Load Factor

Every flight is a decision. Every route is a bet.

Load Factor is a deep economic strategy game about building an airline from a single turboprop into a global network — flown across the real world, one honest decision at a time. No infrastructure to lay. No menus of busywork. Just the five choices that have made and broken every carrier in history:

which aircraft • which routes • what time of day • how many frequencies • what fare.

Master those, and a hub emerges from the map like it was always meant to be there. Get them wrong, and you’ll watch empty seats burn your cash on the runway.

A living market, not a scripted one

Over 3,100 real airports on a rendered globe, each with real geography, runway lengths, and weather. Passengers don’t appear because a designer said so — they flow through a genuine demand model that weighs distance, city size, connections, and price. Serve a market well and travelers route through your hub on their own. There is no "hub bonus." Hub-and-spoke is something you earn, not something you’re handed.

Build a fleet that fits the mission

Nearly 40 aircraft types, from regional turboprops to the A380 — each modeled on real payload-range physics. A heavy widebody can’t lift off a short field; a nimble narrowbody can thread regional runways a jumbo never could. Buy outright or take an operating lease, configure your cabins, and match metal to mission. The wrong plane on the right route still loses money.

The numbers are real, and they’re merciless

Live-market fuel prices. Crew, maintenance, airport fees, and distribution costs broken out so you can see exactly where the money goes. A weekly Route P&L that ranks every leg by contribution and hides nothing. Weather that cancels flights and tests your schedule. This is an airline that behaves like an airline.

Grow into it

• Demand is fog-of-war — buy market research to reveal what a route is really worth before you commit.
• Cabins mature over time: a fresh route starts leisure-heavy and develops premium demand as it earns its reputation.
• Set company posture — service, staffing, maintenance, distribution — and feel it ripple through cost, reliability, and reputation.
• Schedule aircraft across a full week and watch turnarounds, curfews, and continuity come alive.

For the players who read the fine print

If you’ve ever traced a great-circle route with your finger, argued about slot times, or felt a quiet thrill at the phrase "load factor," this one’s for you. Deep systems, honest economics, and a map that rewards the sharpest network — not the biggest wallet.

Plan the network. Fly the numbers. Own the skies.