I’m currently at the midgame stage of my airport. (I have medium aircraft and I’m building an baggage handling system)
On the left side of my airport I have a separate runway for GA aircraft so they don’t take up space on the main runway. Attached are some stands (picture below). I’m considering to upgrade this part to concrete and doubling the number of GA stands.
However, I have no idea whether this area is currently profitable (the game doesn’t show financial statistics related to GA), let alone if it will make profit once upgraded and expanded. Can someone with some more experience than me say if it’s a good idea to upgrade this area?
I believe you will still write black numbers with GA. Just do not expect wonders from it. AFAIK the runway and the stands will require upkeep but the fees for parking and landing combined with fueling and maybe de-icing should earn a constant flow of money albeit a rather small one. On the other hand, GA does not require much personal. No ramp agents needed, no security - nearly nothing. Usually, I start off with 10 to 20 GA stands and slowly build my airport adding small numbers of commercial planes. Just keep in mind that on a pure GA airport you do not need JetFuel even if the GA planes have a jet engine. It is a developer’s design decision I do not agree with at all. T’was a good thing before when there was variety in the GA department fuel-wise.
I have no experience with emergencies so I cannot say whether providing the infrastructure for dealing with them will offset this. So this in fact depends on your game settings whether emergencies are toggled on or off. If off, GA will produce a steady flow of money over time but not a big one. Do not expect to build large structures in short times notice when relying on GA. It is a fluffy addition to any airport. True, commercial planes net much more money but then you could have GA stands virtually anywhere on your airport while the commercials have some requirements as being near the terminal or at least connected to buses and stair wagons.
So basically: you should not get broke with GA but earn a small penny. If your airport has capacity for them it is just easy money to be made with almost no drawbacks and commitment.
The upkeep cost of the stands is lower for a concrete one compared to asphalt or grass. So once they are upgraded your hourly costs will be lower, which means you will earn more money with the same amount of stands.
