> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.flyhub.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Airline Reputation and Progression

> Learn how airline reputation, pilot scores, experience, and public rankings work in Virtual Airlines.

# Airline Reputation and Progression

Reputation is the public trust built by an airline over time. It is not a button that a manager can set and it is not a direct cash bonus. It is the result of the airline's operating history: quality, reliability, financial health, sustained activity, pricing experience, and community life.

The mode also has several pilot and route measurements that look similar at first. Understanding the difference prevents a good pilot score from being mistaken for a good airline reputation, or a healthy route from being mistaken for a profitable airline.

## The measurements are different

| Measurement | Range or form | What it answers |
| - | - | - |
| Airline overall reputation | 0–10 | How much trust the airline has earned as a whole. |
| Airline dimensions | 0–100 | Which part of the airline's record is strong or weak. |
| Pilot operational score | Usually 0–10 | How well one flight was operated. |
| Pilot admission rating | Average of eligible pilot scores | Whether a pilot meets an airline's admission rule. |
| XP and rank | Progression values | How a pilot advances through the mode. |
| Route health | Weekly route observation | Whether a route is filling, contributing, or needing attention. |
| Community ranking | Public comparison | How pilots and airlines compare in activity and quality snapshots. |

Your flight score can influence the airline's quality record, but it is only one input among several.

## Starting reputation

A standard new airline starts at **1.0 out of 10** and is labelled as a new operator. Its early dimension values are intentionally low. This gives a new airline room to earn trust rather than presenting it as an established carrier on its first day.

The starting balance, number of aircraft, and reputation are separate. Opening with more capital or a larger launch fleet does not automatically make the airline more trusted.

## Reputation ceiling

Overall reputation can rise only up to the airline's ceiling. The base ceiling is **7 out of 10**. Catering, crew training, maintenance, and ground handling [programs](./manage-programs#reputation-ceiling) raise it while they are active, up to 10.

Programs and marketing campaigns can also add **perceived reputation**. The market uses it for demand and fares, but it does not change the airline's real reputation score.

## What moves overall reputation

The current progression model weighs four broad parts of the airline's history:

| Driver | Approximate importance | In everyday language |
| - | -: | - |
| Flight quality | 45% | Are flights completed well, with good operational results? |
| Maturity | 20% | Has the airline existed long enough to show a pattern? |
| Profitability | 20% | Has the airline kept a healthy recent operating margin? |
| Sustained activity | 15% | Is it flying consistently across active days, rather than appearing once and disappearing? |

Reputation refreshes progressively rather than jumping after one good flight. Positive movement is currently capped at about +0.10 per refresh and becomes slower as the airline rises above roughly 3. Negative movement can be faster, reaching about −0.30 per refresh in a sufficiently poor period.

The exact refresh timing and displayed values are authoritative in the current Market audit. A single excellent flight is helpful, but a repeated pattern is what builds durable trust.

## The four reputation dimensions

### Reliability

Reliability is completion consistency. Cancelled, disrupted, abandoned, or expired operations make the airline look less dependable. Completing the flights the airline promises is the most direct way to protect this dimension.

### Operations

Operations reflects the airline's operating record: settled flights, operational discipline, and the absence of avoidable failures. A busy airline with weak execution does not automatically score well.

### Passenger experience

Passenger experience combines accepted flight quality with pricing satisfaction. A flight can succeed operationally and still create a weaker customer impression if the airline repeatedly prices far above what its reputation and market can support.

### Community strength

Community strength reflects active members and sustained participation. It is not just the number of accounts listed on the roster; inactive membership can weaken the picture of a living airline community.

## What reputation changes

Reputation has a bounded effect on ordinary passenger and cargo demand. In the current model, the normal demand factor is roughly 0.88 at reputation 0 and 1.00 at reputation 10. That means reputation helps, but it is not a giant multiplier that can rescue an empty or overpriced route.

Higher reputation also:

* increases the price the market can tolerate before demand falls sharply;
* makes premium-cabin demand more attainable when the aircraft and comfort profile support it;
* improves the potential target load for VIP services;
* gives pilots and applicants a stronger public signal when comparing airlines;
* contributes to the quality and reputation information shown in Community and Market audit.

Reputation does not:

* deposit FH\$ into the airline treasury by itself;
* guarantee full aircraft loads;
* override aircraft condition, payload, route, time, or operating-day rules;
* replace a pilot's own operational score;
* make every route in the network equally strong.

The economy guide contains an illustrative price-demand table. Use Dispatch for the actual quote because route competition, weekly demand, capacity, cabin, and aircraft factors are applied there.

## How to build reputation

### Complete what you publish

Do not publish more schedules, tours, or routes than the airline can operate. A smaller network that runs consistently is healthier than a large network with frequent cancellations or expired operations.

### Protect the flight result

Use the aircraft, payload, route, operating day, and time-acceleration settings in the booking. Avoid MAYDAY unless the operation truly cannot continue: it is irreversible and does not award the normal score, XP, progression, or settlement.

A score below 8.2 can also add a financial penalty of FH\$350 for each point below that threshold. Poor quality therefore affects both the airline's cash and its reputation path.

### Price for the airline's current trust

New airlines often need an introductory price to attract demand. As reputation and evidence improve, the airline can test a higher price. Watch recognized passengers, load factor, passenger satisfaction, and route contribution together; raising the price because the aircraft is large is not enough.

### Maintain the fleet

An aircraft in excellent condition receives full ordinary demand. Demand is reduced as condition falls; below 40% maintenance is mandatory. A low-condition aircraft can therefore hurt the customer experience, reduce income, and require an immediate cost at the same time.

### Stay active at a sustainable pace

The progression system rewards a pattern of activity, not a single burst. Keep enough flights and active days to demonstrate that the airline is operating, but do not buy recurring commitments that the treasury cannot carry.

### Build a real community

Review applications, keep the roster useful, communicate expectations, and give active pilots a reason to return. Community strength is about participation, not collecting inactive accounts.

## What managers can and cannot control

Managers control the choices that create the evidence: airline rules, admissions, moderation, fleet, airports, network, schedules, prices where the current policy editor exposes them, tours, rewards, and daily operating decisions.

Managers do not directly set the overall reputation or manually edit its four dimensions. [Market audit](./manage-market) reports the result and offers route guidance; it does not change the airline for you.

[Rewards](./manage-rewards) controls airline ranks, custom airline achievements, and aircraft access. Tour-completion badges are produced by completing the required tour legs and are not manually awarded from Rewards.

## Reputation and Community rankings

Community can show reputation, operational quality, passenger satisfaction, community activity, contract performance, pilot experience, and recent flights. Airline rankings intentionally do not use cash as a shortcut to status. A wealthy airline is not automatically a reliable airline, and a new airline can improve its position through quality and consistency.

Rankings are snapshots with their own activity windows. They are useful for comparison, not a complete audit of every flight ever flown.

## If reputation falls

Look at the change over time rather than reacting to one number. In Market audit, compare:

* completed and disrupted operations;
* average accepted flight score;
* passenger and cargo demand;
* price satisfaction;
* active days and settled flights;
* recent revenue, costs, and margin;
* member activity and fleet condition.

Fix the cause that appears repeatedly. Lowering the price can help a demand problem, but it cannot fix an unreliable schedule. Adding aircraft can help a capacity problem, but it cannot fix persistent losses. Reputation improves when the underlying experience improves.

## Read next

* [How Virtual Airlines Works](./how-virtual-airlines-works)
* [Virtual Airlines Economy and Ticket Pricing](./economy-and-pricing)
* [From Dispatch to Settlement](./flight-lifecycle)
* [Manage Airline: Market audit](./manage-market)
* [Manage Airline: Programs](./manage-programs)
* [Manage Airline: Operations](./manage-operations)
* [Airline profile: Pilots](./airline-pilots)
* [Community](./community)
* [Manage Airline: Rewards](./manage-rewards)


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