Every aircraft type has its own page, and the Route Performance tool answers the question every planner asks first: how much can this aircraft carry on this route? Both work in every world. In worlds with engine options you also get a choice of engine, and the pages compare them side by side.

Where the numbers come from#

Runway, weight and payload-range figures are read off the manufacturers' own airport-planning documents (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bombardier, De Havilland and ATR). Engine noise comes from the certification authorities. Fuel, maintenance and resale differences between engines come from published industry analysis. Every figure has a source, and when no source exists for an engine, the game uses the standard engine's figure rather than inventing one.

A few older or rarer variants (some 747 Classics, BAe 146s, early Dash 8s and ERJs, among others) have figures the manufacturer never published. Those figures are estimated from the variant's certified weights and its closest relative's charts, and the aircraft page marks each one est. so you can tell them apart. The same mark appears on a list price that was worked out from the closest relative rather than published.

Runways limit weight, not just access#

Each type has two runway figures:

  • Minimum runway. The shortest runway the type can use at all, set by its landing distance at maximum landing weight (or the lightest charted takeoff, if that is longer). Shorter than this and the airport is closed to the type.
  • Full-load runway. The takeoff run at maximum takeoff weight. From a runway this long the aircraft lifts everything it can carry.

Between the two, the runway limits the takeoff weight, following the manufacturer's takeoff chart. A heavier aircraft needs more runway, so a short runway caps payload plus fuel. On a short hop that leaves most of the cabin. On a long sector the fuel takes the room first. That is why a 737-800 can serve Wellington to Auckland nearly full but carries fewer passengers from Wellington to Sydney.

Distance trades payload for fuel#

Up to its full-payload range an aircraft carries its maximum payload. Beyond that, every extra kilometre needs fuel that replaces payload, down to nothing at its ferry range. A sector beyond ferry range cannot be flown at all.

The Route Performance tool#

Pick a type (or one of your own aircraft), an engine if your world offers a choice, and a route. The headline is the share of the aircraft's maximum payload available on that route, to two decimals. As a rule of thumb, about 85% is comfortable for most cabins, because real cabins with premium seats rarely weigh as much as a full high-density one. Below the headline the tool shows:

  • what limits the route, if anything: the departure runway, or the distance;
  • the heaviest takeoff the departure runway allows;
  • passengers and belly cargo that fit, block time and trip fuel;
  • whether the destination runway takes the aircraft on landing;
  • the payload-range chart with your route marked, and the takeoff chart with the departure runway drawn on it.

Choosing one of your own aircraft uses its actual engine and cabin.

The aircraft page#

Every type has a page with a photo of the real aircraft (credited to its photographer), buttons to order new, lease new, check used and lessor stock or open the route tool, and six tabs:

  • Overview. The headline figures, the payload-range chart, how many airports the type reaches from your hub with a full load (and how many of their runways take it at full weight), similar types, and the market at a glance.
  • Performance. Every specification, the payload-range chart and the takeoff chart.
  • Cabin. The layouts the cabin model accepts on this type (high density, all economy, two class and three class), drawn seat by seat to scale, with the seat count and fit-out cost of each.
  • Engines. The engine, or every engine option side by side in worlds with engine choice.
  • Costs. Fuel and maintenance, and three real trips from your hub costed with the game's own model, per seat.
  • Market. What is for sale or lease right now, and the top five operators in your world.

Engine options#

In worlds with engine options, many types come with a choice of engine, the way real airlines choose them. Options differ only where the sources say they do: thrust, takeoff performance, weights, payload-range, fuel burn, list price, maintenance cost, resale value, certified noise and engine shop-visit intervals. Where an option shows "same", it matches the standard engine.

  • New aircraft. Choose the engine in the order or lease desk. The quote is priced on that engine.
  • Used and leased stock. Every airframe already has an engine, shown on the listing. Lessor and used stock follows each engine's real share of the fleet where that is known.
  • Resale. A used aircraft's value follows its engine's resale record, not its new price.
  • Noise. Shown for comparison only. It does not change fees.

Every type has a standard engine, the one most of the real fleet flies. Worlds without engine options use it for every aircraft.

Engine shop visits#

In worlds with engine shop visits, an engine goes to the shop on its own interval, counted in engine flight hours or cycles as its sources state. A spare engine is fitted during a short hangar stop, and the visit is billed then. The engine's share of maintenance comes out of the hourly maintenance rate, so you never pay for it twice. If a heavy check falls when the engine is close to due, the engine is changed during the check at no extra downtime.

Re-engining#

Some engines can be changed to another option on the same aircraft, but only where the manufacturer offers that change, such as a thrust re-rate or an upgrade kit, and only at a published price. Changes without a published price are listed on the aircraft page but cannot be bought yet. A re-engine is a short hangar stop on an aircraft you own; flights in that window are cancelled with compensation or covered by a reserve, and the price is added to the aircraft's book value. The install time is a game setting rather than a sourced figure.