Part 32: - Return to Normal
1967 - Return to Normal
Q1 1967
First things first, got to keep a finger on the pulse of today’s passengers with another dose of Doug Jr.
Adjustments on our line to Florida have nearly brought us past the Doug-Line. Junior’s extra capacity will do great things for our place on the scoreboard. It would take just 26-30 full flights of him per week to make us a contender for top airline in the Region. That’s potentially as little as 5 planes!
A number well within Chicago’s power to provide.
There’s the faintest chance of stealing one more time slot in New York, so I figure it’s worth a shot. We won’t get it, but the cost is no big deal.
More big jets.
And a spot of Doug. While their preference for Constellations served them well early on, ConAir really needs to buddy up with a source of jets to move forward.
Tourism will remain in Kuala for most of the year, bringing some extra cash our way. Beijing also grows a bit. I don’t expect we’ll need the space, but it’s good to have it there.
And slots pop in Mexico as dueling airlines finally drive them to expand.
If it weren’t for the Russians imploding, Air’Murica would be close to losing their Larger-Profits-Than-Everyone-Else-Combined status.
Q2 1967
Times are fairly swell.
We fall frustratingly short of going after New York. No big loss, as we’ll be good for it in Q3, but still an opportunity expended.
And there’s the tipping point. Going forward, we will begin to reap the benefits of Doug Jr’s hidden potential. We’re losing a tiny bit of money on these changes, but the chance of rising to 2nd or even 1st place in America is quite tempting.
Meanwhile, in Europe, things are a bit stagnant. Rome refuses to build more airport and our Athenian connection is under-performing compared to its glory days. Much is due in Europe if we expect to climb to the top there. For now, I give back some time in Greece. With the bottleneck in Rome we’d never get to use it.
Since I have a spare Junior on hand, I stage a little demonstration of his skills. Here’s what we’d get if he were subbed in at Beijing. In addition to the boost in capacity over Doug, Junior’s greater speed is on display - able to run 5 flights vs Doug’s 3. I leave the line as is for now. I’d just be switching it back next turn anyway.
A busy turn from blue as they open service to New Zealand and try their hands at a little Pacific island.
ConAir joins in on our efforts to bite into the American market.
Space opens in our hubs, both in the USA and at home. It will be put to work.
Our usual Q2 bump is held off by our delayed opening in New York.
Q3 1967
Sports on the horizon.
And the rise of Doug Junior’s fierce rival. Boeing’s attempt at a short range jet is just slightly worse, and a smidge more expensive. We can safely ignore it.
ConAir is firmly on the offensive, opening service to Taiwan and bidding in Munich, Brisbane, and Hong Kong.
News flies by quickly, so I managed not to notice them sneaking in a link to Baghdad. Failing to adjust our prices in response will let them sneak off with a decent pile of fares.
Per my earlier remark, this round of bids should put us close to all we need to have a shot at taking North America. That, and some insurance back at home.
With ConAir’s existing line to benchmark off of, we’re in a good position to judge how much Biz we can get out of New York. Junior’s speed means he could pull off daily flights all on his own, and ConAir’s full schedule shows we could fill every one of them. We’re only held back by our local slot count.
I launch at base price, but expect we’ll get to squeeze out more.
Signs of life!
The Six Day War, which will take many months of Aero-Time to cool, begins. As before, our business in Egypt will be largely unaffected by the open warfare directly under the path of our flights. They’re cool with it.
And there’s that bump.
Q4 1967
Iraq turns its back on the west. No change of opinion towards us.
We retook the lead in Asia, and they really want it back.
And these guys really want to get in our face.
The damage mentioned earlier from Air’Murica’s outing to Baghdad. Note that even when over half-empty our trusty old IL14 still makes some healthy margins. Correcting our prices will turn this from a slight victory for the Americans into another trap route.
A quick glance at their other locals reveals the AI still has no clue how to run 3rd world routes, but also that there’s a fair number of passengers to be had out of Calcutta.
If we don’t make a fair attempt to tap those routes ourselves, we may risk being overtaken.
Tourism fades in Kuala Lumpur, prompting a return to normal rates.
Good news all around stateside, and New York opens strong. With just three local routes, we move 15660 people per quarter, accounting for about 20% of all air travel in North America. Air’Murica handles 51%.
If we ever manage to snipe three more slots in New York, we could add 4320 to that score without any additional aircraft.
Tourism shifts back to a city served by no one.
This turn, the Russians suspended all their local flights in Africa. This is the highest profit they’ve turned in the last four years.
Funny, that.
1967 Year-End Review
While not back to the heights we hit before the Kashmir war, things are still looking up. Our presence in America is starting to pay off, and Doug Jr is proving a cost-effective way to add seats to our network.
Going forward, we still need to finish breaking into the remaining regions, and our old connectors are long overdue for upgrades.
As before, the way Oceania depends on buying a new long-range plane to get us to Sydney from Hong Kong.
With our new base in Chicago, the leap to South America is now a much simpler task. Mexico City is 1680 Miles away for $38.4M, and Havana’s 1370 Miles for only $19.8M. That’s Doug Jr. range to get from Illinois to Cuba! (Sao Paulo falls back into Jet territory at 5250 Miles and a whopping $45.5M opening cost.)
We have $51,560K in profit from this year to put towards our goals.
Budget Carryover:
pre:
Routes Planes Biz Flex Bank
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
0 0 0 4,992 0