A Note from the CEO – Happy Holidays from us!
When the vAAirlines project started in the late months of 2019 we had no idea that we would be headed for one of the most challenging years simply by turning the calendar over as we were all celebrating the ringing in of the new year. The challenges of 2020 have included changes to how we go about our day-to-day lives, strains being put on our normal ways of life, our aviation industry being devastated, as well as many more difficulties for most of the globe as the navigation through this pandemic continues. While we have faced these challenges with a constant search for the light near the end of the tunnel, we have grown immensely with a new global understanding of what it means to work together towards a common goal. Innovation has shined and we are all working towards creating a better tomorrow, today, showing what can be possible when people come together with aspirations of creating “amazing”.
We have come together in our short 6 months of operation to complete over 1,130 flight legs for over 2,600 flight hours which is an amazing accomplishment that you all should be very proud of. We have navigated scheduling difficulties while watching the real world AAG route network change almost hourly, and put ourselves in position to once again offer one of the most up to date and accurate flight schedules as we move towards a more stable picture of flying in the early months of 2021. We have also had some help along the way with some amazing partners stepping into our community such as Extreme Flight Simulation and our friend, Servetas G. who have both been instrumental in sharing our vision to create something that we can all truly be proud of. You, our vAAirlines family which is represented by over 10 countries, have given us a true foundation for success during this time with your helpful feedback, ideas, and comments as we continue to improve to give you the best possible experience. The future of vAAirlines is very bright and that is only made possible because of you being here with us to help spark it. Thank you!
Moving into 2021 brings a lot of exciting changes and updates that will take your experience to the next level and I am absolutely delighted to share some of those with you!
Schedules/MAX
Our VP of Flight Operations, JP, is finishing up a major schedule update that should go live in the next week which will bring our schedules closer to what the real world AAG is flying right now. As the vaccine for COVID-19 continues to be successful we should see a steady return to air travel that will help stabilize the flight schedules moving forward!
We’ve been working away on a plan to bring back some of the classics to the schedule and look forward to bringing you a lot more information on that soon!
In other exciting news our friend “MAX” is back! The Boeing 737-MAX8 is scheduled to resume service 29DEC2020 with a round trip schedule between MIA and LGA as AAL718. This schedule will be going live the night of 28DEC2020 for you to simulate along with the real flight if you would like to do so! The MAX schedule continues to increase in frequency and destinations throughout the month of January so we will continue to update those as needed to ensure you can fly the MAX through the system and follow along the real world fleet.
Flight Academy
Our VP of Training, Gavin, is hard at work changing our curriculum in the Flight Academy over to a new module base that will allow us to better serve you all with fewer bugs and “resets”. This new center will also bring a new way of completing the required checkrides with a much more in depth tracking software that will provide you, and our team, with a much better analysis of your flight allowing for better feedback and a true training experience. We are expecting these to be ready for you in the later part of Q1 2021.
General Website Updates
We’ve also been working on a big update to our website that was planned to go live with the start of the new year but will most likely need a few more weeks to test, break, re-test, and finalize before having it go live for all of you to see. This update will bring a lot more functionality with fewer bugs and limitations which come from the base structure of our current website systems. I will have a much more detailed post here soon with a few sneak peaks as well! This website update will bring much more functionality making it even easier to find out the latest, get involved, and operate effectively as a crewmember.
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As we bring 2020 to a close with socially distanced celebrations, holiday music and movies, and by making memories, I want to thank you all for putting in your time and effort into creating the base of what we have started here at vAAirlines. Without members such as yourself this virtual airline would still just be a dream on a local server somewhere. I sincerely hope that the remainder of 2020 is filled with good health, some great family time, and a restful and enjoyable time before ringing in the new year and a fresh start. On behalf of the entire vAAirlines team and our partners, Happy Holidays to you and your family, and thank you for being a part of ours.
Sincerely,
