September 2024 VA Update
Hello pilots,
In this month's news update we will highlight some of our development updates, as well outline future plans.
Development updates
In July, we updated the statistics on the pilot profile page to be more easily navigable and to give a better overview of your overall performance. If you have any suggestions on what more you'd like to see on your profile page, please let us know in the Discord server.
The past few weeks we've been working on a native integration of VAS ACARS into Microsoft Flight Simulator which will not require running an external program. We have made a lot of progress on this and can now fully record and submit flight reports from within MSFS. We are planning to continue development of this VAS ACARS version and hope to make it available to you by the end of the year. The main reason for the development of this new version is to add Xbox support, but this will depend on whether we can get this version of VAS ACARS published in the MSFS marketplace.
Airline updates
SAS has been removed from the VA after restructing. A number of tours reliant on SAS Airways routes have been restructured or retired. ITA Airways' takeover by the Lufthansa group has been approved by all relevant antitrust authorities and as such ITA Airways will leave Skyteamvirtual.org for Staralliancevirtual.org somewhere in Q4 2024. When the firm date of departure is known we will let you know. The Korean Air merger with Asiana is still waiting on US approval however it is likely that this merger will be completed in Q4 of 2024 as well.
After Air India was privatized and acquired by the Tata Group in 2021 it was widely expected that this would merge Vistara and Air India, this has since materialized. The current Vistara brand will be discontinued mid-November and will be merged into Air India. This move will be replicated on the VA, and will not impact the route network, with existing Vistara routes continuing operations as Air India.
We will follow real-world events closely and keep you informed in these posts of future happenings.
Tour updates
We continue to work on updating our existing tours, and if you have tours that you would like to see do not hesitate to let us know!
The monthly tour crosses the Atlantic ocean and continues on towards South America. 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. We would recommend checking your route prior to departure especially if it crosses and known airspaces with known security warnings. A complete overview can be found here. If the great circle route of your flight crosses any airspace with known safety NOTAMs a notice is placed on your flight briefing page.
Please adhere to these closures when performing flights on the VA.
Event Updates
We are working on adding more events to our event calender. Please let us know via Discord what kind of events you would like to see! If you have other events on online platforms that you feel are a good match to include on the VA please let us know. To receive more frequent updates please subscribe to the Event Announcements notifications on our Discord server. Please check the Events page for more details, we hope to see you there!
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/gUTREjv.