Why has my maximum payload been reduced??
NeoFly is now using Zero Fuel Weight (ZFW) when calculating jobs and remaining payload for Business class, Regional and Airliners. You won't see a change for GA or Helis. For users of SimBrief, this is a big deal. As you know, NeoFly would give you jobs using the maximum payload in the sim (Max Takeoff Weight minus Empty Weight). For A320 pilots, that could mean jobs for 80,000+ pounds and the maximum weight you can put in the A320 (not including fuel) is around 48,000 pounds.
You could never get the Payload Matching Bonus when you use SimBrief for your flight planning or the EFB/FMC in the aircraft. As of Update 4.2.0.1, NeoFly now uses the ZFW (whenever possible) to calculate mission weight. You should now be able to plan your flight in SimBrief and get the Payload Matching Bonus. There may be edge cases where it doesn't work out - mostly depending on the alternate airport SimBrief gives you and the extra fuel needed to get there.
For Company profiles with hired pilots, this could mean a huge change to the amount of jobs you can stack and market goods you add on because the maximum weight you can put inside the plane's fuselage has been corrected to a realistic amount.
What is Zero Fuel Weight?
Maximum Zero Fuel Weight (MZFW) is the most the plane can weigh without fuel. If you subtract the empty weight of the plane you get the maximum payload for Pilot, Jobs and Market Goods.
If a plane has a MZFW of 175,000 pounds and an empty weight of 125,000 pounds, it can take 50,000 pounds of people and cargo. You will see this number referred to as ZFW in NeoFly. If this plane has a Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) of 210,000 pounds then that would leave 35,000 pounds for fuel after loading it up with 50,000 pounds of goods.
Old NeoFly would look at MTOW and subtract the Empty Weight then say that you could take 85,000 pounds of cargo. That would be 35,000 pounds too much according to the ZFW.
On the other hand, if you add 60,000 pounds of fuel first, your remaining payload is reduced to 25,000 pounds so you don't go over MTOW