Route-opening is the core function of the game where you open routes between 2 unlinked/already linked cities for your unused planes to generate profit from them.
How to Open a New Route[]
Here are the steps in opening new routes for your airline:
1) For ATO2 and ATO3, select the two cities you would like to open a route between. For ATO1, select one of the two cities you would like to open a route between, press the orange button with a star on it and select the other city you would like to link. For ATO3, either one of the city has to have a branch of yours or is your hub. For stopover flights in ATO3, the stopover city has to be a hub enabled city. (Yellow location symbol with a star in the middle.)
2) Check to make sure you have enough slots, counters and offices available in both cities, as well as an aircraft that has sufficient range for the route. If there are insufficient counters or offices in any city with routes, they will be overloaded (>80% workload) and can cause route satisfaction to decrease at a high rate.
3) After clicking the “Open Route” button, select the aircraft that you would like to use on the route. Only airplanes with sufficient range will be displayed. (If you realise that the plane you plan to use on your new route is insufficient by a few kilometres, a simple efficient engine/fuselage coating upgrade will do the trick.)
4) Set your number of schedules and prices. Remember, an airplane can only fly a limited amount of schedules in a week. This depends on their speed. (Although, if you want your plane to fly more flights in a route, a power-up engine upgrade will do.) When considering prices, price according to the amount of competition that you have on that route. If it is high competition, set lower prices.
5) Set your in-flight services.
In AT02, you can choose between a wide variety of meals, meal type and cabin service.
In ATO3 however, you have 6 in-flight service templates. In each of these templates, you can choose between Simple, Good, Moderate, and Best meals, while the same services are provided. I suggest setting each of the templates depending on what route it will be used for.
Remember, the more services you offer, the more you pay per passenger. More services allow you to have more satisfaction, and thus, more passengers.
6) When the flight attendant asks you if you are sure you want to open a route, click “Confirm” and you will get the “Congratulations” screen. You will see your plane take off from the origin airport, followed by the two/three cities of the route. Press "Okay" and...
7) Congratulations! You have opened a new route. Wait until the end of the current turn to see profit, occupancy, satisfaction and passenger numbers. Set your amount of schedules, type of plane, fares and services to an optimum level to utilize the routes in the most efficient way.