LoFare Airlines

The LoFare Airline Microworld reflects the emergence of the European low fare airlines industry, as it grows over a 20-year time-horizon. The market opportunity is not ‘hard-wired’ into the game, but grows as the management team [and optionally, competitors] successfully develop and serve emerging demand for low-cost air travel.

The team decides how fast to open new routes and how many aircraft to lease in order to deliver the service on those routes. The overall demand for air travel is growing and simply opening up a new low-fare service on a route brings new passengers into the market, as well as capturing passengers from the established airlines. However the more routes the team starts up, the less attractive remaining route opportunities become, so marketing and attractive fares are vital to building a robust business.

Teams can pursue a range of objectives such as rapid growth or high profitability, and decide how quickly to achieve them. However the business must be financially viable, so the cash flow from passenger revenues must be sufficient to pay for operating the routes, buying new aircraft and to cover marketing the business. Management must also make sure the business can cope with the demand it generates otherwise customers will leave.