of at least 65m, but within the game it is also given an upper limit of 80m, because of the need to distinguish the A225 (An-225) to class G, which has a wingspan of 88.4m and therefore requires more parking space. A388 has a wingspan of 79.75m while B748 has a wingspan of 68.40m - so both aircraft are roughly near the limits of their size class.

They also have the same role in flight operations; both come with an upper deck to carry more passengers than any other widebody airliner. The A388 is certified with an exit limit of 853 passengers while the B748 is certified with 605 passengers - though in real life, they are typically seated with 520 passengers and 460 passengers respectively.

Nevertheless, the game uses the exit limit as the maximum capacity of an aircraft; when configured with 3 classes, the A388 can seat about 640 passengers while the B748 can seat 454 passengers within the game. Even though they are the largest passenger aircraft, there is still a roughly 200-seat difference between the two planes - later in the article, the effects of their capacity can be more clearly seen.

For the reasons of their size class and passenger capacity, players often compare the two aircraft types together when selecting the best type for their fleet. Their performance, economics, and flexibility will be discussed below.

Perhaps the most important aspect is the handling performance. Both aircraft are allowed a maximum of 13 handling crew, not counting the ramp agent. The difference therefore comes down to the handling time. Assuming the fleet aircraft are configured with business and first classes, and the maximum crew is allocated, A388 has a typical handling time of 17m 15s while B748 takes 13m 55s to handle. This is also assuming that two ambulifts are required per handling, since their capacities are so high that it is almost certain that both ambulifts should appear every handling. 

Other less important specifications include their runway category, approach speed, and takeoff distance. Both are in runway category F and so use the same runway exits and entrances. However, A388 has an approach speed of 165 knots, while B748 goes on final at 170 knots, so B748 requires a couple of seconds less per landing to de-occupy the runway, but this difference is insignificant and negligible. Further, A388 has a takeoff distance of 3000m, while B748 requires 3190m to takeoff. B748 therefore requires more time on the runway than A388, when the runway is long enough to avoid short takeoffs; yet again, this difference is ignorable in our comparisons.

The final specification is the cruise speed of the aircraft types. When in flight, A388 flies at 488 knots while B748 cruises at 493 knots. Since the roundtrip time is the sum of the flight durations in both directions and the duration of the handling time limit, this means B748 returns to the airport with less time. However, this is only an 8-to-14-minute difference and can be considered negligible for most players.

Let us examine the revenue and profit to see how much wollars they are able to earn. The revenue and profit are the mean figure and the actual figures can fluctuate each roundtrip.

In the revenue graph, B748 is able to earn 13397 wollars per roundtrip at best, while the A388 can bring 14220 wollars per roundtrip. It makes sense that the A388 can earn more revenue, since it can carry way more passengers. Record-breaking profits have also been made previously by the A388, achieving an impressive 16591 wollars of revenue.

However, this does not necessarily mean A388 is always better than B748. It is important to consider the maintenance costs of the planes. A388 costs 25250 wollars for a small check while B748 costs 20900 wollars for the same procedure. In the game, a large check always costs 10 times the price of a small check.

So accounting for the 3 small checks and 1 large check within a life cycle of 400 maintenance points, the maintenance costs should be subtracted from the revenue. Furthermore, most players realistically use the ramp agent since they generally have a lot of planes to handle, and each plane takes a long time to be serviced. So the ramp agent cost will be subtracted from the revenue here as well.

The profit graph shows the result of accounting for the maintenance and ramp agent costs. Even though it costs way more to maintain the A388, in the end the A388 is still able to earn slightly more than the B748 at their peaks, both netting about 8375 wollars per roundtrip. A388 performs best at 4200NM while B748 does best at 4600NM.

However, it can't be simply concluded that the A388 earns more than the B748. While this holds true for routes shorter than 4600NM one-way, the graph also shows that B748 is able to earn more when sent on routers longer than 4600NM.

There is also another caveat to this: the curves show the average profitability of the planes - this is closer to the performance of planes when they are configured with 0 or 10 first class seats. The number of first class seats can make a difference in the profitability of the route; if the destination has the demand for more first class passengers, then the aircraft can be configured to include more first class seats to earn beyond the mean profitability.

Both aircraft are able to be configured with 20 first class seats, however only the A388 can be configured with 30 first class seats. With this configuration, this places A388 on a level above the B748 in terms of income. The A388 is therefore able to earn more profit up to 5200NM - but only if it is for destinations with a demand of at least 30 first class (assuming there is enough demand for other classes as well).

Consider also the crew profit efficiency and time-crew profit efficiency; these figures are particularly useful when the quantity of handling crew is a limiting factor at the airport, as opposed to the runway capacity or stand occupancy being limiting factors. In particular, the time-crew income efficiency becomes more important when time needs to be minimised. Here, the ramp agent will be included for the same reason mentioned above.

For crew profit efficiency, A388 has 601 wollars/crew while B748 has 597 wollars/crew. As for time-crew profit efficiency, A388 has 0.580 wollars/crew-second while B748 has 0.714 wollars/crew-second. Therefore, A388 is able to make more per crew by nature of earning more revenue while using the same number of crew; however, when time is a constraint, B748 is more efficient by earning more in less time.

When stand occupancy becomes the limiting factor, the time profit efficiency should be considered. Here, only the handling time is considered because the runway occupation time, the taxi time, the parking time and the pushback time is roughly the same for both aircraft. A388 has 8.13 wollars/second while B748 has 10.00 wollars/second. B748 is better in this regard because it earns roughly the same profit while taking less time to be handled per roundtrip.

A figure unique to wollars is the return on investment, since planes cost wollars to be purchased. This can be understood using the number of flights to payback; in other words, the number of handlings that need to be completed to break even with the purchase cost of the aircraft.

A388 has a unit price of 465000 wollars while B748 costs 435000 wollars per unit. The 30000 wollars difference means that A388 takes 3 more flights to break even than B748. In this regard, B748 has a better return on investment than A388. While not a significant difference, building a fleet with B748 would be faster than A388 by a considerable duration, since the number of aircraft grows exponentially.

Another point of interest is the SP (Silver Airplanes) that the planes are able to make. All planes have the same rough difference in SP when sent on the same route with the same distance. An important note is that planes earn less SP when configured with more premium seats; this is because the total number of seats is decreased, and the SP reward depends on the seat count. The SP reward at tier 10 will be considered below.

The base SP is the SP at 0NM, and is dependent on the seat count and handling time. The base SP of A388 is 440 SP and for B748, it is 320 SP at tier 10. This is a difference of 120 SP. The actual SP reward is the sum of the base SP and the distance SP; the distance SP depends on the length of the route, and scales the same for all planes.

However, considering that B748 has a max player range of 7659NM, while A388 can only fly as far as 6994NM as a fleet plane, B748 has more range and can therefore earn slightly more distance SP. Nonetheless, at their max ranges, A388 can earn 1738 SP while B748 can earn 1633 SP. The difference in base SP is just far greater than the distance SP.

Applying the same limiting factors as the ones mentioned for profit efficiency, the SP efficiency can also be determined. This calculation will use the max SP, assuming SP is the target to be maximised. 

Similar to profits, A388 has a better crew efficiency than B748, but a worse time-crew efficiency and time efficiency. Please reference the table below for the respective efficiencies, and note this is a per-handling basis.

Last but not least, XP might not be a concern for the player owning the fleet aircraft, but the receiver of a direct player contract. Since XP only depends on the handling time limit, and not the contract distance or the capacity of the aircraft, the XP of a fleet aircraft is the same as that of a map contract.

At tier 10, A388 is able to get 189 XP while B748 is able to earn 144 XP. The handling time limit of A388 is about 8 minutes longer than that of B748, resulting in the difference in XP between the 2 planes.

Interestingly, when considering the limiting factors, A388 has better XP efficiencies than B748 even when time is a constraint. The table below describes the XP efficiency for the different limiting factors. Please note this is a per-handling basis.