This part of the manual describes the ordering process for used / second-hand aircraft and related features.
Used Aircraft Basics
The used aircraft market is usually where new airlines search for their first planes. The used market contains aircraft being sold by other players (airlines) and also numerous aircraft being sold by automated aircraft brokers.
When a new game world starts the system generates a number of aircraft that are owned by these aircraft brokers and the brokers release these for sale or lease at random intervals. Other players may also put aircraft that they own for sale or lease at any given time (to view information about how to sell your planes please see chapter Selling Aircraft).
The used market is governed by supply and demand.
This problem relating to lack of aircraft in the used market is most evident some days / weeks after the game world has started since there are many new airlines and only limited aircraft selection. So when players choose their tactics it should be considered that the used market is not endless and popular models are sold very quickly.
Ordering Used Aircraft
Used aircraft for sale can be browsed from the Used Aircraft page. There are various filters to narrow down the desired selection and you can click on each individual aircraft to view its full details. The aircraft details page is similar to My Aircraft page and you can there view all the information related to this particular aircraft and that particular model.
Phonecalls To The Market
Each airline is given a limited number of "phone calls" to the used aircraft market every game week. In other words, when the airline owner wishes to see the potential offerings of the used aircraft market, they must get in contact with the aircraft brokers to obtain a list of available aircraft for sale. The brokers will provide this list and the player can then browse the list for any potential aircraft he wishes to obtain.
In practice - when the player first enters the Used Aircraft page the system automatically calls the brokers for the list of aircraft (this also happens automatically if the last visit to this page was more than 14 game days ago). The Used Aircraft page will then display all available aircraft, and the player can use the page's searching, filtering and sorting tools to browse the list freely and look up more detailed data of the aircraft, and also buy/lease them if he wishes.
Since the used market updated at certain random intervals the player may wish to call the market brokers at some point again to obtain an updated list of planes for sale, especially if the number of aircraft available seems to be low (in that case there may be more planes available but the player is not yet aware of them since he has not called the market for an updated listing). The call to the market is simply done by pressing the orange "Call market and update listings" button at the top of the page. This triggers the function that calls the aircraft brokers and provides an up-to-date list of all available aircraft on the market, and again the player can browse this list as much as he likes. Browsing the available aircraft or sorting the lists does not count for a call to the market - a call is only used when the player actually presses the corresponding button (or player has not visited the market page for two game weeks).
Each user is limited to 7 phone calls to the market during each game week. The call counter resets on every Sunday night (game time). In regular game play each user will need most likely only one or two calls to the market in a game week.
Financing Options
You have two options when acquiring used aircraft. These are purchase and lease. In some cases the owner of the aircraft may have chosen to restrict the deal so that only one of these options is available.
The selling price of the aircraft is set by the owner/seller, and monthly leasing price is calculated based on this price. In case the seller is an automated broker (AI) the pricing is dynamic: if the plane has had a recent maintenance or is freshly added to the market the price is usually quite high. The price is reduced if the plane is not sold/leased in certain time, and if it's on the market long enough the broker will take it off from the lists and may even scrap the plane after that. In other words the market and prices are never constant but depend on supply and demand.
Purchasing Used Aircraft
If you wish to buy the aircraft as your own you should naturally choose the buy/purchase option. You must pay the full aircraft price at the time you make the order.
There are no financing options available at this page so you must have the required amount of cash available (or loaned it from Office / Loans page) before attempting the deal. The purchase of the aircraft will increase your company's value as the aircraft will be part of company assets. You may also use all owned aircraft as securities for new loans, and you have also the option to lease any of the owned aircraft to other airlines thus generating lease incomes to your airline.
Leasing Used Aircraft
The leasing option allows you to create a deal of an operational lease of this aircraft. The seller remains still the owner of this aircraft and you will pay them a monthly lease sum. Your airline is required to do all the maintenance checks for the aircraft. The leased aircraft may not be used as loan securities or otherwise count as your company's assets.
When you lease a new aircraft you are required to pay 4 months of leases in advance. Please note this when calculating the incomes of the company since the actual monthly lease costs will start to run only after 4 months.
The minimum term of leasing is 6 months, and the longest possible term is 15 years but the seller may have limited this to a shorter time span. The longer lease period is relatively cheaper than the shorter lease. The displayed lease pricing is based on 12 months lease term but once you change the duration the new price quote for monthly rate is automatically displayed to you.
Rules Regarding Used Aircraft Market
Restrictions for purchasing or leasing used aircraft are :
- When each game world starts the first turn is 24 hours long to allow all players to join. During that day each airline is allowed to order only two used aircraft.
- When you start a new airline, also after the first game day, your first two aircraft are delivered immediately. After that the aircraft delivery takes a minimum of two game weeks.
- On other occasions the restrictions are:
- Maximum of three (3) leases / purchases of used aircraft per game day
- AND maximum of three (3) leases / purchases of used aircraft within last 7 game days.
- These limits will grow when your airline becomes larger (the limits are always 3 units or at least 2% of your total fleet size; i.e. a 300-aircraft strong airline can lease / purchase up to 6 used aircraft per week).
The restrictions are made to model the limits in airline growth rates that are coming from staffing, crew training, paperwork and other administrative work.
Purchase Reservation
When you have chosen the financing method and desired aircraft you can click to the purchase/lease page. This activates a 3-minute reservation period for this aircraft.
In this time you are supposed to finalize the deal by creating the desired seating configuration and determine the lease length, registration number etc. During this reservation time no other airline can lease/purchase this aircraft. Note that you can have only one reservation at each time and it is activated automatically (the last aircraft page you open is always the one that is reserved; this is shown in the large blue information box at the top of the page).
If the preparations take more than 3 minutes you are still able to buy/lease the aircraft, but only if nobody else has reserved the aircraft after your 3-minute window expired.
Delivery Time
When you start your airline the first two used aircraft are delivered immediately from the market to allow a faster startup. From the third aircraft onwards the delivery time is two game weeks. You may also delay the delivery from the ordering page if you wish.
Please remember that new aircraft from manufacturer production lines are never delivered immediately. There is always a waiting time for them since the planes have to be built at the factory (see New Aircraft manual page for details).
When you buy/lease a used aircraft it is immediately available for route scheduling regardless of delivery time. The routes may be pre-scheduled for the aircraft and it will automatically start to fly them once it is delivered. Keep in mind that pre-scheduling the routes requires you to hire the needed staff for the routes even if the plane is not yet delivered.
Additional Options
At the purchase/lease page you have the option to choose when the aircraft is delivered, what maintenance shall be performed before delivery and if the seating configuration should be changed (additional costs apply). You have also the option to assign the registration number (it can be also assigned later, and changed at any time later on too) and choose the base airport (if you have many of them). When everything is set simply confirm the order and the required money is deducted.
After the order is confirmed the aircraft appears to the Scheduling page allowing you to immediately create routes and schedule for it.
Viewing Your Current Orders
To view all your pending orders for used (and new) aircraft go to Aircraft on order page. The page lists all the details of pending aircraft orders.
Cancelling An Order
So make sure you order the proper model and variant before hitting the confirm button.