Aerobiz/Cities

Starting an air route requires slots to connect two different cities together. This entails creating a port from the player's affiliated city leading up to a new destination. While it's common practice to establish routes from headquarters initially, other cities can be made into hubs by constructing local branch offices. This step is more necessary in the first scenario where long-range aircrafts are still scarce.

Distances between cities are an important factor to consider when opening routes. The most appropriate tactic in maximizing revenue is to form longer routes depending on what type of planes are available to the player. Large cities with dense populations are in high demand especially during tourist booms; while setting up routes to them are costly, they yield the most amount of net gains.

To acquire more slots from cities, the player must send their managers to make a formal visit. The maximum number of slots one can obtain per visit is 14. How long the process takes depends on the airline's relationship values with different countries. Some merely last for one turn while others may take two or more. The more slots an airline has for both cities, the more aircrafts they can deploy. It is also possible to return slots not in use by having the vice president negotiate for the airline's money back.

Routes colored in black are profitable, those in red show loss in revenue, and yellow ones indicate competition with another airline. If a red route shows no signs of improvement, it may be best to close it down until conditions have changed enough for it to be reopened. Sometimes, the best time to establish a new route is when there is enough capital to spend on. If a route has no competitors, it may be safe to raise passenger fare at a higher rate.

City data consists of a city's population, status as a business or tourist spot, the number of airlines attached to it, and passenger traffic. Selecting a city and moving the cursor to another displays the distance between them. It is also possible to view the routes of other competitors for comparative data gathering.

Cities are ranked from A to E with A being superior and E meaning poor. They are also classified according to one of the following types.


 * Large - Good for networking and business.
 * Balanced - Versatile enough to handle tourism and business growth.
 * Industrial - Can grow into a large city the fastest.
 * Tourist - Great for conducting tourist campaigns.

Airline Symbols
Original (PC)=