Spring on-time performance hits records! 
06.06.09

British Virtual Airways pilots have produced the best punctual performance for 5 years in the months of March, April and May. The quarter had an overall operational performance of 84%. That means 84 flights in 100 have departed either on time or early (shown as months 13/14/15 on the graphic). This is against a target of 72% and an overall figure of 68% for the year 2008.

These results are fantastic and prove that our new recruits take their position seriously. Reading through the reports, it seems there is a clear drive to achieve great performance and a better overall understanding of our operation's procedures.

Said Charlie Smith, Fleet director and scheduler. Spring is usual the best performing quarter for on time performance, whilst autumn is the poorest (autumn 2006 recorded a poor 38% on time performance, our worst in history, mainly due to stormy and windy conditions). If the weather holds, we expect to be able to beat the 72% target throughout the summer.

FSX Boeing 757-200 model out by this week-end! 
02.04.09

We are excited to bring you a new model for Flight Simulator X. The Boeing 757-200 has been flying in BVAir.com colour for over 7 years, but so far was only available for FS9. We have been working on a replacement model for FSX and we are pleased to announce the release of the FSX757. The aircraft will be available for download by this week-end. Our beta testers are currently finishing the testing of the aircraft.

The Boeing 757-200 will remain in the British Virtual Airways fleet for a while longer, despite the fact that British Airways announced today that it will sell its remaining 10 757s to a cargo operator from 2010, replacing the older jets by more fuel efficient Airbus 320s.

The new model features all the usual functionalities such as reflective body, fully animated parts, new camera angles and night lighting. For the first time, the jet features the London 2012 official logo near the tail. As always, your feedback on the new model will be welcomed. We are now starting work on finding a new Boeing 767-300 model for FSX.

UPDATE 03.04.09: Now available to download. The file includes specific sound files and totals 33MB of data. See your download link from the main pilot's screen to proceed.

Flight selection and report queries 
25.03.09

Several emails and forum posts from pilots are reporting a technical problem with flight selection and reporting. The problem seems to occur on a random basis when the user selects a flight and doesn't report it before midnight the same day. The following day, the user may be faced with a dilemma: trying to report the flight from the previous day and being told that "no flight is booked" or trying to select a flight and being told "Please report your previous flight before selecting a new one". This is not a problem we have experienced before, and may be due to some of the deep rooted changes that have been completed for the re-launch.

Whilst we are look into the issue, we would like to ask pilots to email us at support@bvair.com if and as soon as they experience this problem so we can investigate it on the spot. In the meantime, please keep the following procedure in mind: it is preferable to select and fly a flight on the same day to prevent conflicts between the British Virtual Airways flight server and your account. If you are faced with the scenario mentioned above, try and select the same flight again (if you selected BVA101 on day 1, select BVA101 on day 2, if you can) and report the flight right after the selection. You can always delete the report after that, which should reset the flight allocation system for your account.

UPDATE 26.03.09: If you experience this problem, as an interim measure, simply log out and back into your account. We are now working on a patch to fix this issue.
UPDATE 01.04.09: This issue should now be fixed, if you are still experiencing problems, please email us.

Welcome to the new BVAir.com! 
27.02.09

Following 12 months of work, we are proud and excited to bring you the new look BVAir.com!

Project Azur involved the core registered users helping our team to find out what people wanted to see removed and redesigned; what functions to introduce and the general look and feel of BVAir.com.


Navigation has also been simplified to the extreme and all areas of the website can now be accessed directly from the new menu bar, all with a single click!


Today, and coinciding with the 10 year anniversary of British Virtual Airways, we unveil the result. In terms of design, the new look is based on a streamlined, crisper and leaner look, with a simple colour palette that reflects the Britishness of the airline. The warm beige background is easy on the eye, and the white and bold red create a fresh feel. The menu bar is designed in pure black and compliments the new random logo images. The typefaces have been restricted to just two: Calibri for general text, and of course Mylius for the corporate imaging. Navigation has also been simplified to the extreme and all areas of the website can now be accessed directly from the new menu bar, all with a single click!

We followed users feedback and have added a convenient login panel within the home page. The operational snapshot is also shown to the left of the home page, allowing pilots to quickly glance at the current state of the airline's activities. The page is also much quicker to load up, with the page you're reading now weighing in at under 100Kb! This new design is still under development and you will notice continued improvements, especially in pages past the login section in the coming weeks. We believe we now have one of the best website of any virtual airlines. With recruitment scheduled to re-open next week, we start 2009 with renewed confidence. Let us know what you think of the changes, we look forward to your feedback (contact us link is at the bottom of this page).

Microsoft grounds Flight Simulator development
20.02.09

The future of Microsoft's long running Flight Simulator series has been cast into doubt, after the software maker US laid-off the entire development team.Microsoft says it is "committed" to the series, despite shutting the Aces studio when it cut 5000 jobs.

But third party developers say Microsoft needs to outline its plans for the game in more detail. MS Flight Simulator is arguably the longest running computer game series ever, first launched back in 1982. Nels Anderson, founder of enthusiast website FlightSim.com said the studio closure was a "dark day" for the flight sim market.

Microsoft have apparently cancelled a 27 year franchise. Flight sims were one of the few things about Microsoft people actually liked. It made them money and had an enormous following. To cancel something like that is an amazing thing to do," he said.

Just Flight's director, Dermot Stapleton, which publishes third party add-ons for MS Flight Simulator, said that as Microsoft had only announced the studio closure, people would have to draw their own conclusions as to what future plans the firm had in store for the game.

"It's the end of the line for their in-house development studio, but that doesn't mean it's the end of the line for the game."All Microsoft did was name a group of developers working on the game Aces Studio and now, as they've laid them and a load of other developers off, they have been somewhat hoisted on their own petard. "My guess is that Microsoft will now licence the code to a third party developer and then cross that "cash bridge" when they come to it."

Microsoft FSX, 2 years on

07.07.08

FSX will have been with us for 2 years this Fall. When Microsoft first talked about the upcoming upgrade to the game, the flight simulation community, and BVAir, were all very excited. Yet, two years on, the excitement has long gone, and I, like many of our pilots, am disappointed with the offering from FSX. Every week, we get emails from our registered pilots and visitors asking us to keep FS2004 support going. We are, and we will!