Air France / KLM Virtual Airlines Airline News

DATE	SUBJECT	AUTHOR
10/09/2016	Under African Skies	Brian Hankey
Thanks to the hard work of Marcel Durieux, your 737 ACP, we have put together a new accomplishment for you to go get... Under African Skies. This accomplishment covers the 50 capitals that we serve in Africa. The cities are as follows: Algiers, Luanda, Cotonou, Ouagadougou, Bujumbura, Douala, Sal Island, Bangui, N'Djamena, Moroni, Brazzaville, Abidjan, Djibouti, Kinshasa, Cairo, Asmara, Addis Ababa, Libreville, Banjul, Accra, Conakry, Bissau, Nairobi, Monrovia, Tripoli, Antananarivo, Lilongwe, Bamako, Nouakchott, Port Louis, Casablanca, Lumbo, Windhoek, Niamey, Kano, Kigali, Cape Town, Juba, Sao Tome Ilse, Dakar, Maye Island, Freetown, Mogadishu, Khartoum, Kilimanjaro, Lome, Tunis, Entebbe, Lusaka, Harare. You will notice that for some they are simply the main accessible airport in the country (like Casablanca), some (such as Kilimanjaro and Cape Town) were chosen for the nice surrounding scenery. As of today, 6 pilots have achieved this accomplishment. Good Luck and Have fun!
10/02/2016	We are hiring: Two new Manager positions open!	Silvian Baltac
Dear Pilots, In our effort to improve your experience at AFVA, we are pleased to announce the opening of two new positions for the Manager of Documentation and Manager of Social Media. As the Manager of Documentation you will be in charge of updating AFVA’s manuals and guides, including Staff Manuals and AOM guides. To review the eligibility criteria and requirements for this position, please click here: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x2c The Manager of Social Media will be in charge of managing AFVA’s social media channels, posting news and advertising the airline online, reaching out to our current pilots and helping recruit new pilots. The eligibility criteria and requirements for this position can be reviewed here: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x2d Successful applicants will join the Staff team and will be given Senior Captain rank. If you feel that you have the necessary experience and want to contribute to improving the virtual airline, please consider applying. Applications for both positions must be submitted online and must contain the minimum required number of words. We wish all applicants the very best of luck and look forward to reading your applications. Brian Hankey Silvian Baltac Fabien Bergeret Senior Staff
09/11/2016	We are hiring: New A320 Assistant Chief Pilot Opening!	Silvian Baltac
Dear Pilots, We are pleased to announce the opening of a new A320 Assistant Chief Pilot position. As ACP you will get the chance to help the AF/KLM Virtual Airlines pilots in training, grade checkrides and pilot reports, and help improve the A320 Program. This is a responsible position as the A320 program is one of our entry programs, where some pilots may need a lot of support whereas others quickly progress to higher-stage programs. We thus encourage all pilots with the relevant experience on the A320, A330 and/or A340 to consider applying to this staff-entry position. To review the eligibility criteria and requirements, please have a look here: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x2b . Applications must be submitted online and must contain the minimal required number of words. We wish all applicants the very best of luck and look forward to reading your applications. Brian Hankey Silvian Baltac Fabien Bergeret Senior Staff Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
08/20/2016	New AFVA EVP of Operations	Brian Hankey
All - As you may be aware, I recently reluctantly accepted the resignation of Paul Hale from his position as EVP Operations. Fabien and I opened a candidate search to the whole airline so as to possibly find that diamond in the rough, however it was determined that the best candidate for the position was already a member of staff. Silvian Baltac has graciously accepted to step up to fill the really big shoes left behind by Paul. In return, Paul will remain with the staff as a CP of the A330 program. Please join me in welcoming Silvian to the Senior Staff team and again thanking Paul for the fantastic job he has done in the last few years.
07/16/2016	Vice President Of Operations Is Stepping Down.	Paul Hale
Dear Pilots and Staff It is with a heavy heart that I have tendered my resignation from AFVA senior staff and that Brian Hankey has accepted this resignation. My real world work commitments have escalated considerably in the past six months and a new exciting position within my company has been made available for me to start very soon which will require even more of a time commitment from me and as such this will restrict the time I can dedicate to AFVA further still hence my making this very difficult decision. I can look back at the three and a half years that I have served as Senior staff with great pride and have some excellent and rewarding memories from my time here but now is the time for an injection of fresh blood to take over the head of operations role, someone who can dedicate the time and commitment needed for us as a virtual airline to succeed and grow moving forward. I will remain as staff in some capacity (and occasionally when time permits be able to contribute by grading a flight or two) although the exact role I will play has yet to be decided. I will also continue to assist Brian and Fabien as much as time will allow with the day to day management of the airline until my replacement has been found. A career opportunity will shortly be made available for the position of Vice President of Operations and I would invite any of you that feel you have what it takes and the time commitment required to apply for the position. I would like to thank all of the pilots for their professionalism and commitment to AFVA and without you all we would not exist, we have recently done a huge schedule overload that is still work in progress to make this VA the best it can possibly be, If any of you know anybody interested in joining us, please get them on board to make us bigger and more successful moving forward. Finally, I would like to thank all of our staff members both existing and old for the amazing jobs that you all do/have done on a voluntary basis, the support I have received from the staff team and the passion you have shown for this wonderful virtual airline has been nothing short of sensational during my time with Senior staff and I am sure that will continue once I have left. Kind regards to you all Paul Hale Vice President of Operations
07/16/2016	Vacancy For Vice President of Operations.	Paul Hale
As you may have seen already with our previous news entry, we are shortly going to need a new Vice President of Operations to replace the departing Paul Hale who is stepping down due to real world commitments. Details of this vacancy can be found here: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x2a If you wish to apply for this position please look at the entry requirements and the conditions of applying carefully before submitting your application. All applications MUST be made online and MUST contain a statement with a MINIMUM of 500 words (No Maximum) to accompany your application. We wish all applicants the very best of luck and look forward to reading your applications. Brian Hankey Fabien Bergeret Paul Hale Senior Staff Air France Virtual Airlines
12/30/2015	A Warm Welcome To Three New Staff members.	Paul Hale
All, It is with great pleasure that we can announce three new members of staff to our team which for the first time in a while means we are fully staffed. Marcel Durieux has been selected to be our new Boeing 737 Assistant Chief Pilot. Daniel Seungmin Han has been promoted to the position of Assistant Chief Pilot in the Boeing 777 Program. Last but by no means least Mathias Lund has joined the events department as an Assistant Director to work with Zach Dupont who steps up to Director Of Events following the recent resignation of Robert Armstrong from that department. Congratulations to all three on these very well deserved promotions. Regards, Brian Hankey Paul Hale Fabien Bergeret AFVA Senior Staff
11/22/2015	Two staff changes to inform you of.	Paul Hale
All, Tom Thompson, our A320 Assistant Chief Pilot has resigned with immediate effect due to personal reasons, Roger Taylor will step up into the A320 ACP slot on a temporary basis to provide cover. Elsewhere Robert Armstrong our Boeing 777 Chief Pilot and Events Director has decided to stand down from events duties due to real world time restrictions, He will however continue his role as Boeing 777 Chief Pilot. I want to say a huge thanks to Rob for the amazing work he has put into the events department over the past years to make it such a success. There is no need to worry about a lack of events as Zach Dupont is still working in this department and will continue to provide us with events until a decision is made on how best to replace Rob. Best Regards, Paul Hale, EVP, Operations Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
10/16/2015	B737 Assistant Chief Pilot position	Serge Nanovsky
Dear pilots, I am happy to announce that a B737 Assistant Chief Pilot position is now opened. As an ACP you will get to lend a helping hand to AF-KLM Virtual Airlines pilots, score Check Rides, grade Pilot Reports and improve the B737 program. Please check Career Opportunity section for details: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x29 Applications must be submitted online. Best regards, Serge Nanovsky A320 Chief Pilot / Assistant Director HR AF/KLM Virtual Airlines
10/10/2015	Our New Boeing 787 Program Is Open And Ready For Business!	Paul Hale
All, It gives me great pleasure to announce that effective immediately our new Boeing 787 program is now active. This is an exciting program addition here at AFVA/KLM Virtual airlines that will only become more popular once Qualitywings release their eagerly awaited 787 Model. The 787 is a stage 4 program so you will need to be a Captain in any stage 3 program to request the ratings. Martin Zelikovitz is the Chief Pilot of the program so if you want to join him in the Dreamliner please request the checkride. Martin has worked tirelessly to create a very good freeware model for FSX and I have also available a very good freeware for FS9. These have not yet been added to the fleet downloads but please email either myself or Martin and we will be happy to issue dropbox links to download the packages. Enjoy the program Best Regards, Brian Hankey President and CEO Paul Hale EVP Operations Fabien Bergeret EVP HR
10/10/2015	New ERJ190 Chief Pilot	Paul Hale
All, Following on from the last news that the 787 program is open, Martin Zelikovitz's promotion to B787 Chief Pilot left a vacancy in our entry level ERJ190 program for a new program leader. I am extremely pleased to announce that the new Chief pilot of this program will be Mark Hubbard. Mark recently left his role as A330 Chief Pilot due to real world work commitments but these have now eased and Mark is eager and enthusiastic to head a program once again. Many of our newer pilots who join the airline have never flown for a VA before and need some help and guidance to get them up and running, Mark has a huge passion for training within the VA and as such he was very keen to take on this position and help mentor anybody that needs it. Please join me in welcoming Mark back into his new Chief Pilot role. Best regards, Brian Hankey President and CEO Paul Hale EVP Operations Fabien Bergeret EVP HR
09/25/2015	New Addition To Our Human Resources Team	Paul Hale
All, Fabien Bergeret, our EVP of HR has had to significantly reduce the time he can spend with the airline due to real world University commitments. In order to keep our HR department running efficiently we needed to hire an Assistant Director Of Human Resources to help Fabien run this extremely important part of our airline. Serge Nanovsky has demonstrated excellent skills during his time as a Chief Pilot and as such will now join the HR team as an Assistant Director reporting directly to Fabien. Serge will also continue to also perform his duties as A320 Chief Pilot. Please join me on congratulating Serge on the aquisition of his new role and welcoming him to the HR team. Best Regards, Brian Hankey President and CEO Paul Hale EVP Operations Fabien Bergeret EVP HR
09/18/2015	Silvian Baltac is our new A330 Chief pilot.	Paul Hale
All, It is with great pleasure that we can announce that Silvian Baltac will be our new A330 Chief Pilot. Silvian has shown an incredible level of skill and dedication to the staff side of the airline in the past three months in his role as B737 Assistant Chief Pilot and has earned this well deserved promotion. Please join me in congratulating Silvian on his promotion. Due to Silvian's promotion, a new job opening for B737 Assistant Chief pilot will be coming soon so please watch out for announcements for this in the near future. Best Regards, Brian Hankey President and CEO Paul Hale EVP Operations Fabien Bergeret EVP HR
09/13/2015	Embraer ERJ195 Chief Pilot position (update)	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, The description of the Embraer ERJ195 Chief Pilot position has been modified. Please find the new one at: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x28 Best, The Senior Staff
09/10/2015	Opening for an ERJ195 Chief Pilot	Paul Hale
All, We are seeking a new ERJ195 Chief Pilot to replace Martin Zelikovitz who will be fronting the new 787 program when it is released some time in October. The CP of the ERJ195 program is an extremely important position as you will be head of the program that the vast majority of our new pilots enter our airline through. Some of these new pilots will be experienced and transition to stage 2 very quickly, others will need a lot of training and nurturing by the program staff to get them ready to progress. If you feel you have the relevant experience to head this vital program and deliver an amazing level of service and training to our newer pilots then please submit an application to Senior Staff. All applications must be done online via the Career Opportunities tab in the Contact us section of the website. Further job details and requirements can be viewed here: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x27 Good luck to all applicants! Brian Hankey President and CEO Paul Hale EVP Operations Fabien Bergeret EVP HR
09/06/2015	Roger Taylor Retirement	Paul Hale
Pilots and staff, Senior staff would like to make you all aware that our Director of Historical Operations, Roger Taylor has decided to retire from staff duties with Air France/KLM virtual airlines with immediate effect. Roger has been with us now for just over four years and in that time has held virtually every staff position available , starting with his first promotion as an Assistant Chief Pilot in the old F100 program through to his time as a dedicated senior staff member serving as Vice President Of Operations for nearly 18 months. Our enormous historical program here is largely down to the extraordinary efforts Roger has put in over the years going through old historical timetables that he collected as a real world hobby and then implementing into our schedules. This has been an extremely long and painstaking task and although not totally complete, the vast majority of the work has been done so Roger leaves us with our historical program in very good shape. Roger has recently suffered with some health issues and also has just got married and both of these things have contributed to his decision to retire from our staff, he wants to spend more time doing the things that he loves real world and spending quality time with his new wife. Roger will be staying on at AFVA as a pilot but has no current plans to fly, although we hope to see him gracing the skies of Africa or Madagascar in his trusty DC3 again sometime soon. We can't begin to thank Roger enough for for the incredible work he has put in here over the years and whoever steps into his role in the future will have enormous shoes to fill. Please join us in thanking Roger for his incredible work to help our airline become what it is today and to wish him a very happy retirement. It has been a pleasure to work alongside him for the past years Thanks Roger! Brian Hankey President and CEO Paul Hale EVP Operations Fabien Bergeret EVP HR
09/01/2015	Resignation of A330 Chief Pilot	Brian Hankey
It is with a heavy heart that the Senior Staff of Air France / KLM announce the resignation of Mark Hubbard as Chief Pilot of the A330 program. Mark submitted his resignation due to signicant increasesd RW work pressures and felt that he did not have the time to commit to AF/KLM VA at the levels required of a Chief Pilot. Mark will be staying within the ranks of the AF/KLM VA Staff though as he will be returning to the role of Documentation Manager. In this role, he will be responsible for ensuring that all documentation within AF/KLM VA are kept up to date and readily accessible to our pilots. Kerem Yogurtcugil, A340 Chief Pilot will be temporarily taking over the reins of the A330 program on an interim basis until such time as a permanent replacement can be selected. Please join me in thanking Mark for his contributions during his time as A330 Chief Pilot. Best Regards, Brian Hankey, CEO Paul Hale, EVP Ops Fabien Bergeret, EVP HR
07/13/2015	Changes To Operations Staff.	Paul Hale
Pilots, It is with pleasure that I announce two new faces into the Operations team. Kerem Yogurtcugil and Daniel Healy will both assume Assistant Director Of Operations roles with immediate effect, this will be in addition to their current roles within the airline. The aim of adding Kerem and Dan into the Operations team is to deal with help desk tickets and charter requests in a more timely manner along with some other operational duties. Both Kerem and Dan will be reporting to myself as head of operations. Roger Taylor's role has been rebranded to Head Director Of Historical Operations and he will be very well assisted by Terry Ward who will be his Assistant Director Of Historical Operations. The Historical side of our airline is growing at a rapid pace and Roger has done a hugely impressive job already, having Terry directly on board with him will help massively with the rest of the historical schedules. Please join me in congratulating Dan and Kerem on their promotions into their new offices. Roger and Terry will now be based in the 2 new large offices recently converted from a derelict 707 at Charles De Gaulle :) Best regards, Brian Hankey Paul Hale Fabien Bergeret. Senior Staff Air France/KLM Virtual airlines
06/15/2015	New Boeing 787 program set for release in October and welcome to the new 787 Chief Pilot	Paul Hale
All, In keeping with real world operations Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines are extremely proud to announce that our new Boeing 787 Program will be ready for action in October. Fronting the program as Chief Pilot will be Martin Zelikovitz who has done an outstanding job as chief Pilot of our entry program the ERJ190 which was recently rebranded from the old ERJ145 program. Martin has built up a wealth of staff experience and knowledge in his time as a staff member with us and fully deserves this promotion! A huge amount of work has already been going on behind the scenes by Martin and he has been working on new fleet 787 models and testing technical data such as fuel efficiency on many test flying hours. As with any completely new program launch, a massive amount of work needs to be done but Martin has assured us that by release date everything will be ready to go, this will include a brand new fresh checkride for the program as well as First Officer and Captain examination question banks and of course the long arduous task of writing an Aircraft operations Manual from scratch and as already mentioned good working fleet models for both FS9 and FSX. Please join me in congratulating Martin on his very well deserved promotion and the hard work he has already done in getting things started without the guarantee of the job offer until this weekend. I would also like to say a big thanks to his main competitor for the job who also put in an extremely strong application and had also done many hours preparation work behind the scenes, it is very much appreciated but unfortunately only one man could get the job :) Shortly Senior Staff will be advertising for a new Chief Pilot of the ERJ190 program that Martin will soon be leaving behind. The ERJ190 Chief Pilot is probably one of the most important as that program is the main gateway into our airline and we get a lot of pilots who are completely new to flying for a virtual airline and need to be supported and nurtured through their early days/week/months with us. If you feel you have the qualities needed for the role of ERJ190 Chief Pilot, watch this space for when the position is advertised. Best regards to you all, Brian Hankey Fabien Bergeret Paul Hale Senior Staff Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
06/07/2015	New staff members	Fabien Bergeret
Dear members, It is a great honor to announce several recruitments into our virtual airlines to reinforce three of our programs. Mr Silvian Baltac has been hired as Boeing B737 Assistant Chief Pilot. Silvian is from Romania and he is currently studying in United Kingdom and joined AF/KLM Virtual Airlines in June 2014. Silvian flew more than 300 legs during more than 1 year and has a huge experience on Boeing B737. Silvian will help Mr Zacharias Dupont for managing the Boeing B737 program. Mr Calvin Diogo has been recruited as Embraer ERJ190 Assistant Chief Pilot. Calvin is from South Africa and he is currently studying in high school. In future, Calvin wishes to become a real airline pilot. Calvin joined AF/KLM Virtual Airlines two years ago as ERJ190 first officer and he knows perfectly well this airplane. Strong to this experience, Calvin will help Mr Martin Zelikovitz for managing the Embraer ERJ190 program. Mr Tom Thompson has been recruited as Airbus A330 Assistant Chief Pilot. Tom is from United Kingdom where is currently studying in College. In future, Tom would like to become a firefighter. Tom joined AF/KLM Virtual Airlines in September 2013 as Airbus A320 first officer. To date, Tom is particularly qualified on Airbus A330, A340 and A380. His strong knowledge of Airbus aircrafts made him as the first choice to support Mark Hubbard for managing the A330 program. Please join me in congratulating our three young new Assistant Chief Pilots. Brian Hankey Paul Hale Fabien Bergeret
06/05/2015	New A330 Chief Pilot	Paul Hale
All, It gives me great pleasure to announce that Mark Hubbard has been promoted to the Chief pilot position in our A330 program. Mark has been the Assistant chief Pilot of this program for the past few months assisting our president Brian Hankey who was temporarily running the program. Mark did such a fantastic job that Brian was not really called upon in anyway and essentially Mark was running the program in all but name, therefore the natural progression was for Brian to step back into his role as president and hand the reigns of the A330 program over to Mark. Please join me in congratulating Mark on a very well deserved promotion! Best regards, Paul Hale Vice President Of Operations. Air France/KLM virtual airlines.
04/25/2015	B737 Assistant Chief Pilot position	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilot, I am glad to announce you that a Boeing B737 Assistant Chief Pilot position is now opened. Details are available on our website: http://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x25 Applications must be submitted online. Best regards, Fabien Bergeret EVP AF/KLM Virtual Airlines
03/31/2015	Concorde vote	Fabien Bergeret
Pilots, As some of you may know a poll was posted in the AFVA Concorde forum channel a week ago, we have received some great feedback already and hopefully this inspires some of you to post your own. The point of the poll is to try and get as many pilots as possible learning the majestic yet daunting aircraft. I'm aware some pilots do not wish to take the Concorde rating at any stage but I ask all active pilots to vote even if there is no interest as it will help your fellow pilots learn the aircraft. We want to make the Concorde program the best one in the virtual world and the is only possible through the immense power that is our pilots! I may not be able to get every pilot flying Concorde, but I would like everyone to a have a chance and this poll will give our pilots that choice! I hope many of you consider voting and thank you in advance if you submit your input. To vote: http://www.afva.net/thread.do?id=123712 Daniel Healy Concorde Chief Pilot
03/23/2015	Changes to the new Concorde flights.	Paul Hale
Pilots, Senior staff have been reviewing flight codes this weekend and we decided to make things more simple for you with the new recently introduced Concorde flights. These flights will now operate under the code AFC- Air France Concorde instead of the previous Air France Historic-AFH codes. This change takes place with immediate effect. Best Regards, Paul Hale Vice President Of Operations, Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines.
02/26/2015	Concorde Program Massively Extended!	Paul Hale
Pilots, Over the past week, Staff have been working very hard behind the scenes to extend our already huge Historical Route Schedule. We have increased our Concorde schedule with 239 new flights added to the schedules, These flights represent all Air France Concorde Round The World Tours that were flown real world. The flights are numbered AFH9201 through to AFH9240 and are now available to fly. This has been done so that we are now have the biggest Concorde program out of any virtual airline and as such should attract new Concorde flying pilots to the airline. As these flights are so unique they can ONLY be flown with Concorde, flights flown with ANY other equipment will be held for an explanation and in all likelihood rejected. Special thanks to our new Concorde Chief Pilot Dan Healy and director Of Operations Roger Taylor for their massive help and support in making this idea become reality. If you don't already have the Concorde rating, you need to be or have been a stage 4 captain here and request the rating and Dan will be happy to issue you the Concorde Checkride. Enjoy the new routes, Paul Hale Vice President Of operations Air France/KLM virtual Airlines
02/21/2015	New Concorde and Airbus A320 Chief Pilots	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots It is my pleasure to inform you that Daniel Healy and Serge Nanovsky have been promoted Concorde and Airbus A320 Chief Pilots respectively. One month ago, we decided to re-open the Concorde program due to the high popularity of this aircraft. Today, Daniel Healy takes the lead of the program of this mythic bird. The vacant Airbus A320 Chief Pilot position will be immediately filled by Serge Nanovsky. Daniel and Serge have a strong background as staff members and are both experts in their respective knowledge’s of the Concorde and Airbus A320 models. Congratulations to both of you gentlemen. Best, Fabien Bergeret Excecutive Vice President Air France /KLM Virtual Airlines
01/25/2015	Entry Stage Program Change.	Paul Hale
Pilots, It gives me great pleasure to announce that our entry stage program has been updated and will now be called the Embraer ERJ190 program. Air France has more active schedules in the ERJ190 real world than the previous ERJ145 so a change of program was needed to keep our airline current. There will very soon be a very good FSX fleet ERJ190 available for download and an FS9 fleet model is also being looked into. The ERJ190 Checkride will be flyable in either the ERJ190 or ERJ195 therefore pilots with the freeware or those with the E-jets V2 payware will be able to use their personal choice of equipment to fly the Checkride. There is no change in staffing in the ERJ190 program, Martin Zelikovitz will head the program as Chief Pilot with Ben Maskell his ACP. For those of you that don't have the ERJ ratings, now is the perfect time to go and get them!! Best regards, Paul Hale Vice President Of Operations Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines phale@afva.net
01/11/2015	AFVA Concorde Program is Active Again.	Paul Hale
All, It Gives me great pleasure to announce that AFVA have made the Concorde Program active again. We retired the Concorde Program some months back and made it a Historical aircraft rating only due to its real life retirement. However due to a huge increase in usage in recent months and many requests for the program to again become active within our Virtual Airline we have decided to do just that. Concorde will again be a stage 5 program, so any stage 4 Captains can request to join the program in the usual promotional way. I will run the program as Chief Pilot on a temporary basis and we will be advertising for a permanent Chief Pilot to takeover in the very near future. The Airbus A380 Program will still remain the flagship of our fleet due to it's standing with Air France and the fact that is still In active service real world. Enjoy flying the Concorde! Best Regards, Paul Hale Vice President Of Operations Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
01/11/2015	Concorde Chief Pilot position opened	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, As Paul Hale just mentioned in a a previous message, Concorde is back as an individual program. Air France-KLM Virtual Airlines are looking for a highly motivated Chief Pilot. The description of the application is available online: http://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x24. Applications must be submitted online. Questions can be adressed to the Senior Staff members. Best regards, Fabien Bergeret Excecutive Vice President
12/04/2014	Airbus A330 Chief Pilot resignation	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, It is with a heavy heart that Air France Virtual Airlines Senior Staff have accepted the resignation from staff duties of Airbus A330 Chief Pilot and Flight Academy instructor Salvo Montalbano. Salvo has now intense professional commitments and does not have the time to be an AFVA/KLM staff member any more. We would like to thank Salvo for his hard work and dedication to the airline over the years. The Airbus A330 program will be immediately led by Brian Hankey. Thank you Salvo for your devotion during all these years. Best, Fabien Bergeret Excecutive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
12/04/2014	New Boeing B737 and Airbus A330 staff members	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, It is my pleasure to inform you that Serge Nanovsky and Mark Hubbard have joined the Air France Virtual Airlines staff for managing the Boeing B737 and the Airbus A330 programs respectively as Assistant Chief Pilot. Serge has devoted his (virtual) pilot career to Boeing aircrafts and has made the Boeing B737 his favorite airplane. Moreover, Serge has always been a pilot helping others and has demonstrated very strong skills for teaching and providing assistance. He will be an excellent assistant for helping Zacharias Dupont and the Boeing B737 pilots. Mark Hubbard started flying on Flight Simulator many years ago with the first versions of the Microsoft game and he has been a pilot and a staff member in numerous virtual airlines. During all his long (virtual) career, Mark has mainly flown on long haul Airbus aircrafts and especially with the Airbus A330 with which he has a strong experience. Mark is also a pilot and has a private pilot license. Mark will be extremely helpful for managing the Airbus A330 program with Brian Hankey and Florian Dassonville. Congratulations to Serge and Mark. Best, Fabien Bergeret Excecutive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
11/27/2014	Important information concerning the pilot applications	Fabien Bergeret
Dear futur pilots, The Human Resources department will be closed from December 05th to December 18th included. Your applications will be processed after December 19th. Please be patient. For any emergency, please contact Brian Hankey or Paul Hale. Best regards, -- Fabien Bergeret Executive Vice President Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
10/26/2014	AFVA/KLM staff changes	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, It is with a heavy heart that Senior Staff have accepted the resignation from staff duties of ERJ145 Chief Pilot and Flight Academy instructor James Lightbody. James now has exciting real world career opportunities within the music industry to focus his time and energy on and as such does not have the time to be an AFVA/KLM staff member any more. We would like to thank James for his hard work and dedication to the airline over the years and we all wish him well in his real world career. Stepping into James shoes as ERJ145 Chief Pilot will be Martin Zelikovitz, Martin has done us a great service as Boeing 737 Assistant Chief Pilot over the past months and has proven his dedication and passion for the airline. As a result of this he was the ideal candidate to step up and take on his first Chief Pilot Tenure in this very important program, well done Martin on a very well deserved promotion. We would like to inform you that a Boeing B737 Assistant Chief Pilot position is currently opened. All details are available on this webpage: http://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x23. Applications must be submitted online. Once again, thank you so much James for your devotion and congratulation Martin for your promotion. Best regards, Fabien Bergeret Excecutive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
10/25/2014	DNS Maintenance in Progress	Luke Kolin
DNS and system backup for Global Virtual Airline Group properties is handled by Amazon Web Services, the world's largest public cloud computing provider. AWS provides redundant global services at a very economic rate for a variety of groups beyond GVA, including Netflix and weather.com. To facilitate prompter system updates and maintain continuity of service, we are transferring our AWS services from a personal account to a GVA-funded AWS account. No data should be changing as part of this process beyond the master DNS services, and service interruptions are not expected.
09/20/2014	Invalidated Email Addresses	Brian Hankey
We are being forced to invalidate a number of email addresses from our database due to being blocked by Microsoft's mail servers. They are rejecting all DVA and AFVA email as spam. If this has happened to you, please log into your profile and provide a new alternate email address that is not a Microsoft-based address (this includes hotmail, outlook, live etc...) Please contact a member of staff or leave a post in the forum if you have any questions. Thanks & Best Regards, Brian Hankey CEO / President Air France Virtual Airlines
08/17/2014	New Boeing B737 Assistant Chief Pilot	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, It is my pleasure to inform you that Martin Zelikovitz has joined the Air France Virtual Airlines staff for managing the Boeing B737 program as Assistant Chief Pilot. Martin will assist Zacharias Dupont, our Boeing B737 Chief Pilot, in his work and together they will continue to contribute to the success of this program. Congratulations Martin!!! Best regards, Fabien Bergeret Excecutive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
06/29/2014	Kalev Kadak takes the lead of the Boeing B767 program	Fabien Bergeret
Dear KLM/AF virtual pilots, It is a great honor to officially announce the promotion of Mr. Kalev Kadak as Chief Pilot of the Boeing B767 program. During the last months, Kalev has shown that he had all the skills to fully manage this wonderfull program and he can now take the lead of the program. De facto, Mr. Paul Hale returns at 100% to his buisness into the Senior Staff. Congratulations Kalev for your promotion and a great thanks to Paul for the first managements of this 'baby' program!!!! -- Fabien Bergeret Executive Vice President Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
06/15/2014	New codeshare operations with Winair.	Paul Hale
I am delighted to announce that we have some amazing new codeshare flights with Winair. These flights depart from St Maarten and have some great destinations such as St Barthelemy and Saba (Both of which are included in Fly Tampa's St Maarten package). All of the flights use the DHC6 Twin otter rating which is gained through the ERJ145 program as a secondary rating. If you don't have the rating and you feel you should have, please create a help desk ticket and one of our staff will deal with the request. Enjoy the new flights, they are certain to test your flying and especially landing skills to the limit! Paul Hale Vice President Of Operations Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
05/16/2014	Flight Academy Updates	Brian Hankey
We are pleased to announce some new and exciting appointments at the Air France/ KLM Virtual Airlines Flight Academy. Scot Clarke returns to take the helm of the combined Training Academy. On the Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines side, Kerem Yogurtcugil is the Director Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines Flight Academy with James Lightbody as an instructor. On the Delta side, Chris Hannigan will remain as Director of the Delta Virtual Airlines Flight Academy. Jim Warner and Michael Brown will return to the positions of flight instructor. The support staff, to help develop new training programs, VATSIM approved P-rating programs and new training courses and events are George Lewis-IT Department, Sean Zarella-Technical writer for manuals/programs and video production. Daniel Hodnik and Dean Schultz are on board as ATC advisers to keep us up to date on ATC changes. Andrew Logan and Charles Carter, as professional pilots, will be advising the flight academy on real world commercial aviation. Welcome to them all and we thank them all for working with us. We have renewed and posted on the VATSIM Pilot Training ATO page, the combined name of Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines-Delta Virtual Airlines and our logo. We have updated the page to reflect our new logo presentations for both virtual airlines, which are part of the Global Virtual Airlines Group. The new Pilot Training Department (PTD) Web Application is available for more information at http://ptd.vatsim.net . With all of the work that Michael Brown and Chris Hannigan have already done, our group is hard at work to complete the Advanced VFR Pilot course that will meet all of the requirements needed to award the VATSIM P3 rating. New and exciting programs are coming! Scott Clarke Vice President of Training Global Virtual Airlines Group Delta Virtual Airlines Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
05/14/2014	The Boeing B777 program has a new Assistant Chief Pilot	Fabien Bergeret
Dear Air France/ KLM Virtual pilots, It is a great honor for me to announce Mr Florian Barea as Assistant Chief Pilot for the Boeing B777 program. Florian joined the Airlines in September 2010 and flown 1,500 hours flights with numerous aircrafts. His huge experience will be a significant advantage and a great support for helping Mr Robert Armstrong for the management of this program. Congratulations Florian!!! Best regards, -- Fabien Bergeret Executive Vice President Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
05/10/2014	Boeing B767-300 Assistant Chief Pilot	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, I am extremely happy to announce you that Mr Kalev Kadak has been selected for the Boeing B767-300 Assistant Chief Pilot Position. Kalev will assist Paul Hale for managing our newiest program. Congratulations!!!! -- Fabien Bergeret Executive Vice President Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
04/28/2014	New Assistant Director Of Events.	Paul Hale
Please join me in welcoming Zach Dupont to the events team. Zach leads the Boeing 737 program as Chief Pilot but also recently expressed an interest in joining Robert Armstrong (Events Director and Boeing 777 Chief Pilot) in the events team. Rob and Zach between them have some fantastic ideas for new events for the airline and I am sure will make a brilliant team. If you have any ideas for events that you would really like to see in the calendar, please email either Rob or Zach with your ideas. rarmstrong@afva.net zdupont@afva.net Best regards, Paul Hale Vice president, Operations. Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines. phale@afva.net
04/20/2014	New Historical flights and destinations.	Paul Hale
It is with pride that i can announce a new phase of Historical flights and destinations to our schedules. Further KLM Historical flights have been added in Indonesia and we also have rolled out today the first phase of Garuda Indonesia Historical flights under the flight code GAH. Adding these flights is a very long process and is also a continuing process as there will be more new destinations and flights to come in the future as more phases become live. I would like to say a big thank you for the time, commitment and effort put in by Roger Taylor in adding these for us all to enjoy, great work for keeping our Historical program as amazing as it is!
04/12/2014	AFVA/KLM staff changes	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, Following the two last promotions for our Flight Academy, I am extremely happy to announce that we made a couple of changes in our staff: James Lightbody took the lead of the ERJ program as Chief Pilot and he is assisted by Ben Maskell as Assistant Chief Pilot. After a very long and amazing service in the Airbus A320 program, Robert Armstrong is promoted as Chief Pilot in the Boeing B777 program. Daniel Healy left the Boeing B737 program for managing the Airbus A320 program. Zacharias Dupont is the new Chief Pilot of the Boeing B737 program and Florian Dassonville is promoted Airbus A330 Assistant Chief Pilot for helping Salvo Montalbano. Please congratulate all of them for their promotion. Best regards, -- Fabien Bergeret Executive Vice President Air France / KLM Virtual Airlines
04/12/2014	New Boeing stage 3 program released.	Paul Hale
It gives me great pleasure to announce that as of now we have a new Boeing stage 3 program, the 767 program. Following on from feedback and a vote from our pilots as to whether this was a good idea, an overwhelming percentage voted for the idea to become real and active. We now have clear virtual career progression paths in both the Boeing and Airbus aircrafts which we felt was needed. The 767 program will remain operational until such time as it is replaced sometime in 2016 with a 787 program when that aircraft is scheduled to commence real world service with KLM. I will personally lead the 767 program as acting Chief Pilot from the start and vacancies will be advertised shortly to join the 767 program as a staff member. As with any new program there may be minor teething issues right at the start so i would appreciate it if you would email me with any problems you may encounter. Lets us all welcome our new program and I hope you all enjoy flying in it! Paul Hale Vice president,Operations Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
04/08/2014	New Academy Assignments	Brian Hankey
All - it is with great pleasure that I announce the promotion of two individuals to the AFVA Flight Academy. Kerem Yogurtcugil has been promoted to the position of Flight Academy Director. Joining him in the staff room of the Academy will be James Lightbody as a Flight instructor. Congratulations Gentlemen! Best Regards, Brian Hankey AFVA President & CEO
03/02/2014	New B737 Chief Pilot	Brian Hankey
Please welcome our newest Chief Pilot - Daniel Healy. Due to personal time commitments, we have switched Alan and Daniel's positions. Please join me in welcoming Daniel to his new office. Brian Hankey CEO & President, AFVA
02/23/2014	New AFVA and codeshare schedules released.	Paul Hale
Our AFVA flight schedule is updated quarterly. The most recent update valid for the next 18 months occurred on February 21, 2014. We update our schedules quarterly using an external commercial service. The update includes true codeshare flights. Airlines frequently change schedules. Our schedule is dynamic with daily updates. Please check the schedules before each flight to insure that your flight is in our schedules for the particular day you fly. In the latest schedule update we now have a new codeshare partner (Insel Air) based out of Curacao with some interesting new routes. Enjoy them!
02/15/2014	A340 Program Relaunched	Brian Hankey
It is with great pleasure that I announce that we have relaunched the A340 program as a Stage 4 program. Leading the program is Kerem Yogurtcugil, most recently the Chief Pilot of the combined A330/A340 program. As a result of this promotion, I would like to announce the promotion of Salvo Montalbano to Chief Pilot of the A330 program. Please join me in welcoming both these gentlemen to their new offices. Congratulations gentlemen! Brian Hankey CEO & President, AFVA
02/15/2014	New Fleet Manager	Brian Hankey
It is with great pleasure that I announce the filling of a sorely needed staff position with AFVA. Bill Gardiner has accepted the position of Fleet Manager for both AFVA and DVA. As an AFVA pilot he will be directly reporting to Paul Hale, VP Operations. For DVA, he will report to Sterling Widmer, Paul's counterpart. Bill's job is a daunting one as he will now be the person responsible for updating and creating the fleet installers that both AFVA & DVA pilots use on a daily basis. If you have any fleet questions, please do not hesitate to log a help desk issue or contact him directly at fleet@afva.net. The Help Desk would be preferred so that all requests can be tracked and triaged accordingly. Welcome to your new office Bill! Brian Hankey CEO & President, AFVA
02/11/2014	Staff Member promotions	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, It is with a great pleasure and honor that I inform you about two promotions into the Air France Virtual Airlines staff. Due to Jad Khalife retirement, Mark Stead is now the Chief Pilot of the Airbus A380 program and Duncan Shiplee is immediately promoted Chief Pilot of the Boeing B747 program. Mark Stead and Duncan Shiplee made an amazing job during the last years for managing the Boeing B747 program and they were the natural choice for managing these both very technical programs. Congratulations Mark and Duncan!!! Best regards, Fabien Bergeret Executive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
01/25/2014	Small Change to Senior Staff	Brian Hankey
I have the pleasure to announce a change in the Senior Staff. Effective immediately, Fabien Bergeret has been promoted to Executive Vice-President while still remaining in charge of Human Resources. Please join me in congratulating Fabien on his well-deserved promotion.
01/09/2014	Jad Khalife retirement and A380 Chief Pilot position opened	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, I have the regret to announce that Jad Khalife has given his resignation due to his real job commitment. First, I would like to point out the really good job that he has done as A380 Chief Pilot and staff member during all these years. He will be a huge lost for our Virtual Airlines. Thank you very much Jad for all. Second, due to Jad retirement, an A380 Chief Position is currently opened. The job description and requirements to postulate are available online on your pilot center. Applications must be submitted online. Best regards, Fabien Bergeret Vice President of Human Resources
10/20/2013	Staff Member Changes	Brian Hankey
At the beginning of September, Terry Ward requested to return to being a reserve staff member for personal reasons. The Senior Staff agreed to this. As a result, we have had to fill the position of Vice-President (Operations). It is with great pleasure that we announce that Paul Hale has been promoted to said position. As a result of this appointment, Paul is also now member of the Air France Virtual Airlines Senior Staff and is fully involved in helping the day to day management of the virtual airline. On a related note, Yves LeCabec has also submitted his resignation from the head of the AFVA Flight Academy. His role will now be filled by Chris Hannigan as the new Director of the Flight Academy. Chris will dotted-line report to the new Vice-President of Training and Documentation, Mark Hubbard. Chris reports on a full-time basis to the new Vice-President of Training at DVA, Michael Brown. Congratulations to all of the above-mentioned individuals and THANK YOU to Terry and Yves for all they have done for AFVA. Best regards, Fabien Bergeret Vice President of Human Resources Brian Hankey, President and CEO
09/24/2013	Duncan Shiplee has been promoted B747-400 Assistant Chief Pilot	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, It is my pleasure to inform you that Duncan Shiplee has joined the Air France Virtual Airlines staff for managing the Boeing B747-400 program as Assistant Chief Pilot. Duncan was a Boeing B747-400 Senior Captain and was fully dedicated to the Boeing B747-400 program. Duncan will assist Mark Stead, our Boeing B747-400 Chief Pilot, in his work and together they will continue to contribute to the success of this program. Congratulations Duncan!!! Best regards, Fabien Bergeret Vice President of Human Resources Air France Virtual Airlines
08/22/2013	Zach Dupont joins B737 Program as newest ACP!	Brian Hankey
I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of staff. This recognition is bit overdue only due to oversight on my part. Please join me in welcoming Zach to the staff of the Baby Boeing program. He joins Alan and Gary in managing the 2nd largest program we have at AFVA. Zach joined AFVA in 2012 after flying for several other virtual airlines. He started in the ERJ-145 program and worked his way up to 747 captain before being hired as 737 Assistant Chief Pilot. Zach currently studies at his local high school, he plans to move to Norway after to pursue his dream of becoming a commercial pilot. Welcome aboard Zach!
06/20/2013	Gary Fournerat joins the Boeing B737 program.	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, It is my pleasure to announce that Air France Virtual Airlines have a new Boeing B737 Assistant Chief Pilot: Mr Gary Fournerat. Professionally, Gary is graduated of Colorado Tech's School of Business. Then, he joined the U.S Army where he was involved in several military programs including aeraunotic programs. He is now the Chief Operations Officier of Lark Chillers in Dallas, Texas. Gary has also a huge experience in flight sim. In 1983, he bought his first computer, a Ti-99/A and a payware aircraft: the Falcon by Spectrum Holobyte that became Microprose. He joined Delta Virtual Airlines from April 2006 to 2011, flying 585 legs and 1540 hours. He has also been involved in the management of Southwest Virtual Airlines, Virtual Air Force and the Simulated Air Force. Then, I hired Gary in May 2012 into the Boeing B737 program as First Officier. Rapidly Gary has demonstrated impressive skills for flying with the B737 and he has been moved from the right seat to the left seat. Now, Gary will assist Alan Meiling for managing one of our biggest program. Congratulations Gary!!! Fabien Bergeret Vice President of Human Resources Air France Virtual Airlines
06/02/2013	Concorde Retirement	Brian Hankey
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the retirement of the Concorde program. This decision was not taken lightly, however the staff has decided to move the Concorde to the Boeing 707 program. Paul Hale is being reassigned from being the Chief Pilot for the Concorde program to becoming the Chief Pilot for the Boeing 707 program. Please note that with the retirement of the Concorde program, the new flagship program at AFVA is the Airbus A380 program. A key factor to note in this retirement is that the rating is not going away. You will be able to still request the Concorde rating. It will now be requested via a Help Desk ticket. If you have any questions, please email ops@afva.net or contact a member of staff.
02/17/2013	Air France Virtual Airlines Director of Documentation	Fabien Bergeret
Dear pilots, It is my pleasure to announce that Mark Hubbard has been hired as Director of Documentation. Mark will be in charge of reviewing all Air France Virtual Airlines documents including Staff guides and AOM guides. Marks has a huge experience in flightsimming. He started in 1993 on a 286 machine with no Joystick, a green screen and only a keyboard to pilot the aircrafts. During his career as flightsimmer, Mark has managed numerous Virtual Airlines and has acquired a very important knowledge that will be extremely usefull for Air France Virtual Airlines. Moreover, Mark has worked several times in Virtual Airlines with Brian Hankey, President of Air France Virtual Airlines, and he perfectly knows working in team in VA. Finally, Mark is currently holding a Private Pilot License with a rating for a Cessna 172 and his knowledge of real aviation world will be very helpfull for improving our documents. Please join me for congratulating Mark!!! Fabien Bergeret Vice President of Human Resources Air France Virtual Airlines
01/30/2013	ACARS 3 Released	Luke Kolin
I am pleased to announce that after several years of effort, we have released version 3 of our industry-leading Aircraft Communication and Reporting System, or ACARS. ACARS 3 builds upon the functionality of previous releases, and includes a number of new features including payload loading, voice support, FSX multi-player capabilities and integration with new payware offerings from PMDG. ACARS 3 is available in the Air France Virtual Fleet Library, and existing ACARS3 beta users should be prompted to upgrade. Please note that Air France Virtual will continue to support ACARS 2 for the indefinite future.
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