Having spent more than a couple of years working for an aircraft manufacturer I can assure you that detailed studies of an airline’s route network and suitability for the aircraft are made by the manufacturer prior to a sale. These would include airfield performance, taking into account weather – wind, temp, surface condition; range with all the variations and challenges outlined above; economics with fuel burn, atc and airport costs etc. and more.

Guarantees would be provided by the manufacturer that their aircraft would be capable of operating to and between specified airports and any limitations would be noted.

The oft quoted max or typical range of an aircraft is nothing more than a very rough guide to start your investigations into possibilities.

Try to get hold of a book ‘The Airline Business’ by Rigas Doganis which would give you a good background knowledge of these things.

Thank you. Agree completely. Especially this part:
“Guarantees would be provided by the manufacturer that their aircraft would be capable of operating to and between specified airports and any limitations would be noted.”
When those guarantees aren’t met, conflict occurs, then resolution. Happens all the time. I have witnessed it.

The manufacturer most definitely does “publish what routes it can achieve.” (Quote from post 13)

Airlines purchase airplanes that “only just fit the bill” all the time. Buying a larger airplane is wasteful, and we live in a business world now driven by bean counters and MBA’s that don’t know doodledy squat about airline operations, or anything else other than massaging numbers and making their goals, IMHO. Believe it or not, the airlines have entire departments that do nothing other than optimize (their words) the equipment onto continually longer and more challenging routes, with less and less downtime for maintenance between flights. They are measured by how “well” they use the available airplanes, they do not have to answer for the dispatch reliability, or the fuel stops, or the involuntary denied boardings, or the bags left behind. Everyone lives in their own little silos.

IMHO, the initial poster really was asking questions which go right to the heart of what it takes operate an airline. All the factors that go into flying from point a to point b are the guts of airline operations. It takes lots of people other than pilots to make that operation go. I have 22 years experience doing that at a major airline, and am far from naive regarding these topics, but still consider myself an enthusiast also.