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Create your airline card from Run an Airline
Beginner guide

Run an Airline Beginner Guide: Your First Session, Step by Step

You begin by creating an airline — name, logo, main colour and accent colour — then pick a hub on the world map, put an aircraft on a route and complete one flight. A good first session ends with a route card you can read, not with a large fleet.

By RunAnAirline.wiki editorial

What a first session should produce

A first session in Run an Airline has one job: complete a flight and understand the card it produces. The airline you create at the start is mostly cosmetic — a name, a logo from a fixed grid, a main colour and an accent colour — so the decisions that matter begin at the hub and the first route.

By the end you should be able to answer three questions without guessing: which aircraft you own, which route it flies, and whether that route made or lost cash on its last flight. Everything else in this wiki builds on those three answers.

WORKFLOW

The opening flow

1

Create the airline identity

For a brand-new account with no airline yet.
  • Enter an airline name.
  • Pick a logo from the grid, then choose a main colour and an accent colour.
  • Confirm and continue; the identity is cosmetic and can be judged later.
The airline card appearsA card with your airline name, a level, a cash balance and a star rating is visible on the map.
2

Read the hub before accepting it

For a player choosing where the network starts.
  • Look at which airport badges already surround the hub on the map.
  • Note the nearest destinations and roughly how far they sit from the hub.
  • Prefer a hub with several short neighbours over one isolated long-haul city.
The hub has short neighboursYou can name at least two destinations that look reachable by a short-range aircraft.
3

Check the aircraft card, not the price tag

For a player about to assign the first aircraft.
  • Open the fleet tab and read seats, range and speed.
  • Compare range with the distance shown on a candidate route.
  • Ignore the cash gap until you know the aircraft can fly the sector at all.
Range covers the routeThe route distance is below the aircraft's range figure, so the flight is legal.
4

Open one route, not three

For a player tempted to build a network immediately.
  • Open a single destination and read the three fare tiers.
  • Start at the recommended tier with the default service level.
  • Save the change and let the flight complete.
One route is liveThe map draws a line with an aircraft on it and the route card reports a last flight.
5

Read the result before changing anything

For a player who has just completed a flight.
  • Read the load factor percentage and the per-flight cash figure.
  • Read every warning line under the result.
  • Write down the fare, the service level and the result together.
You have a baselineOne route has a recorded fare, service level, load factor and cash result.
6

Change one variable

For a player ready to improve the route.
  • Change either the fare tier or the service level, never both.
  • Run the route again and compare against the baseline.
  • Keep the change only if the per-flight result improves.
The comparison is honestTwo flights differ by exactly one setting, so the result can be attributed.

The four screens you will use

TargetWhat it showsDecision it supports
Airline card (top left)Airline name, level, tier label, cash balance, star ratingWhether you can afford the next purchase
World mapAirport badges, your hub, route lines and the Next move promptWhich destination to open next
Route cardLast flight load factor, cash result, warnings, recommendation, fare tiers, service priceWhether to reprice, re-service or close the route
Fleet tabType, class, assigned route, seats, range, speedWhich routes the aircraft can legally fly

First-session checklist

  • Airline created with a name, logo and two colours.
  • Hub chosen with at least two nearby destinations.
  • One aircraft checked for seats, range and speed.
  • One route opened at the recommended fare.
  • One completed flight with its load factor and cash result written down.
  • One variable changed and re-tested against that baseline.
QUICK ANSWERS

First-session questions

How long does the first flight take?

The route card quotes a block time per sector, and the reviewed ATR 42-600 showed an 854 km route as 3 hours. Treat that quoted time as the wait before the next decision, and plan other work around it rather than watching the timer.

Should I spend real money on the Starter Pack?

The Starter Pack grants $175,000 plus two cosmetics, one purchase per account. It removes early cash pressure but does not teach the route card, so decide based on whether you want to skip the first hour rather than on any in-game advantage.

What if my first route loses money?

That is a normal first result. Cut the cabin service to basic and move to the budget fare, run it again, and only close the route if it is still negative. The game itself recommended exactly that order on a reviewed route losing $2,173 per flight.

Can I rename the airline later?

No rename control was visible in the reviewed sessions, and the create-airline card appears once at the start. Treat the name and logo as permanent and choose something you do not mind seeing on every screen.

Sources and references

Continue with a related article

Route card and map from Run an Airline
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Route card showing a per-flight cash result
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