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Hi!

I'm using FS9, too. Works perfectly with FSE. Just download the FS9-client, read the manual and you're ready to go.

You may use the infrastructure of Air Ecosse without any cost. Technically it's a normal membership, so you can use the airplanes and the FBOs for free. Air Ecosse has the infrastructure and currently no active pilots. DMW has active pilots and no infrastructure in the UK. So what I have to offer is a win-win-situation for both. The only requirement is to do your flights for Air Ecosse. You'll get 65% Pilot Pay. Fortunately all the AE-FBOs see lots of traffic and generate enough Ground Crew Fees to pay for themselves. So a monthly bonus is almost certain. Another difference to a normal membership would be, that I can rename some FBOs to put your Name on it, like "Air Ecosse Gatwick - HQ of Dead Man Walking" for example. Furthermore I’m allowed to rename green assignments. If you want me to, I could call them “Air Ecosse DMW Codeshare Passengers” or something like this. And on top of this you’d get a monthly bonus payment. I just need to throw an eye on it that the fleet and the FBOs are maintained.

You said to me a few days ago that using money on FBO's where not important. Planes are.
Tuna and me have been pro FBO's, but I think Tealeaf and possibly others are more plane guys.

It's better to buy a good plane first and then care about FBOs. So you always have a bird where you need it. Good planes to start a business are Pilatus PC12 and C208 Caravan. Go for the PC 12 if most of your routes are longer than 100 NM. The Caravan has a higher capacity but it's slow. Another good start would be a Beech 1900 C/D.

We would love a hub of some sort in the UK

Building up a hub is always a good and very efficient strategy. Collect assignments there and fly them as soon as you can fill up your bird with jobs for one or two destinations. That will increase your income per flight. You can also collect assignments for other groups and use a large plane to transport them to their hub. If the other group does the same for you the revenues will increase greatly as jobs from farther away are usually much better paid. Thats the way my group has grown up over the years.

Hello!

Vobler invited me to visit your forums and to give you some advice and help for your group.

Let me introduce myself: My name is Lars, I’m 34 and from Germany. I’m on FSE for more than 5 years now and still addicted. I own two groups in FSE. The first one and my main group is Borealis, which is based in Norway with HQ in ENFL. It started operations in 2011 with ENSG as first FBO and a Pilatus PC12 as first airplane. My second group is called Saarland International (SAINT). It is based at my RL home airport EDDR and started 2013. Oh, and I used my FSE-name here, so you find me under the same name at the FSE-forums.

Ok, as far as I know you already have some FBOs in France but you would like to fly in the UK. I’m a staff member at Air Ecosse, a group based in Aberdeen with FBOs on the Shetland and Orkney Isles as well as some in England (Gatwick for instance) and Ireland. Currently there aren’t many operations and the group consists only of the owner (Mitch.M, who is from Aberdeen) and me. What I can’t do is to sell you any FBOs, but I’m permitted to give you something like a home base or a home network with your name on it. As you may have already noticed, prices for FBOs in the UK are extremely high. Furthermore, if you pay millions for an FBO you can be sure that they will never pay off. In my opinion FBOs are overrated, so don’t spend too much money for them.

Let me know what you think about the idea. If you like it, we can work out some details and I can give you an overview of the FBOs and the fleet. If you have any further questions, just ask me!