[Duplicated] Upgraded / Updated Flight Scheduler

[JWKIII]

Feature request title:

Upgraded / Updated Flight Scheduler

Description:

The current flight scheduler is doing its intended job, but there are some weaknesses or missing attributes that would be cool to have in order to make the game more enjoyable. There would also be a need to have more options available to tune the auto-schedule function so that it works according to the CEO’s liking.

I post this feature voting thread together with Averlyn. He started the thread Flight Scheduler and there is also more information of why it is required to work on this topic.

Why it should be implemented:

Some reasons are mentioned below. I guess that there are possibly other reasons why an updated flight scheduler should be implemented. In my opinion it is one of the essential parts of AirportCEO and the better the flight scheduler tool is, the more fun a player can have in seeing the airport grow the way they would like it to. In addition, as @Averlyn mentioned, a more advanced flight scheduler would also allow/require the player to think more strategically and build a “history” of the airport.

Images, references or additional content:

@Averlyn

Current problems:
Right now, there are 2 ways to schedule flights: scheduling flights by hand via ‘drag and drop’ or letting the auto-scheduler do the work for you. Both of these methods have issues.
Let’s examine the auto-scheduler first. The main problem with the auto-scheduler is that when the player is using it they have to do no work. After they accept contracts and turn it on they can ignore safely ignore the scheduling of flights without any issues. This is a problem because the point of the game is managing and building an airport and scheduling flights with the airlines should be an integral part of that. Another problem with the auto-scheduler is in how it schedules the flights. As it is now all of the flights in the scheduler line up causing periods of delay and congestion at event the most well thought out airports. Having all the flights arrive at once in the real world would be crazy, why is it a feature in the game?
Dragging and dropping flights manually is also deeply problematic. First and foremost, it is a tedious thing to do. Scheduling flights takes almost no thought from the player (apart from basic staggering to avoid congestion). Players do not have to think strategically about what airline to choose or what time each flight is made at scheduling flights is currently very menial. The drag and drop method also takes way too much time especially for players with large airports. This combination of tedious and time-consuming work doesn’t make for compelling gameplay.
I am not a big stickler for realism in my games but I feel compelled to point out that the current flight scheduling system is unrealistic to the point it is immersion breaking. The main problem is that the system feels arbitrary, flights can be placed almost at random while in real life flight schedules are usually the same week after week. Why don’t airlines in the game care when/if their planes land? This just feels weird.

@JWKIII

While playing I figured out one more “glitch”. When using the auto-scheduler I cannot tell the system to only use airlines from the ACEOMM mod. It will automatically assign default airlines to my medium-stands. But as there are currently not enough small-aircraft size real-life airlines in the game, I also cannot block the default airlines. In addition, I would like to favour certain airlines over others, but still have a wide mix of airlines available for a certain “feel” of variety.

@JWKIII

And then there is one major feature where I would love to see some development for - Swapping Aircraft Stands . Right now you assign a flight (e.g. GW123) to a certain stand at a certain time. Now, if the previous flight assigned to this stand is delayed and is still occupying this stand, GW123 cannot land and has to wait until the stand is finally free. In the real world the OCC (Operations Control Center) of an airport would allocate another free stand to GW123 and swap it with another flight that may arrive 30 minutes later.
I can imagine that this is probably a lot of code that needs to be written by the developers, but it would add a tremendous amount of realism into the game. Again, this could be something that a CEO would have to purchase via the Procurement Tab and that would probably also require additional software (also via Procurement), some additional staff for the OCC and a seperate building for the OCC. But it would be a very nice feature. Especially once an airports grows over a certain size.

[simking]

I agree And have the same issue when a flight is delayed the other flights don’t relocate or adjust to compensate I would like to have those flights in a hold pattern or simple solution “stand by gates” just as you can select passenger or general,an stand by option would act as an overflow gate with the implantation of satellite gates in development now this would be a perfect time to add it.

[88ekke]

“Another problem with the auto-scheduler is in how it schedules the flights. As it is now all of the flights in the scheduler line up causing periods of delay and congestion at event the most well thought out airports.”

Especially that part is still very much true. Anyone who knows if there are plans to adress this issue in any of the betas?

[Willem]

The best I can do is this feature request: Flight Planner - Drag and drop "Available Slot" or Create Templates

[JustJoe]

Would be good if we could merge this with Flight Planner - Drag and drop "Available Slot" or Create Templates