Airline Executive Route Profit Checklist

This Route Profit Checklist turns Airline Executive guesswork into a short ritual. Use it before you draw a new path, after every fuel spike, and whenever a “full” route still loses money. It complements the Tools Hub and deep guides for route planning and ticket pricing.

Card A — Pre-draw gate (pass/fail)

Do not draw until every line is yes:

• Origin and destination airports are owned (buy airports)
• Assigned aircraft matches range and demand role (tier list, early-game fleet)
• Aircraft is airworthy enough to finish several 60X cycles (fleet maintenance)
• Pilots/staff coverage exists (hire pilots)
• Cash buffer survives a bad fuel minute (fuel & bankruptcy)
• Route purpose is clear: feeder, dense domestic, or justified long-haul — not ego

If any box fails, fix ops first. Drawing is free emotionally and expensive economically.

Card B — Live fuel test (first cycles)

After the path exists:

1. Note fuel state at open (calm / rising / spiked)
2. Start on a mid fare — Discover rung
3. Watch load + cash across several accelerated cycles
4. If full with fat margin → Harvest (raise fare)
5. If empty → redesign path or cut fare once; never eternal race-to-zero vs seven rivals
6. If fuel spikes mid-test → pause judgment; run spike playbook, then retest

Card C — Fare ladder reminder

Rung	Action	Exit
Discover	Mid fare, short watch	Move up if full; redesign if empty
Harvest	Raise while loads hold	Hold or slight cut if loads crack
Defend	Cut or kill	Kill if still red after redesign

Price cannot save a nonsensical multi-stop forever. Return to controls if you struggle to redraw cleanly.

Card D — Kill criteria

Kill or suspend a route when:

• It stays red across calm and spiked fuel after fare attempts
• It steals a healthy jet from a better earner
• It requires constant panic discounts to look “full”
• It exists only to pad route count on the players board

Pruning raises net worth more reliably than spam paths (net worth guide).

Card E — Expansion couplet

Never evaluate a new airport without a draft route card:

1. Fill Card A for the intended first spoke
2. Confirm value pricing (early secondaries often beat prestige hubs)
3. Buy field only if Card A passes
4. Draw, then run Card B within minutes of real time

Codes like FALL2026 can fund the airport — still run the cards (codes).

Card F — Session stamp

Each play session, stamp your top three routes:

• Profit last cycles: + / = / −
• Fuel sensitivity: low / med / high
• Action: hold / reprice / redraw / kill

Three stamps beat a vague feeling that “the network is fine.”

Worked example

Atlanta HQ, maintained 737-class starter, Kansas City-style secondary owned. You want Rome tomorrow because a rival flexed.

• Card A fails: widebody demand missing, buffer thin, staff unproven on long-haul
• Action: draw Atlanta–secondary dense hop instead; run Card B; Harvest when full
• Revisit Rome only when feeders and gamepasses multipliers (if any) sit on green ops

Pairing map

Checklist moment	Deep page
Pre-draw	Route Planning, Controls
Fuel test	Ticket Pricing, Fuel & Bankruptcy
Aircraft fit	Tier List, Early-Game Fleet
After patch	Updates, Changelog

Closing

Print these cards into muscle memory. The CEOs who keep solvent airlines are usually the ones who fail a checklist in ten seconds — not the ones who draw first and invent a story later.