I am writing in this thread today as i am not too sure which virtual airline to join. There are many wonderful VA’s in the community which make the community very proud! I have been out of the VA loop for around 7 months now and i am planning on making my spectacular return! As some of you know i used to own and operate Jet2 Virtual. In my request to look for a VA to join i have come across an issue, a lot of VA’s require you to do a certain number of flights per month to stay active. However, with my current job as a cabin crew having a demanding roster i may not be able to complete a lot of flights per month. I am looking for a VA with the following
Large friendly community
Has a large number of events
Based in the UK or Europe
Operates a mix of short / long haul flights
Thank you for taking time to read this thread and i am looking forward to hearing your suggestions.
When it comes down to figuring out which Virtual Airline may be the best fit for you, it may be best for you to search for the VA that you would like to be in. In most cases, threads like these will lead to some members shamelessly advertising their VA away with no regard to the conditions listed so I highly implore you to visit the IFVARB’s VA/VO Database and find the VA/VO you’d like to be with.
However, some of the things I’d advise you look for while searching for a VA to join, I’d recommend you look at what real-world airline would also meet those sort of requirements. Ex: UK/EU Based = UK/EU Carriers… Another thing I would recommend you check out is the Activity Checks that the IFVARB publishes so you can kind of see which VA/VO’s have large communities and conduct many events.
If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to reach out, I’d be more than happy to help.
I’m totally not bias when I say AFKLM is probably one of the best virtual airlines. It won the best VA award, along with many other awards, in an IFC wide vote and consistently has the most PIREPs files. It has the biggest fleet of every virtual airline with 4 airlines to chose from (not including codeshares). AFKLM has the second most international destinations of any airline (first being Turkish airlines) and is lucky enough to mainly use aircraft that have been reworked (777s, a330, a220). AFKLM is also one of the few VAs to have current flying MD-11Fs. Only one flight is required per month and there is a great mix of long and short haul flights. Here is the website: