My god, this reminds me of an old game on the Mega Drive (Genesis for you chaps across the pond) and SNES called Aerobiz Supersonic. Buy planes, negotiate airport slots, build routes, make dosh.

Is it possible to upgrade an airport to class 2 then 3? And if I close an airport, does it free up an airport slot?

You can't upgrade the class but you can close smaller ones to open bigger ones

Got hit by my first snowstorm.

Cheers,
Slug

Yer its worth checking the global events page every so often to keep an eye on the bad things like weather but also on the good things like the business events that go on in cities that mean an increase in passengers etc.

What does upgrading an airport do - increase in number of layovers allowed, and increased passengers/cargo waiting for pick up?

I didn't know you could tap on the passing coins, cheers.

Upgrading means more layover slots and more jobs I believe. I dont think you can change the class of an airport.

I love the cheeky names they have given things. I have just brought my airlines first 'Pearjet' Makes a change from the normal Birchcraft I had been buying before

What do you guys think of buying mainly M-type aircraft as an expansion strategy? I find that often my P or C type aircraft (esp those with capacity 3 or more) end up idle at the airport waiting for passengers/cargo whereas it's easier to fill up the M-types and turn them around quickly.
Btw I started in Oceania, but I've opened an airport in Jakarta which will be my springboard into Asia.

Nearly started off in Hong Kong but then I thought of the rainy season and typhoons, the buggers can be huge and wreck havoc across the region.
Went for Manchester instead

Cheers,
Slug

No idea Zero Niner, Ive found that having to wait for jobs becomes a requirement as the capacity of the aircraft get bigger. I think that using layovers might help in this sort of thing but Ive yet to look and use that part of the game. I'm currently flying from Beijing to London and also have Cairo in there too so I can go a little south.

few stats from my game,
Airline value; 871,730
Pop serviced; 104Million
Longest flight; 4,220miles
Most Profitable flight; 3,042

Passengers in "layover" stay in the airport for longer, so I tend to do that. Longest route is Berlin to St. Petersburg which gives me about 600 coins per trip on a full 3-person aircraft.

I +1 the -M type aircraft... easier to find 2 people + 1 cargo going to the same place.

Lewis, what aircraft do you use for Beijing to London? How many "stopovers"?

i started off in japan and have expanded south and west into australia and western china, and an airport in nome as well..

layovers are definitely key to making a lot of money (the hub system is super profitable in this game)

however you need to make sure that your feeder flights are using affordable aircraft. don't use a twin engined plane or a gas hog or you'll end up making no actual money on those flights.

Curse you for introducing me to the game.

Funny thing is, eve:Pn the wife has taken a shine to it. :P

Hehehe,

I am now transatlantic! Upgrading your aircraft can be mucho help. The pearjet with range upgrades can make the london to new york route

I have been playing this for about a week, it is quite addictive but also monotonous. There doesn't seem to be any point to it, you can't win and you can't lose. Getting money and bux is easy.

If there was a competing airline you had to crush or shareholders in your airline you had to satisfy with profits may make it interesting but you just go through the routine of picking the most profitable route for your planes and that is about it.

I've named my crew as SimHQ. Those in Europe, please label accordingly and ship magicians and magic tricks to Moscow. There's about a day left to this event.

agree, i've been playing about a week as well and i have a substantial fleet and hub system but there's no competition and basically no way to lose.

if it had a more challenging economic model it'd be more fun

This is one fancy game and really addictive too. If only it had a faster pace, I would have never put it down at all!

I've been playing for a week as well. It's addicting, but as someone above pointed out, it's kind of pointless after awhile. It really needs competing airlines to add some complexity / risk. I also have some issues - I'm on level 11 and some of my most profitable planes are still the little single engine jobs. Really no incentive to upgrade. BTW my airline runs from Minsk to Madrid.

Anyone remember the original Railroad Tycoon? Now THAT was an addicting game. I burned up most of the 90's playing that and Civ 2 (still play Civ2!).