Fleets & maintenance

Fleets

A fleet groups aircraft of one type with one cabin at one base. Routes are flown by fleets; the game assigns airframes to flights each day from where they really are. Fleet shows each fleet's aircraft now and coming, cabin and seats, the aircraft its timetable needs and the hours flown, with aircraft flying, in check and stored week by week. Its other tabs are Aircraft, Leases, Orders, Programmes (replacements) and For sale.

A timetable that needs every aircraft has none to spare for one running late or in a check, so busy fleets keep one spare.

Every aircraft is an airframe

Each aircraft has its own age, hours, cycles and condition. Short flights age an aircraft by cycles faster than long ones. Condition affects reliability, and an unreliable fleet hurts on-time performance and reputation. Checks due soon show amber and overdue checks red; an overdue aircraft wears faster and is less reliable.

Maintenance

Checks are due by hours, cycles and time, and take aircraft out of service; the timetable builds that in. Maintenance sets:

• Line maintenance: light checks and daily work, by your own mechanics or contracted.
• Heavy maintenance: heavy checks, contracted or in-house, which needs a heavy maintenance base.
• Effort: against the makers' recommendation, with its cost.
• Spares: more spares, fewer delays.

Changing the policy says what it comes to a week. Every extra family, variant and engine model adds cost, in-house most; a heavy base says what it saves a year and how long it takes to pay back.

Replacing a fleet

Replace aircraft on a fleet's page retires it one aircraft for each that joins another fleet: choose the replacing fleet, how many, and what happens to those leaving: store and list for sale at your price, sell to the broker at once below market value, store, scrap, or return leased ones early. Its routes stay with it until you move them. For a type you do not fly yet, order it into a new fleet first. Large disposals in a listed airline need shareholders' approval.

Old aircraft and mixed fleets

Heavier checks come with age, so older airframes cost more to keep. Retiring an old type in one replacement programme usually beats keeping a few of everything.