Virtual Airlines Monthly - March 2023
Hello and welcome to the first instalment of Virtual Airlines Monthly, a newsletter with everything you could want to know about virtual airlines on the VATSIM network. This will include things like statistics, advice for both staff and pilots of VAs, and more!
New VAs
We have 8 new partnered airlines last month!
vBlue
vBlue is a VA that follows the real-life operations of JetBlue, an American, low-cost carrier.
LEIPZIGAIR Virtual Airline
LEIPZIGAIR Virtual Airline is a German virtual airline founded in 2002 that has finally made the leap to become a VATSIM partner. They have routes centred in Germany that span the whole world.
Alaska Air Virtual
Alaska Air Virtual is a VA following Alaska Airlines & Virgin America. They’re a great place to look if you’re looking to fly the A32X or 737 families.
Aerocaribbean Virtual
Then, Aerocaribbean Virtual decided to join the team with their airline filled with amazing routes connecting the Caribbean to the world.
SPB Airlines
SPB Airlines is a Russian charter airline focusing on destinations in and around Russia and Serbia.
China Airlines VA
China Airlines VA is a Chinese carrier great for novices and veterans in flight simulation.
MSFS2020it Group Air VA
MSFS2020it Group Air VA is an Italian VA for MSFS2020 who likes to simulate all kinds of operations.
vENT
vENT is simulating Poland’s largest airline, Enter Air! They are an amazing carrier for holiday destinations like Greece, Turkey, and Spain.
Featured Airline
Fly United Virtual Airlines was founded in 2020 with a vision to provide flight simmers an easy and modern platform for them to fly their favourite United routes as well as the option of flying for almost any airline they choose. With more than 44,000 up-to-date schedules to choose from, pilots with Fly UVA will surely never run out of options to fly. We currently have just under 500 active pilots, achieving an average of 50-60 flights/PIREPs per day with weekends seeing up to 70-80 flights per day and more than 35,000 hours logged since our inception. In addition to scheduled routes, Fly UVA offers over 20 handcrafted tours in all parts of the world with more in the works, a random flight generator, Charter flights for non-scheduled routes and group flights spanning all realms of flight simulation. Our dedicated, friendly and active staff members are here to assist you in any way possible whether it be setting up smartCARS, add-on recommendations for your chosen sim or even informal training lessons for any airframe. Fly UVA is also an official VA partner and an Authorised Training Organization (ATO) with VATSIM and is also a VATSTAR partner for those seeking free virtual pilot training to rank up their pilot ratings from P1 to P4.
Pilots seeking a relaxed, no stress experience with one of the fastest growing Virtual Airlines should look no further than Fly UVA. All pilots of all experience are welcome to join. Sign up at https://flyuva.org/. Connecting people. Uniting the world. Virtually!
Starting Your Own VA
Have you ever thought of starting your own VA? This section will provide tips and tricks every month on things you can do to help make your VA successful. This first issue will discuss flight tracking and software.
When starting a VA, all of these flight tracking apps and website systems can seem a bit daunting however you only need to learn a system or two to get started. First of all, let’s talk about flight tracking. Most VAs choose to use an ACARS system to automatically track flights. This lets the airline collect important data like the exact route taken, times departed, and aircraft type flown. While there are great clients like SMARTCARS or VAMSYS’s Pegasus Client, some airlines opt to create their own software. While creating your own software allows you lots of customizability, it takes a lot of time and effort to get it running.
Instead of using automatic tracking systems, there are also free alternatives that do not require any coding experience. Some airlines opt to use a form system like Google Forms or simply sending a message in a Discord channel to log their flights. This method requires pilots to track their Out, Off, On, and In (OOOI) times manually to be submitted later. While this is a fairly simple system to set up, it lacks features that you would see in a full ACARS system. Even with that, this can still be a great option for new VA owners to simply get their foot in the door with managing a VA.
When it comes to websites, you again have a few options. One of the most popular is to develop your site using a virtual airline management framework like phpVMS, Virtual Airlines Manager or vaBase. This allows you lots of customizability in the way your site looks, while not having to deal with the complexity of the underlying systems. This option is great for those with some coding experience who want the challenge of making their own site.
The second option, which is popular among some of the larger airlines, is developing your site entirely from scratch. Airlines like Walker Air Transport and Virtual Air Canada have fully custom websites and crew management systems that were built using PHP.
The third option is the best route for someone looking for something that is nice on the wallet and who does not have any coding experience. This would be to create a website using simple HTML templates or use a website builder like Squarespace and have that point to a google form or a Discord Server. You would then have to use that in conjunction with one of the manual tracking options listed above.
This is just a simple rundown of some of the many ways to manage your VA from the software point of view. This is not a conclusive list and there are tons of ways to create a successful VA. If you have any questions feel free to ask on our Discord server which can be joined through the VATSIM Community Hub.
Conclusion
That’s all we have for this month. We’ll see you in April for the next issue!
Hey VA Owners! Have something you’d like to be covered in “Starting Your Own VA”? Want your VA to be featured? Have another question? Do not hesitate to reach out: j.koskie@vatcan.ca