Start with a small aircraft — One single-pilot aircraft and a route between two airports whose boards regularly offer cargo or passengers. One rotation teaches you why rotations stand still before that starts costing real money.
Hire at large hubs — Better people apply there. Put a weaker pilot on a small aircraft — they improve by flying, and their salary grows with their skill.
Plan the day around the duty — A duty is either one long flight or a few short ones. A pilot is used best on a route where they fly short legs out and back within one duty.
Long routes need a bigger crew — More pilots may fly longer in one duty. With two pilots an airliner stands after a long flight until the crew has rested — usually until the next day. Put three or four on long routes.
Keep fatigue below half — A pilot who lands rested gains morale. A tired pilot lands worse, the aircraft wears more, and in the end the pilot leaves.
Do not scatter crews around the world — A move costs a ticket and, above all, time the pilot cannot fly. Keep pilots with the aircraft they fly.
Set a sensible load factor — A load factor of 30 to 50 % is usually enough. Allow empty ferry flights only where you return from an airport without demand — otherwise the rotation burns fuel for nothing.
Watch your cash — Salaries keep running while a rotation stands still, and below the operating cash reserve a rotation does not fly at all.
Fly the best-paid jobs yourself — AI will not take them, so they stay on the board for you. A rotation is for what you have no time for — not a replacement for flying.
When a rotation stands still, read its message — Each rotation on the Crew screen has a sentence saying why it is not flying: duty, weather, crew location, cargo or cash. It tells you whether to wait, move a pilot or change the route.
Based on the in-game help and manual (Help tab) — the numbers are the default rule values; the in-game manual shows the ones the server is using right now. Post questions and experience in this thread.
Tips
Based on the in-game help and manual (Help tab) — the numbers are the default rule values; the in-game manual shows the ones the server is using right now. Post questions and experience in this thread.