Airline Manager Game On Facebook

Many of you loyal TransGriot readers know that I'm on Twitter and Facebook, and yes you can find me on both social networking sites.

Facebook does have some cool games and apps that are addicting. Every now and then my homegirl Melinda challenges me to a game that tests your geography knowledge.

The first time I played it I busted her high score. She has subsequently beaten that high score I posted and I haven't gone back to it yet.

My friend Chandler introduced me to a Facebook game that grabbed my interest. It's turning into a lot of fun and somewhat of a mini labor of love called Airline Manager.

Your challenge is to take the one airplane they start you off with (a Boeing 737-800) some start up capital and build an airline. You select the routes it flies, make the ad buys, employment payroll decisions, purchase fuel and investing in the stock in the other virtual air carriers in the game.

You also have all the drama of labor unrest, random events like bird strikes, potential fines, volatile fuel prices, C-checks and all the other joys and pains real life airline execs grapple with including the possibility of a crash.

Of course this appeals to the airline junkie in me, so I have been busy in between posts, work and speech writing building up TransTexas Airlines.

Of course you know I have my virtual airline hub in Houston, and I'm having fun recalling the 14 years of accumulated airline knowledge and making all the decisions that can make or break an airline.

Some of my old CAL co-workers are playing this game as well and I've invested in their airlines and Chandler's Happy Nappy Airlines.

Over time you want to build your airline into a powerhouse that gets cargo runs and make money so that you can buy bigger airplanes. You also get passenger bonuses that you can spend on items like 100,000 pounds of fuel, et cetera.

It's also real time based in terms of the flights. For example if you have a plane on the Houston-Nashville fight it actually takes 4 hours to complete a roundtrip. The Houston-London takes 16 hours. So you learn early you want a mix of short hauls and long routes that keep the cash flowing.

And just like with a real airline, your virtual planes can't make you any virtual cash if they're sitting on the ground.

Well, now that I'm hooked on the game, we'll see if I can build TransTexas Airlines into a powerhouse or bankrupt it. I was at CAL long enough to see it done both way, and have a head start in avoiding the mistakes that lead to bankruptcy.

But we'll see.