First of all, you have to ask yourself 'Are you dedicated?'
This is a very important question, as many people know, including myself, too many people announce Virtual airlines opening, then nothing else is heard about it. This question also involves many questions relating to it, e.g. 'Do you have the time to run it?' It is a very tough job running a succesful VA, and takes time and patience. If you are lacking either of these, maybe you would consider becoming a member of staff at a fully established VA. This could also gain you experience in the works of a VA, showing you how things run 'behind the scenes'
Secondly, You need to ask yourself, 'do i have enough money?'. This is an important question, as running a VA that will attract pilots will need to have money spent on it. It could be a little, it could be alot, but i would suggest not to spend to much on your VA at first. You will need to buy a domain name, and hosting to go with that. I will put a list of providers i reccomend at the bottom. You may need to spend money on a PIREP system (Pilot Report) or you could go with a free alternative, again, these will be at the bottom. A template may also be a good idea, as it can be tough designing your own page.
If you have answered yes to the above questions, and have really thought about it, please read on. If you have doubts in your mind, or you think this is not for you yet, try and apply to be a member of staff at a virtual airline. Its better to start a t the bottom of the ladder without putting too much dedication in to see if its right for you.
So, you have Dedication, Time and Money? Well, now to start your VA. You can base it on fictional or real world airlines. I consider it easier to make it fictional, as you have much more room to breathe, so to speak. If you want to base it on real world airlines, you are going to have to gain permission from the airline you wish to base it on. This can be very difficult, and often dissapointing, but if you are lucky, the airline may give you permission to use their names and logos etc.
You need to be realistic with your startup. Yu cant just say you have a fleet of 30 747-400's and 25 A380's on order. Its just not believable, and pilots don't like it, so you need to start smaller, and grow if you want to. Have a small fleet of say, 3 B734's or something like that. You can then see how fast the airline grows, and build up your fleet from there. Another factor is area. There are hundereds of European and North American VA's, maybe you could consider starting in Asia or South america? You need to make your destinations realistic aswell, try and research the competition around the area you are basing yourself in.
Once this is all done, you may start thinking of a name, try and make it something people are going to remember, not to long, not to short, and not silly. With this comes the domain name, or the website address if you like. You would want to make it easy o type into the address bar, yes, it sounds picky, but i don't like typing loads of characters for no point at all. You can then think of a template, something that will suit the name and area you are based in. Hosting will come next, you will need somewhere to put your site. It will need to be a recomended company, someone that has good feature for the price, and has a very low downtime etc.
I need to point out here, if you are having any doubts whether this is too much hard wirk for you, then ask yourself the first 2 questions again. Well, if you can see your airline starting to take shape, you shopuld be pleased, as you are halfway there.
Now you need to consider what system you are going to use. There are many out there already, some better than others. Both free and payware systems, all varying in functionality and useability. If you can make a free system look just as good as something you would pay megabucks for, good on you, this will make people think that you know what you are doing. You may have to pay a web programmer to do this, as it is quite tough unless you have the experience already. You can also take the custom system route. This is probably the best, but most expensive way of doing things. You can tailor the system to meet your airlines needs, but beware of prices, this can cost upwards of £200 if you want something good. If you are prepared to part with this, you should make sure you specify exactly what you want, and how you want it.
So, you have a site now? Well you are nearly ready to get pilots flying for you! I hope you are getting excited, as this should be a bit of fun, and you should be enjoying it every step of the way
Now, you need to make yourself know to the community. You can do this by posting an announcement on forums like these, another great place to post is VATSIM. The forums there are full of professional simmers aswell. You just have to make sure you are know out there. Also, try and point out something in your airline that is unique. this helps make pilots interested, and puts you in a higher league to other VA's that don't have anything particularly special going for them. This release should be deatiled on what your airlines operations are, what you plan to do, where you fly from and any other info you wish to put. It needs to have nice images relating to the airline, this helps keep the readers attention.
Now, you should have pilots starting to join up. If you do, very well done, you should give yourself a pat on the back, if you don't, you may need to consider adjusting things with your airline that may attract more pilots to fly for you.
I know this has been a long read for you, and a very bumpy ride. But hopefully, with some help from the friendly people who are on these forums, you should be getting your pilots flying in no time.
This tutorial wasnt as detailed as it could have been, it is just an outline on what you should be doing. I am going to put a list of resources you may consider, and i will nmost likely have missed alot out, so try using google, or people may add to this. I hope you have enjoyed the VA experience, and good luck
Domain Name & Hosting Providers
www.godaddy.com
http://www.jomongee.co.uk/
https://www.3ix.org/
VA PIREP system Providers
http://www.phpvms.net/
http://www.satavirtual.org/fsacars/
http://www.vabase.com/
I can personally recommend 'Template Monster' as a great template designer.
Now, as i said abovem this is a very short list of resources, and there are much more out there, and i hope people will add to this, but please research, that is the key to the whole process.
I hope this has proved useful to you, and will prevent the startup of VA's that never do anything. Thankyou for reading through, and again, good luck with your VA.
Jordan
P.S. Mods, do you think this could be pinned?
