FlightGear Newsletter March 2010: Difference between revisions

Well, folks, the talk of the Multiplayer forums for the past month or two (and not all of it's been nice!) has been revolving around the new, "super-VA" of FlightGear: Atlas Virtual Airlines. Intended to solve the increasing issue of underpopulation throughout the FlightGear Virtual Airline world, Atlas Virtual Airlines (AVA) has merged almost all active/idle VAs into one, drastically lowering the number of Virtual Airlines. AVA is now well into the planning stage, and many important aspects of the airline have been decided; the original hub, for instance, will be Frankfurt au Main (EDDF). Talks have now moved off-forum to a secret location due to numerous attacks and incidents on the public forums. Currently, AVA is being led by three co-leaders: SkyWlf77, Armchair Ace, and Kyokoyrama, with support from other pilots such as MD-TERP, ACE007, and ChocBoy. If Atlas Virtual Airlines is successful, the VA community will likely be left with only three Virtual Airlines (as of March 24th, 2010): AVA, TransGear Airways, and Star Alliance. The latter two have been largely successful and are not required to join AVA.

Despite the relatively quick takeoff of the VA, plans have been slowed by opposing views of a universal airline. Critics like Wookierabbit argue that "AVA will eliminate free market competition and pilots' choice, giving the few airlines left uncontested authority to not shape to pilots' demands. Counter-critics of this continue to attest that the FlightGear Virtual Airlines are living on borrowed time, meaning that a merging solution must be passed. Either way, months of work have been put into AVA, and the airline is nearing its opening.