1 January 2004
To All Of Our Pilots,

December was an outstanding month, and an excellent way to close out 2003. We set new highs in Flight Hours, Total Pilots, Flying Pilots, Inactive Pilots, and PIREPs, including our first-ever 5000-hour month. Alaska Airlines Virtual had its best month ever, Delta Virtual had over 475 PIREPs (a new record), and Swissair Virtual had its best month in over a year. KLM Virtual also had its best month since May, and Midway Virtual Airlines resumed operations exceeding all expectations.

Midway Virtual Airlines Reopening
Midway had a highly successful reopening, and we are pleased to welcome the virtual airline back to our organization. Midway Virtual Airlines was our second virtual airline, and some of our original Midway pilots have chosen to rejoin the organization.

Survey Results and Comments
Our annual survey had 159 responses, the results of which are summarized here. Following the results of each question are my personal commentary. How these results will affect our operations for the coming year is explained in detail in our 2004 Operations Plan.

2004 Operations Plan
Based on the survey results and outside factors, I have created our 2004 Operations Plan, which focuses on our goals and intentions for improving SimAirline.net this year. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with our plan, and please feel free to ask questions about it or comment on it here. It focuses on the following six areas:
-More Complete Aircraft Availability
-Expanded Downloads Section
-Discontinued Routes
-Restoration of Fly-Ins
-Pilot Meetings
-New Virtual Airlines

New Codeshare Agreements
Previously, we only had a codeshare agreement with El Al - A Virtual Airline by Sabena Virtual and Swissair Virtual. Swissair Virtual began codesharing with Turkish Virtual Airlines on flights between Switzerland and Turkey in December and ANA Virtual began codesharing with the Lufthansa FlightSim Pilots Group on flights between Germany and Japan. Unfortunately, it looks like we will not be able to enter any other new codeshare agreements for the time being, although we did propose such agreements to three other virtual airlines. We are looking at expanding our cooperation with El Al by beginning a codeshare with Delta Virtual.

Pacific Blue Operations to be Added
Virgin Blue's international arm, Pacific Blue, will be added to Virgin International Airways at the end of this month. Pacific Blue will begin with flights between Australia and New Zealand, and will later expand to other Southeast Asia and Pacific destinations. These flights are the first by SimAirline.net to New Zealand.

Minor Change to Pilot Manual
Effective February 1, pilots will no longer be allowed to make aircraft substitutions on routes except of direct predeessors, which will be made clear on the appropriate virtual airlines' websites. This is because of the need for a consistent standard regarding substitutions rather than one that requires outside judgment. For more details on the reasons, please go here.

Northwest Virtual Rebranding
As promised, Northwest Virtual changed its website design this past month to incorporate Northwest's new logo and livery. We tried to keep the basic site elements the same when redesigning the website. Photos of Northwest aircraft in the new livery will be added over the next few months.

Aircraft Retirements
Delta retired its last MD-11 on January 1. The aircraft flew from Tokyo to Atlanta, and the aircraft has been replaced on the route by the 777-200ER.

Personal Assistance Requested
I am currently looking into summer internships at Air Wisconsin, Alaska Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Northwest Airlines. If you know of any personal contacts that could assist me in obtaining an internship position at these or any other U.S.-based airline industry companies, please let me know.

Personal Travel
I will be flying on United from Washington National to Minneapolis-St. Paul via Chicago O'Hare on January 3. If you are interested in meeting me at any of those airports, please let me know.

As always, SimAirline.net is successful thanks not only to its dedicated management, but to you, its dedicated pilots. Thank you for your continued support of SimAirline.net and its virtual airlines.

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