News

Hello Pilots,

This month's news update will highlight some updates to the website.

Website News

The forum has been discontinued and may now be found in our Discord server. For tour suggestions, or longer format discussions we encourage you to use the forum functionality. If you haven't joined Discord yet, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7 to join. The flight briefing page will now show the airline call sign for reference, we are working on improving the accuracy of the displayed callsigns to take subsidiaries into account. Further airports have received gate information to further improve the information on the flight briefing page.

Tour updates

Due to scheduling changes for a number of airlines, we will be reworking some tours. While this is happening, some tours might not be completable due to missing routes. In the next few weeks, we will be discontinuing the existing tours and creating replacement tours. For some tours, we might discontinue the existing tour before the new tour is available, but we do aim to rework all tours before the end of the month.

The monthly tour takes you across the Middle East. If you have any suggestions on tours you would like to see please let us know on Discord.

Closed airspaces

Current scheduled flight time durations may need to be amended due to longer flying times on account of closed airspace. Exceeding the listed scheduled flight time for this reason is expected and not an issue. If your flight is given a remark incorrectly please let us know via support ticket.

You can find more information about which airspaces are closed and how the civil aviation situation is developing on this FlightRadar24 page. Please adhere to these closures when performing flights on the VA.

Event Updates

We are working with the vACEPG initiative to co-host more VATSIM events. Please check the Events page for more details, we hope to see you there! Please let us know via Discord what kind of events you would like to see! To receive more frequent updates please subscribe to the Event Announcements notifications on our Discord server.

Airline News

Several shifts and mergers are expected throughout the year, though as ever timeframes appear somewhat loose. We will do our best to follow real-world shifts in the aviation industry as they may occur, though none of the following news is final. Both the IAG group and Air France-KLM have expressed interest in a (partial) takeover of TAP Air Portugal. The IAG group has again offered to take a controlling stake in Air Europa. Multiple airlines including the Avianca group, LATAM group, JetSMART, Wingo and Aerolíneas Argentinas have all expressed interest in taking over VIVA Air Colombia.

Broadly we can gather there is interest in consolidation throughout the industry and we will continue following these developments.

Closing words

As always if you have any suggestions or questions do not hesitate to let us know. If you would be interested in helping improve the VA do not hesitate to send an application to join the volunteer staff team using the support ticket system.

We would also like to remind you we have a Discord server. To join it, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7.

Hello Pilots,

First of all happy new year and we wish you all the best in 2023! This news update brings some minor news and development updates.

Development Updates

During this quarter we will be discontinuing the forum, as announced in our last news update. All content that is currently on the forum will be moving to Discord. If you haven't joined Discord yet, use https://discord.gg/PU5gMJ7 to join.

We will be looking to expand our staff team in January, and more information on this will follow in the coming weeks.

Tour updates

The monthly tour takes you across Asia. Tours are continually in the process of being reworked and for more updates on retiring tours please check the Event and Tours section on the homepage. We hope to expand and refresh our themed tours selection throughout January.

If you have any suggestions on tours you would like to see please let us know on Discord.

Closing words

As always if you have any suggestions or questions do not hesitate to let us know.

We would also like to remind you we have a Discord server. To join it, use https://discord.gg/PU5gMJ7.

Happy new Year and safe flights!

Hello Pilots,

This month's news update will highlight some changes to the website, as well as some airline update news.

Future of the forum

In the next week, we will be rolling out a new homepage layout, which includes removing the last active forum topics from the homepage. The forum generally sees low usage, and this is the first step towards discontinuing the forum. We will be fully discontinuing the forum in the first quarter of 2023. As a replacement, we will be creating one or multiple forum channels on Discord. If you haven't joined Discord yet, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7 to join.

Tour updates

Due to scheduling changes for a number of airlines, we will be reworking some tours. While this is happening, some tours might not be completable due to missing routes. In the next few weeks, we will be discontinuing the existing tours and creating replacement tours. For some tours, we might discontinue the existing tour before the new tour is available, but we do aim to reworks all tours.

The monthly tour takes you across Europe. If you have any suggestions on tours you would like to see please let us know on Discord.

Closed airspaces

Current scheduled flight time durations may need to be amended due to longer flying times on account of closed airspace. Exceeding the listed scheduled flight time for this reason is expected and not an issue. If your flight is given a remark incorrectly please let us know via support ticket.

You can find more information about which airspaces are closed and how the civil aviation situation is developing on this FlightRadar24 page. Please adhere to these closures when performing flights on the VA.

Event Updates

We are working with the vACEPG initiative to co-host more VATSIM events. Please check the Events page for more details, we hope to see you there! Please let us know via Discord what kind of events you would like to see! To receive more frequent updates please subscribe to the Event Announcements notifications on our Discord server.

This month's focus city is Charlotte; all flights to and from this city will provide a score bonus.

Closing words

As always if you have any suggestions or questions do not hesitate to let us know.

We would also like to remind you we have a Discord server. To join it, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7.

Hello Pilots,

This month's news is on the shorter side, due to personal obligations throughout the summer period. We will be looking to expand our staff team in the coming weeks; more information regarding this will be published in a separate news post.

Airline News

All China Southern Joint ventures have run their course and China Southern has been migrated to oneworld virtual on account of a new partnership with American Airlines.

Development Updates

For X-Plane pilots the latest ToLiss A340-600 update broke compatibility with numerous third-party programs. We have implemented a fix for this and flights performed by this aircraft should now be scored correctly. For MSFS pilots the Fenix A320 continues to experience detection issues when using the SimConnect recording mode. Switching back to FSUIPC, which requires FSUIPC7 to be installed, allows for the correct scoring of this aircraft.

A number of older awards are being reworked to improve legibility and create a more coherent style. These will be rolling out over the course of the following weeks.

Closed airspaces

Current scheduled flight time durations may need to be amended due to longer flying times on account of closed airspace. Exceeding the listed scheduled flight time for this reason is expected and not an issue. If your flight is given a remark incorrectly please let us know via support ticket.

You can find more information about which airspaces are closed and how the civil aviation situation is developing on this FlightRadar24 page. Please adhere to these closures when performing flights on the VA.

Event Updates

We are working with the vACEPG initiative to co-host more VATSIM events. Please check the Events page for more details, we hope to see you there! Please let us know via Discord and the forums what kind of events you would like to see! To receive more frequent updates please subscribe to the Event Announcements notifications on our Discord server.

This month's focus city is Boston; all flights to and from this city will provide a score bonus.

Tour updates

The monthly tour takes you across Africa. Tours are continually in the process of being reworked and for more updates on retiring tours please check the Event and Tours section on the homepage.

If you have any suggestions on tours you would like to see please let us know in the forums.

Closing words

As always if you have any suggestions or questions do not hesitate to let us know.

We would also like to remind you we have a Discord server. To join it, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7.

Hello Pilots,

This month's news update will highlight number of Quality of Life updates, as well as some airline update news.

Airline News

Prospective oneworld member Oman Air has been added to the VA, especially as Oman Air already maintains strong ties with Qatar Airways. American Airlines partner JetSmart has been added to the VA as well providing more route options throughout South America. All joint ventures of China Southern and SkyTeam members have run their course, and we expect to migrate China Southern to oneworld virtual around the beginning of August. Unfortunately Comair and subsidiary kulula.com have suspended operations and both will be removed from the VA on August 1st 2022.

Development Updates

Most major route and fleet updates have been completed and should provide for more accurate flights. Asia is still experiencing severe COVID restrictions and this area is not as updated as our others. We are continually working to improve our schedule accuracy throughout this region.

Over 100 airports around the globe have received gate information, providing for a more detailed experience. If you would to help collaborate on gathering gate information for airports please let us know by creating a collaboration type support ticket. We will provide a document that can be filled out and imported to help improve our coverage.

As you may have noticed, some flights are now automatically approved. Auto-flight approval is based on flight score, as well as a number of other factors, among others substitution and routing requirements.

Closed airspaces

Current scheduled flight time durations may need to be amended due to longer flying times on account of closed airspace. Exceeding the listed scheduled flight time for this reason is expected and not an issue. If your flight is given a remark incorrectly please let us know via support ticket.

You can find more information about which airspaces are closed and how the civil aviation situation is developing on this FlightRadar24 page. Please adhere to these closures when performing flights on the VA.

Event Updates

We are working with the vACEPG initiative to co-host more VATSIM events. Please check the Events page for more details, we hope to see you there! Please let us know via Discord and the forums what kind of events you would like to see! To receive more frequent updates please subscribe to the Event Announcements notifications on our Discord server.

Tour updates

The monthly tour takes you across the Atlantic and Mediterranean. A number of tours are currently in the process of being reworked and for more updates on retiring tours please check the Event and Tours section on the homepage.

If you have any suggestions on tours you would like to see please let us know in the forums.

Closing words

As always if you have any suggestions or questions do not hesitate to let us know.

We would also like to remind you we have a Discord server. To join it, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7.

Hello Pilots,

This news update brings some more airline news and development updates.

Airline News

The oneworld alliance has suspended ties with S7 Airlines, as a result S7 Airlines and its subsidiaries will be removed from the VA on May 1st 2022. When the suspension has been lifted these airlines will be returned to the VA.

Development Updates

All airlines have received their new summer schedules except for cases where there are still significant COVID related service disruptions. If there are routes missing please let us know via support ticket, and we will add these routes as soon as possible.

We are working on improving gate information, if you would to help collaborate on gathering gate information for airports please let us know by creating a collaboration type support ticket. We will provide a document that can be filled out and imported to help improve our coverage.

Closed airspaces

Current scheduled flight time durations may need to be amended due to longer flying times on account of closed airspace. Exceeding the listed scheduled flight time for this reason is expected and not an issue. If your flight is given a remark incorrectly please let us know via support ticket.

You can find more information about which airspaces are closed and how the civil aviation situation is developing at this FlightRadar24 page. Please adhere to these closures when performing flights on the VA.

Event Updates

We are working with the vACEPG initiative to co-host more VATSIM events. The next one is scheduled for the 15th of May, please check the Events page for more details, we hope to see you there! Please let us know via Discord and the forums what kind of events you would like to see! To receive more frequent updates please subscribe to the Event Announcements notifications on our Discord server.

Tour updates

The monthly tour takes you across the Pacific. A number of tours are currently in the process of being reworked and for more updates on retiring tours please check the Event and Tours section on the homepage.

We will be introducing a half-yearly regional jet tour starting in June 2022, to allow you to discover major oneworld hubs.

Closing words

As always if you have any suggestions please let us know.

We would also like to remind you we have a Discord server. To join it, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7.

Hello Pilots,

We are currently reducing schedules to and from Russia as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions implemented. Any future restrictions, or loosening of restrictions will also be implemented. This includes likely fleet reductions regarding leased aircraft in Russia, which are to be returned to their lessor by March 28th. To fully implement these schedule changes may take a few days, and if we miss any do please let us know. This will affect a number of tours, we will be reworking these in the coming days to allow for their completion. If you have any questions regarding this do not hesitate to let us know via support ticket, forum post or our discord.

Closed airspaces

Current scheduled flight time durations may need to be amended due to longer flying times on account of closed airspace. Exceeding the listed scheduled flight time for this reason is expected and not an issue. If your flight is given a remark incorrectly please let us know via support ticket.

You can find more information about which airspaces are closed and how the civil aviation situation is developing at this FlightRadar24 page. Please try and adhere to these closures when performing flights on the VA.

Tour updates

We are working on a number of tour updates, along with the aforementioned tours, to keep tours fresh. These include a scheduled rework of the current British Airways Tour and the Finnair Tour.

Closing words

As always if you have any suggestions please let us know.

We would also like to remind you we have a Discord server. To join it, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7.

Hello Pilots,

First of all happy new year and we wish you all the best in 2022! This news update brings some more airline news and development updates.

Airline News

The IAG group has stated to no longer takeover Air Europa, therefore this airline will remain part of SkyTeam. China Southern's joint venture with the Air France-KLM group has come to a close and given the closening ties to American Airlines we are exploring moving China Southern airline to this VA. Please let us know your thoughts on this in the forum.

We will as always do our best to mirror real-world developments and things may change in the coming months.

Development Updates

We are working on a rework of the booking page to provide a better, simplified experience when booking flights. This will include a rework of the current booking page, as well as back-end changes that will enable us to more easily switch between summer and winter flying season's. Hopefully lessing the delay in updating routes in the future.

The VAS ACARS native X-Plane support and support for Linux and macOS are currently undergoing testing and we hope to launch these features in the coming weeks.

This month also launches the discord screenshot contest, where you will get the chance to submit and vote on the best screenshots from fellow pilots.

Tour updates

The monthly tour takes you across Europe. A number of tours are currently in the process of being reworked and for more updates on retiring tours please check the Event and Tours section on the homepage.

Closing words

As always if you have any suggestions please let us know.

We would also like to remind you we have a Discord server. To join it, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7.

Hi Pilots,

This month brings a number of VA updates, which are detailed below.

Addition of JetBlue

As American Airlines' strategic north-east alliance with JetBlue has taken hold, JetBlue has been added to the VA bringing new flights throughout the America's. We will be migrating to the winter schedule this month, we hope to have most routes updated by mid-November. If you have any suggestions do not hesitate to create a support ticket.

Native SimConnect support in VAS ACARS

The latest version of VAS-ACARS has native SimConnect support. This means it is not required to use FSUIPC anymore if you are using a FSX-based simulator, including Microsoft Flight Simulator. If you encounter any issues using FSUIPC to record or you would like simply like to use one less program in your simulator, you can change to recording using SimConnect.

To switch to SimConnect, open VAS ACARS and click the cog wheel in the top-right hand of VAS-ACARS. Click on Use for SimConnect, the change is applied immediately. The method is also shown in the video below.

The next features we are working on inside VAS ACARS are native X-Plane support and support for Linux and macOS.

Monthly tour

The monthly tour takes you across Asia, through some of the busiest airports.

Closing words

As always if you have any suggestions please let us know.

We would also like to remind you we have a Discord server. To join it, use discord.gg/PU5gMJ7.

Hello Pilots,

After the LATAM airlines group left the oneworld airline alliance following Delta Airlines's stake and regulatory approval for a far reaching joint venture we will be moving LATAM Airlines to our sister VA SkyTeam Virtual. We will be moving the LATAM Airlines group to SkyTeam Virtual on July 1st 2021. This will mean that a number of tours and the route network will unfortunately be affected. We are working on renewing our tours to minimize the impact of this transition. All affected tours will be discontinued by July 1st.

We expect Air Europa to move from SkyTeam virtual to oneworld virtual later this year as a result of IAG's takeover bid. This move is pending regulatory approval. In the mean time if you have any suggestions, regarding tours or otherwise please let us know in the forums.