1 February 2003
To All Of Our Pilots,

January 2003 was one of our best months ever, and an excellent way to start the new year. We restored growth, had the fourth most hours in a month ever, will start February with our second most pilots ever, and set new records for retention, applications, and new pilots in a month. Of course, none of this could have happened without you, our loyal pilots.

Continental-KLM-Northwest Restructuring Complete
Early last month, we completed the restructuring of the Continental-KLM-Northwest Virtual Group, splitting it up into five separate virtual airlines, and the results were immediate. The number of PIREPs for those airlines increased by over 40%, thanks to better marketing resulting from the breakup.

Delta Virtual to Open This Month
Late last month, we announced that we would add our ninth virtual airline, Delta Virtual, to SimAirline.net in March at the earliest. We chose to add their operations because of Delta's new alliance with Continental and Northwest. However, our plans have changed and Delta Virtual will open this month instead. No definite plans have been made for further expansion, although it is interesting to note that adding Delta will give SimAirline.net virtual airlines based on three of the world's seven largest airlines.

Possible Combined Operations with Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers has proposed combining operations with SimAirline.net. This would leave the two organizations as independent entities, but provide SimAirline.net pilots with automated PIREPs as well as full access to fly the flights that Flying Tigers and its affiliate VAs offer, which are mostly based in Asia. This topic is being discussed in our message boards, and pilot input here is extreme important. 

Three Management Positions for Hire
We still need to fill the position of Events Coordinator, which consists of arranging fly-ins with VATSIM and/or IVAO and helping organize real-life events, such as pilot meeting at local airports, in cities where we have large pilot presences. We also need to hire Fleet Managers for Delta and Sabena. If you are interested in any of these positions, please go here.

Swissair and Sabena Flying High Once More
After Swissair-Sabena Virtual split up last month, the results have been even better than those of Continental-KLM-Northwest's breakup. Sabena Virtual and Swissair Virtual had over 50% more PIREPs than when they were a single virtual airline.

Downloads Section
The planned Downloads will open later this month, and will contain useful programs, utilities, and other add-ons. Also planned are charts, hub information, and airport scenery.

Updated Pilot Manual
Our Pilot Manual has had some minor updates for clarification and more clearly addresses our policy on pilots who don't complete flights. Please take the time to read it here.

As always, thank you for your continued commitment to SimAirline.net. Let's continue with what we started in January and make this our best year yet.

Aaron Robinson
aaron.robinson@simairline.net
AOL Instant Messenger: SimAirlineNet