Air France / KLM Virtual Airlines Airline News

DATE	SUBJECT	AUTHOR
11/13/2021	Latest Staff Updates	Daniel Duhon
Hello All! I am pleased to announce a couple of new staff changes that have taken place recently. Benjamin Buske has decided to step down as Chief Pilot of the ERJ-190 Program due to real-world commitments. He has done a fantastic job of leading our entry-level program and we are thankful for his willingness to help! He will remain on staff as Assistant Chief Pilot of the program. We have also decided to change the naming of the ERJ-190 Program as well to better reflect the nature of the Program. It will now be called the "Regional Airliners Program." Taking Ben's place as Chief Pilot will be Calum MacDonald. Calum is passionate about the ERJ aircraft and is eager to help out his fellow pilots! We are excited to have him join our team! Please join me in congratulating Calum on this well-earned promotion! Along with changing the name of the program, we have also added the A220-1 and A220-3 to the program ratings and all pilots with the Regional program ratings should gain those ratings automatically. If you do not have the A220 rating and believe you should, please submit a help desk ticket at https://afva.net/helpdesk.do . Lastly, I would like to remind everyone that there is still time to apply for the Historical Airliners Chief Pilot position if you are interested! We hope everyone is doing well! Cheers, AFVA Staff Brian Hankey CEO & President bhankey@afva.net Daniel Duhon Executive Vice President dduhon@afva.net Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
11/10/2021	Open Position for Chief Pilot of the Historical Program	Daniel Duhon
Hello all, Following the passing of Terry Ward, we have an opening in our staff for the position of Chief Pilot of the Historical Program. We would like to open up this offer to anyone who is qualified and passionate about our Historical Jet and Propliners. We are looking for someone who is eager to help out fellow pilots, provide new ideas to help promote our VA, and someone who is experienced in Flight Simulation. If you are interested in applying, you can find the application, as well as a detailed list of requirements, here: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x37 Please contact us with any questions and we look forward to reading your applications! Best Regards, Brian Hankey bhankey@afva.net President & CEO Daniel Duhon dduhon@afva.net Executive Vice President Senior Staff Air France/KLM Virtual
11/05/2021	Airline Stats for October 2021	Daniel Duhon
AFVA Stats for October 2021: Top Pilots this month: 1. Frederic Honnart: 47 reports 2. Lucas Preziosi: 26 reports 3. Sebastien Teycheney: 25 reports 4. Brian Hankey: 24 reports 5. Fernando Antao: 20 reports 6. Mazmur The: 18 reports 6. Richard Bailey: 18 reports 7. Mohamed Targhi: 16 reports 8. Georges Eid: 15 reports 9. Orjan Polman: 12 reports 10. Silvian Baltac: 10 reports 10. Andre Selon: 10 reports 10. Florian Barea: 10 reports Congratulations to Frederic for once again earning the top spot this month! Also, welcome to our new pilots this month: First Officer Kai He Airline Stats: Top 5 Equipment Types: A320: 111 reports DC-3: 37 reports B737-800: 30 reports DC-6B: 13 reports B737-700: 13 reports B747-400: 12 reports Simulator Versions: 1. FS2020: 126 reports (36.8%) 2. FSX: 94 reports (27.5%) 3. P3D: 76 reports (22.2%) 4. XP10/11: 38 reports (11.1%) 5. FS2004: 8 reports (2.3%) Total Legs in September 2021: 342 reports We hope that everyone has a great November and continues to put in the same effort next month! We hope you are all doing well, AF/KLM VA Staff
10/02/2021	Passing of an Icon - Terry Ward	Brian Hankey
All, It is with great sadness and sorrow that I regretfully announce the passing of Terry Ward (AFV278). He passed away peacefully on August 30th. In continuation with our tradition set with Robert Taylor, a new accomplishment set at the number of flights (7,232) that he ended his career at AFVA with has been established: "The Indomitable Machine". This is in reference to the fact that he was known as Terry "The Machine" Ward amongst the AFVA staff members that worked alongside him.
10/01/2021	Airline Stats for September 2021	Daniel Duhon
AFVA Stats for September 2021: Top Pilots this month: 1. Frederic Honnart: 57 reports 2. Calum Macdonald: 31 reports 3. Sebastiaan Van Der Veen: 27 reports 4. Mohamed Targhi: 20 reports 4. Mazmur The: 20 reports 5. Sebastien Teycheney: 19 reports 5. Brian Hankey: 19 reports 6. Fernando Antao: 17 reports 7. Florian Barea: 15 reports 8. Richard Bailey: 11 reports 8. Daniel Duhon: 11 reports 8. Benjamin Buske: 11 reports 9. Nicolai Glibstrup: 10 reports 9. Georges Eid: 10 reports 10. Ben Maskell: 9 reports Congratulations to Frederic for earning the top spot this month! Also, welcome to our new pilots this month: Nicolai Glibstrup and Joan Herrera Airline Stats: Top 5 Equipment Types: A320: 107 reports S340: 33 reports B737-800: 27 reports B737-700: 26 reports DC-3: 21 reports Simulator Versions: 1. FS2020: 114 reports (32.9%) 2. P3D: 108 reports (31.2%) 3. FSX: 87 reports (25.1%) 4. XP10/11: 32 reports (9.2%) 5. FS2004: 5 reports (1.4%) Total Legs in September 2021: 346 We hope that everyone has a great October and continues to put in great effort next month! We hope you are all doing well, AF/KLM VA Staff
09/29/2021	KLM615 and KLM616 Historical Flights Added	Daniel Duhon
Hello all! I am pleased to announce the addition of some new historical routes into our schedule! These flights com from the 1936 route between Amsterdam and Batavia (Jakarta, Indonesia) in the Douglas DC-3. These flights are listed in our schedules as KLH6151-KLH6154 for the Eastbound route and KLH6161-KLH6164 for the Westbound route. We hope you enjoy these new flights! If you are interested in the full details or the flights, view the timetable here: http://timetableimages.com/ttimages/kl/kl3610fe/kl3610-3.jpg We hope you are all doing well! - AF/KLM VA Staff
09/01/2021	Airline Statistics for August	Daniel Duhon
Hello all, Here are the stats for the month of August: Most flights logged: Sebastiaan Van Der Veen: 42 reports Lucas Preziosi: 38 reports Daniel Duhon: 29 reports Fernando Antao: 27 reports Calum Macdonald: 26 reports Sebastien Teycheney: 17 reports Silvian Baltac: 16 reports Florian Barea: 16 reports Mohamed Targhi: 10 reports Benjamin Buske: 10 reports Great job to our newest Chief Pilot, Sebastiaan, for earning the top spot this month, followed by Lucas and Daniel! Excellent contributions from all of the non-staff pilots once again this month, great work! Total number of PIREPS filed in August was 323 The top 5 Equipment types flown were: A320: 85 reports B737-700: 25 reports B737-800: 22 Reports ERJ-190: 15 reports DC-6B: 15 reports Simulator versions used in August: P3D: 123 Legs (38.1%) MSFS: 100 legs (33.3%) FSX: 52 legs (16.1%) X-Plane: 35 legs (10.8%) FS9: 13 Legs (4.0%) Thanks to you all for your efforts in August and continuing to contribute to the success of this great VA. Let’s see if we can top it in September! Have a fantastic September everyone, and stay safe! Best Regards, The AFVA staff team
08/09/2021	New B737 Chief Pilot	Daniel Duhon
It is with great pleasure that I get to announce that we have a new Chief Pilot for the 737 Program! Please join me in welcoming Sebastiaan Van Der Veen to his new position! Sebastiaan is excited to join our staff team and bring some great ideas to help our Virtual Airline grow. He has been with AFVA since 2019 and is eager to help out. Congratulations Sebastiaan! We hope you are all doing well! Daniel Duhon Executive Vice President of HR dduhon@afva.net Brian Hankey President and CEO bhankey@afva.net AFVA Senior Staff
08/01/2021	Flight Statistics for July 2021	Daniel Duhon
Hello all, Here are the stats for the month of July: Most flights logged: Lucas Preziosi: 74 reports Brian Hankey: 48 reports Fernando Antao: 44 reports Daniel Duhon: 32 reports Florian Barea: 21 reports Silvian Baltac: 16 reports Sebastien Teychenet: 14 reports Calum Macdonald: 12 reports Georges Eid: 11 reports Tomas Bloemink: 11 reports Great job Lucas for earning the top spot this month, followed by Brain and Fernando! Excellent contributions from all of the non-staff pilots this month, great work! Total number of PIREPS filed in July was 390 The top 5 Equipment types flown were: A320: 82 reports ERJ-145: 35 reports CRJ-700: 27 Reports B737-800: 26 reports DC-6B: 14 reports Simulator versions used in May: MSFS2020: 133 Legs (34.1%) P3D: 118 legs (30.3%) FSX: 103 legs (26.4%) X-Plane: 25 legs (6.4%) FS9: 11 Legs (2.8%) Thanks to you all for your efforts in July and continuing to contribute to the success of this great VA. Let’s see if we can get even more flights in in August! Have a fantastic August everyone, and stay safe! Best Regards, The AFVA staff team
07/07/2021	B737 Chief Pilot Position Open	Daniel Duhon
Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well! I am excited to announce that a new career opportunities to join the staff at AFVA have now been opened. This position is open to ANYBODY in the airline who meets the criteria listed in the job description. We are currently seeking a Chief Pilot to join our Boeing 737 program Please read thoroughly through the job description and eligibility criteria before making your application. Boeing 737 Chief Pilot: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x35 All applications must be made online via the above links. Good luck and please do not hesitate to email us with any questions. Best Regards, Brian Hankey bhankey@afva.net President & CEO, Air France Virtual Airlines Daniel Duhon dduhon@afva.net Executive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
07/06/2021	New Air France Virtual Airlines Events Coordinator	Daniel Duhon
Hello all, I am pleased to announce that Lucas Preziosi has stepped up to be our new Events Coordinator for AFVA! He will be responsible for updating the Events calendar and creating new events for everyone to participate in. Lucas has been flying for AFVA for the past 5 years and is eager to help out in our events department. Keep an eye out for new events being posted and see which ones you may be interested in! Please join me in congratulating Lucas on this promotion! Best regards, Daniel Duhon Executive Vice President Brian Hankey President & CEO Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
07/01/2021	AFVA June Statistics	Daniel Duhon
Hello all, Here are the stats for the month of June: Most flights logged: Lucas Preziosi: 64 reports Frederic Honnart: 42 reports Brian Hankey: 20 reports Georges Eid: 18 reports Florian Barea: 18 reports Mazmur The: 17 reports Pedro Costa: 16 reports Daniel Duhon: 16 reports Pedro Serrano: 13 reports Fernando Antao: 13 reports Outstanding job to Lucas for earning the top spot this month beating our staff, followed by Frederic and Brian! Excellent contributions from all of the non-staff pilots this month, great work! Total number of PIREPS filed in June was 340 Compared to 697 in June 2020 The top 5 Equipment types flown were: A320: 95 reports CRJ-700: 23 reports B707-320: 23 Reports ERJ-145: 19 reports B737-800: 18 reports Simulator versions used in May: MSFS2020: 139 Legs (40.9%) P3D: 90 legs (26.5%) FSX: 86 legs (25.3%) X-Plane: 12 legs (3.5%) FS9: 12 Legs (3.5%) Thanks to you all for your efforts in June and making this amazing VA a continuing success. Let’s see if we can get even more flights in in July! Have a fantastic July everyone, and stay safe! Best Regards, The AFVA staff team
06/28/2021	Retirement of Paul Hale as Executive Vice-President	Brian Hankey
All - I regretfully have the duty to announce that I have accepted the request of Paul Hale to retire, effective immediately, as Executive Vice-President at Air France Virtual Airlines. Paul has served AFVA as a staff member for the past 10 years including the past 8 years as Executive Vice-President at the Senior Staff level. His real-world commitments required him to reach this decision, one which was not taken lightly. It has been his absolute pleasure to serve the airline at the staff level and he now hands over the reins to Daniel Duhon. Daniel has fantastic ideas and a level of enthusiasm that he had in his early days. He requests that we "please continue to fly with us and keep this VA flying high, where it should be." Paul - it has been a pleasure working with you and I look forward to seeing you in the virtual skies!
06/01/2021	May AFVA Statistics	Daniel Duhon
Hello all, Here are the stats for May: Most flights are done logged: Brian Hankey: 64 reports Frederic Honnart: 53 reports Paul Hale: 48 reports Fernando Antao: 34 reports Georges Eid: 30 reports Daniel Duhon: 21 reports Lucas Preziosi: 17 reports Florian Barea: 15 reports Ben Maskell: 10 reports Patrick Buteau: 9 reports Congratulations to Brian for earning the top spot this month, followed by Frederic and Paul! Excellent contributions from Fernando, Lucas and Patrick as non-staff pilots, great work guys! Total number of PIREPS filed in May was 396 The top 5 Equipment types flown were: A320: 163 reports ERJ-145: 64 reports B737-800: 28 Reports Cessna 208B: 19 reports CRJ-700: 15 reports Simulator versions used in May: MSFS2020: 174 Legs (43.9%) P3D: 119 legs (30.1%) FSX: 74 legs (18.7%) X-Plane: 17 legs (4.2%) FS9: 12 Legs (3.0%) Thanks to you all for your efforts in May and making this amazing VA a continuing success. Let’s see if we can get even more flights in in June! Have a fantastic June everyone, and stay safe! Best Regards, The AFVA staff team
05/09/2021	New addition to the Senior Staff Team	Paul Hale
Pilots, It gives me great pleasure to announce a new addition to the AFVA Senior Staff team. Brian and I are becoming increasingly busy with real world work commitments and haven't been able to devote as much time to running the airline as we used to or would like to. As such, we made a decision to bring in a 3rd Senior Staff member who will generate fresh ideas and enthusiasm, can devote the time needed and be jointly responsible for the general day-to-day running of the airline. It gives me great pleasure to announce the promotion of Daniel Duhon from Boeing 777 Chief Pilot to his new position of Executive Vice President of HR. Daniel joined AFVA in 2013 as a 13 year old first officer after transferring to us from Delta Virtual Airlines. He has progressed through the ranks and held positions including Dispatcher, Boeing 777 Assistant Chief Pilot and Boeing 777 Chief Pilot before gaining this promotion to Senior Staff. Please join us in congratulating Daniel on this very well deserved promotion. Brian Hankey, CEO & Paul Hale EVP, Operations
04/01/2021	March AFVA Stats	Paul Hale
Hi Pilots, Here are the stats for March: Most flights logged: Paul Hale: 106 reports Teodor Negru: 78 reports Brian Hankey: 69 reports Alan Barber: 48 reports Frederik Martensson: 45 reports Georges Eid: 38 reports Julian Robbrecht: 33 Reports Martin Zelikovitz: 26 reports Frederic Honnart: 15 reports Clarence McGaha: 15 reports Congratulations to Paul for top spot again this month followed by Ted and Brian! Excellent contributions from Georges, Julian, Frederic and Clarence as non-staff pilots, great work guys! Total number of PIREPS filed in March was 600 The top 5 Equipment types flown were: A320: 245 reports A380: 45 reports EMB145: 38 Reports B737-800: 38 reports A330-300: 37 reports Simulator versions used in March: MSFS2020: 351 Legs (58.5%) P3D: 88 legs (14.7%) FS9: 85 legs (14.2%) FSX: 52 Legs (8.7%) X-Plane 24 Legs (4.0%) Thanks to you all for your efforts in March and making this amazing VA a continuing success. Have a fantastic April everyone! Best Regards, The AFVA staff team
03/01/2021	AFVA Stats for February	Paul Hale
Hi Pilots, Here are the stats for February: Most flights logged: Paul Hale: 103 reports Alan Barber: 89 reports Brian Hankey: 71 reports Lucas Preziozi: 55 reports Teodor Negru: 47 reports Georges Eid: 37 reports Martin Zelikovitz: 29 reports Florian Barea: 17 reports Silvian Baltac: 16 reports Daniel Duhon: 15 Reports Congratulations to Paul for top spot closely followed by Alan and Brian! Excellent contributions from Lucas and Georges as non-staff pilots, great work guys! The staff team continue our challenge: Can any line pilot step up and finish top of the statistics in any of the next 2 months? Anybody who does will receive a Flight Sim Related product for their simulator chosen by the senior staff team. Total number of PIREPS filed in February was 581 The top 5 Equipment types flown were: A320: 247 reports B737-800: 66 reports B737-400: 56 reports Cessna 208B: 30 reports Cessna citation: 23 reports Simulator versions used in February: MSFS2020: 324 Legs (55.8%) P3D: 122 legs (21.0%) FSX: 67 Legs (11.5%) FS9: 62 legs (10.7%) X-Plane 6 Legs (1.0%) Thanks to you all for your efforts in February and making this amazing VA a continuing success. Have a fantastic March everyone! Best Regards, The AFVA staff team
02/04/2021	Additional Aircraft available to fly when using MSFS2020	Paul Hale
Hi pilots, With many of our pilots flying using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and the lack of available current aircraft available for that simulator, we have decided to break protocol and allow 2 new air-frames to be flown when logging flights with AFVA. MSFS2020 pilots will now be able to use the Cessna Longitude and TBM930 to file flight reports here, this has been introduced on a temporary basis and will be reviewed regularly as more aircraft options for this simulator are released. Please check your pilot profiles and see if you have the ratings, some pilots would have had them assigned automatically from being in the ERJ program at some point during their AFVA careers. If you do not have the ratings and want them added, please submit a help desk ticket and the ratings will be assigned to you. Please DO NOT fly either of these air-frames until you see the ratings in your pilot profiles or have been assigned them manually following a help desk request or the flight will risk being rejected. Please note: These ratings will only be accepted on MSFS2020 PIREPs and have been brought in as a special measure for pilots using this simulator due to a lack of available aircraft, Anybody using P3D, X-Plane or FSX will already have a huge array of air-frame options available for them to fly so shouldn't need to use these 2 new aircraft and run the risk of a flight rejection if they do. Enjoy the new ratings, Brian, Fredrik and Paul AFVA Senior Staff
02/01/2021	Flight Statistics for january	Paul Hale
Hi Pilots, Here are the stats for January: Most flights logged: Alan Barber: 75 reports Fredrik Martensson: 72 reports Paul Hale: 69 Reports Terry Ward: 60 reports Brian Hankey: 60 reports Teodor Negru: 49 reports Georges Eid: 32 reports Silvian Baltac: 28 reports Lucas Preziozi: 24 Reports Martin Zelikovitz: 20 Reports Congratulations to Alan for top spot in a closely contested month! The staff team set down a challenge: Can any line pilot step up and finish top of the statistics in any of the next 3 months? Anybody who does will receive a Flight Sim Related product for their simulator chosen by the senior staff team. Total number of PIREPS filed in January was 670 which is an increase of 73 on Decembers figure The top 5 Equipment types flown were: A320: 224 reports Cessna 208B: 109 reports B737-300: 49 reports B737-800: 38 reports Beechcraft B350: 35 reports Simulator versions used in January: MSFS2020: 395 Legs (59.0%) P3D: 132 legs (19.7%) FSX: 65 Legs (9.7%) FS9: 65 legs (9.7%) X-Plane 13 Legs (1.9%) Thanks to you all for your efforts in January and making this amazing VA a continuing success. Have a fantastic February everyone! Best Regards, The AFVA staff team
01/01/2021	Happy New Year: AFVA 2020 Year in review	Paul Hale
The staff team at AFVA would like to wish you and your families a very happy new year after an extremely challenging 2020 for us all! Here are the 2020 AFVA statistics: 7644 legs for a combined total of 18741 hours were flown at AFVA during 2020 which was 1546 more legs than were flown in 2019 The top 10 equipment types flown were the following: Airbus A320: 1447 Legs Boeing 737-800: 1351 Legs Aérospatiale ATR72: 72 351 Legs Airbus A321: 316 Legs Douglas DC-3: 265 Legs Boeing 727-200: 260 legs Airbus A319: 248 legs Boeing 747-400: 238 Legs Cessna C208: 204 legs De havilland DHC-6: 162 legs The top 20 pilots of 2020 based on legs flown were: Terry Ward: 1019 Legs Paul Hale: 990 Legs Brian Hankey: 620 Legs Alan Barber: 430 Legs Fredrik Martensson: 338 legs Silvian Baltac: 269 Legs Georges Eid: 237 legs Daniel Duhon: 199 Legs Ben Maskell: 164 Legs Simon Hansen: 161 Legs Ethan Fortier: 161 Legs Frederic Honnart: 153 Legs Kostas Kollias: 128 legs Martin Zelikovitz: 123 Legs Giuseppe Bezzato: 106 legs Daniel Healy: 103 Legs Richard Bailey: 99 Legs Marcel teljur: 97 legs Bin Zhang: 97 Legs Klaus Legrand: 96 legs Our staff team are entirely voluntary and do an amazing job behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly, I would like to thank each and every one of them for their hard work. The top 10 PIREP approvers in 2020 were: Alan Barber: 1696 Approvals Daniel Duhon: 1483 Approvals Teodor Negru: 784 Approvals Terry Ward: 710 Approvals Ben Maskell: 578 Approvals Tomas Bloemink: 573 Approvals Paul Hale: 519 Approvals Florian Barea: 125 Approvals Ethan Fortier: 111 Approvals Benjamin Buske: 97 Approvals From the entire staff team, we wish you a happy and prosperous 2021! Best wishes, AFVA Staff
08/31/2020	MSFS Support (Updated)	Brian Hankey
ACARS support has been implemented for all AFVA flights. Please make sure to update your ACARS to at least ACARS 3.4 Build 150 Beta 15. This is the first version that incorporates MSFS Support. Manual PIREPs for MSFS (showing a different sim) will be accepted until MSFS support has been released as Build 151 Keep the flights coming in!
08/17/2020	MSFS Support	Fredrik Martensson
With the much anticipated release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on the 18th August, we wanted to share that at this time, there will initially be no ACARS support for this sim due to compatibility issues between MSFS and ACARS and the lack of FSUIPC or Simconnect support at release, If you want to use the new sim to fly AFVA flights these can be submitted as a MANUAL PIREP, and you must add the comment "MSFS2020". Note: All Normal flight rules apply (Flight in the schedule, you are airframe type rated etc). We will provide updates as they become available
12/26/2019	New Historical Airline - Air Alpes Historical	Brian Hankey
Thanks to the hard work of Paul Hale in continuing to research some of the former airlines that eventually made up today's Air France, we have the pleasure of announcing a small contributor that eventually was absorbed into Air France - Air Alpes. Air Alpes was a founded in 1961, with its registered office at Chambéry Airport. Operations were initially with a Piper PA-18 Super Cub, mainly offering flying lessons and carrying supplies into the mountains. Glacier skiing drop-offs were very important during the first years of Air Alpes' operation. The company built its own airstrips, called altiports at various high-altitude locations. Landings could only be achieved with guidance from the ground. A very close cooperation was established between the company and ski-instructors and guides from the various ski-resorts. The main glaciers of Mont Blanc, the Tarentaise Valley, the Vanoise massif and Oisans were now accessible. For each flight only a maximum of six customers and their guide could be accommodated. After mountain operations proved insufficient to keep the airline afloat, they became agents of both Air France and UTA (forerunners to today's codeshares). By 1978, even that wasn't enough to keep the airline afloat, and it was acquired by TAT and absorbed into the larger TAT group. The new destinations in the schedule include L'Alpe d'Huez, Courchevel. Meribel, Megève, Annecy, and Annemasse France. Please note that Dash-8s are the largest type that are approved for these flights.
12/16/2019	A350 program launched today, Staff changes and New career opportunity	Paul Hale
Hello pilots, I am extremely pleased to announce that today marks the launch of the A350 program, and brings the programs at AFVA up to date, it also marks the closure of the old A340 Program. The opening of the new A350 program means a number of staff changes need to be made. Firstly Fredrik Martensson has been transferred across from 747 Chief Pilot to head the new program as A350 Chief Pilot, Alan Barber previously 777 Chief Pilot has switched programs to fill the void left behind by Fredrik and is the new 747 Chief Pilot, lastly and by no means least Daniel Duhon has been promoted from 777 Assistant Chief Pilot to 777 Chief Pilot. Congratulations to all 3 of you and we wish you good luck in your new respective programs. Following on from these changes, we are also on the lookout for a new member of staff to take over the Embraer 190 program as Chief Pilot, this position is open to all staff and line pilots but we particularly encourage applications from pilots who are keen to step into a first staff role within the airline, a full job specification can be found here: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x34 Lastly, we wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a fantastic Christmas and a prosperous new year! Best regards and seasons greetings, Brian and Paul Brian Hankey President & CEO Paul Hale Executive Vice President Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
05/17/2019	New Boeing 747 Chief Pilot	Paul Hale
Pilots, It gives me great pleasure to announce our new Boeing 747 Chief Pilot will be Fredrik Martensson Fredrik has done a fantastic job as Chief Pilot in the entry level ERJ190 program and also as our X-Plane X-pert but showed a real passion to run our "Queen of the skies" program Please join me in congratulating Fredrik on his well deserved promotion. Fredrik's promotion leaves a gap for a Chief Pilot to join the staff in the ERJ program and a new career opportunity post for that role will be advertised in the near future. Best regards, Brian Hankey President & CEO Paul Hale Executive Vice President Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
04/15/2019	Vacancy for B747 chief Pilot	Paul Hale
Hi all, A new career opportunities to join the staff at AFVA have now been opened. This position is open to ANYBODY in the airline who meets the criteria listed in the job description. We are currently seeking a Chief Pilot to join our Boeing 747 program Please read thoroughly through the job description and eligibility criteria before making your application. Boeing 747 Chief Pilot: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x33 All applications must be made online via the above links. Good luck and please do not hesitate to email us with any questions. Best Regards, Brian Hankey bhankey@afva.net President & CEO, Air France Virtual Airlines Paul Hale phale@afva.net Executive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
12/28/2018	Welcome to four new staff members at AFVA	Paul Hale
Hi all, It is our pleasure to announce to you four new staff members to AFVA. Alan Barber has been promoted to lead the Boeing 777 program as Chief Pilot. Alan has a wealth of experience in flight simulation and will prove to be a very valuable asset to our staff. Daniel Duhon has been promoted to assist Alan in running the 777 program as Assistant Chief Pilot, Daniel has been a pilot at AFVA for over 5 years and makes his first step into managing the airline. Tomas Bloemink has been promoted to Assistant Chief Pilot of the Boeing 737 program, Tomas has been with AFVA as a pilot for over 8 years and also takes his first steps into management with us. Finally, last but by no means least is Fredrik Martensson who joins our team in a newly created role "X-Plane X-Pert" Flight Simulation is evolving fast and many pilots are now choosing X-Plane as their preferred simulator, given how vastly different it is to FSX/P3D we decided upon the need for an expert in that field and welcome Fredrik as that expert. If you have any X-Plane issues that need resolving please either create a help desk ticket or email Fredrik at fmartensson@afva.net Please join me in welcoming on board these new staff members, congratulations to you all on these well deserved promotions. Best regards to you all for a prosperous new year. Paul Hale Executive Vice President Brian Hankey President and CEO Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
11/22/2018	Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!	Brian Hankey
While we emulate the operations of Air France and its Skyteam partners, we are based out of the United States and today is a holiday for those of us based in the United States to be thankful for those that are important in our lives. I wanted to thank all of our pilots and staff for helping us be one of the leading VAs to emulate Air France. Your dedication to this hobby and for those you that I know personally, your friendship. Thank you and I look forward to many more together. Best Regards, Brian Hankey President & CEO, AFVA
10/25/2018	Missing Emails?	Brian Hankey
We have been experiencing issues with our outbound mail server. We are aware of it and are working to resolve it. This applies to any activity within the airline (including but not limited to new-hire emails, checkride assignments, PIREP approvals etc...) Please be patient and know that we are not intentionally ignoring you. Best Regards, Brian Hankey bhankey@afva.net President & CEO, Air France Virtual Airlines Paul Hale phale@afva.net Executive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
09/28/2018	Recent changes within the management structure of AFVA	Paul Hale
All, Following recent meetings at Senior Staff level, We wanted you all to be aware of changes that are being implemented within the AFVA management structure. Senior staff have been monitoring the airline from a distance in the past months and have decided to make some strategic decisions that we believe will be of benefit to the entire airline moving forward. With that being said, the following changes are effective immediately: Transfers: Silvian Baltac is transferring from Senior Staff to become B707 Chief Pilot, We would like to say a huge thank you to Silvian for all the hard work he has put in at Senior Staff level in the past months and years. Daniel Healy is resigning from his Director of Operations role to focus solely on being Concorde Chief Pilot. Daniel also has many real world commitments that need to take priority over his virtual career. Retirements and Separations: Fabien Bergeret has repeatedly requested to retire as Vice President HR due to his real world commitments at medical school. We have reluctantly agreed to this but only after we have recruited his replacement. Massive thanks Fabien to your contributions to the AFVA senior Staff in the past years and good luck with your career to become a doctor! Terry ‘Iron Man’ Ward has requested to retire and become a Senior Captain. We can't thank Terry enough for the huge amount of commitment he has put into the airline over the past years in a huge variety of different roles at staff level. Terry has set an extraordinary standard at AFVA logging 5860 flights, a number that may never be surpassed by any other pilot. Thank you Terry and we wish you a very happy retirement but still hope to see you in our virtual skies from time to time! Kalev Kadak leaves his position as B707 Chief Pilot and becomes a Senior Captain. Kalev has become more and more busy with his real life professional career and as such now wishes to keep his spare time he gets flying with us rather than concentrating on staff duties. Thanks for all your hard work Kalev! Daniel Han leaves his position as Boeing 777 Assistant Chief Pilot and becomes a Senior Captain Christophe Bouville becomes a Senior Captain but will continue to help out with the Social Media channels. Following on from this announcement, a variety of new staff positions are shortly to be advertised which will be open to all active pilots (Subject to minimum criteria being met) so If you want to further your virtual career and potentially take a step into helping us manage this amazing Virtual Airline, please keep your eyes posted for further announcements. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact either of us. Thanks and Best Regards, Brian Hankey bhankey@afva.net President & CEO, Air France Virtual Airlines Paul Hale phale@afva.net Executive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
09/28/2018	Three new Assistant chief Pilot Vacancies now available	Paul Hale
Three new career opportunities to join the staff at AFVA have now been opened. These positions are open to ANYBODY in the airline who meets the criteria listed in the job descriptions. We are currently seeking Assistant Chief Pilots to join our Boeing 737 program, Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 program Please read thoroughly through the job description and eligibility criteria before making your application. Boeing 737 Assistant Chief Pilot: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x30 Boeing 747 Assistant Chief Pilot: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x32 Boeing 777 Assistant chief Pilot: https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x31 All applications must be made online via the above links. Good luck and please do not hesitate to email us with any questions. Best Regards, Brian Hankey bhankey@afva.net President & CEO, Air France Virtual Airlines Paul Hale phale@afva.net Executive Vice President Air France Virtual Airlines
09/18/2018	A warm welcome to our new pilots who joined in August	Paul Hale
The following new pilots have joined us here at Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines this past month. • AFV1060 Timilehin Akanbi • AFV1061 Joseph Johnston • AFV1062 Romain Cavalli • AFV1063 Jan Rabas • AFV1064 Stephen Parry • AFV1065 Ahmed Elagati On behalf of all AFVA staff, we wish you the warmest of welcomes and hope you have a long and successful virtual career with us. If any of you have any queries that need answering, please contact your respective Chief Pilots or alternatively, file a help desk issue using this URL https://www.afva.net/helpdesk.do Again, welcome aboard and we look forward to seeing you in our virtual skies. Best regards, Brian Hankey Paul Hale Silvian Baltac Senior Staff Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
08/05/2018	A warm welcome to all new pilots who joined us in July.	Paul Hale
The following new pilots have joined us here at Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines this past month. • AFV 1046 Kiran Singh Birk • AFV 1047 Mazmur The • AFV 1048 Willem Stolwerk • AFV 1049 Duko Philipsen • AFV 1050 Orjan Polman • AFV 1051 Marcel Teljeur • AFV 1052 Sam Kuppens • AFV 1053 Mía Villalba • AFV 1054 Mikhail Petersen • AFV 1055 Mytho Leal • AFV 1056 Lorenzo Nesta • AFV 1057 Jakob Mees • AFV 1058 Kristoffer Johansen • AFV 1059 Antonio Jn Coelho On behalf of all AFVA staff, we wish you the warmest of welcomes and hope you have a long and successful virtual career with us. If any of you have any queries that need answering, please contact your respective Chief Pilots or alternatively, file a help desk issue using this URL https://www.afva.net/helpdesk.do Again, welcome aboard and we look forward to seeing you in our virtual skies. Best regards, Brian Hankey Paul Hale Silvian Baltac Senior Staff Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
05/28/2018	Air France/KLM Virtual Airline Operational Updates	Paul Hale
Dear Pilots/Staff Some operational changes have been made effective 28th May 2018, these are designed to relax the rules slightly, allow more freedom within our structure and ultimately gain us new pilots. You will have already seen that a new NOTAM has been sent out updating our current charter policy. In addition to this we have decided to relax the rules regarding which program new pilots can enter when first joining the airline. Previously new pilots were automatically put into Stage 1 (ERJ190) or stage 2 (B738 and A320) programs and had to work through the ranks to reach and be able to fly stage 3,4 and 5 aircraft Due to the many new payware aircraft that have been released in the past few months/years it has become a trend noticed online through various forums that many pilots simply put will not want to rise through the ranks, complete X amount of legs etc before flying their newly purchased payware aircraft with us. Therefore effective immediately, entry into our airline can now be done via a number of different programs, Pilots can choose to join us and begin their careers in the following programs: Stage 1 (ERJ190) Stage 2 (B738, A320) Stage 3 (A330, B707, DC-3) Stage 4 (A340, B747, B777, B787) The operational process will still be the same as before IE: A pilot joins us and starts in the 747 program to allow them to enjoy their new PMDG 747, they then purchase the FSLabs A320 and Qualitywings 787, they would still have to request the A320 or 787 ratings and complete the A320 or 787 checkride before being able to fly those aircraft with us. This rule simply changes the entry requirements so that pilots can fly their PMDG 747, 777 or QW787 with us from day one of joining. Please share this news with everyone you know who is a flight simulation enthusiast , we will always welcome new pilots who previously may have overlooked us due to our old entry restrictions. In addition to this, a new and up to date Pilots Manual is available for download here. https://www.afva.net/library/afva%20pilot%20manual%202018%20final.pdf If you have any questions regarding these updates please do not hesitate to create a help desk ticket or email one of us directly. Kind regards and blue skies! Brian Hankey Silvian Baltac Paul Hale Senior Staff Air France/KLM Virtual Airlines
05/11/2018	Widerøe Schedule Update	Silvian Baltac
Dear All, I am pleased to announce the addition of 210 unique flight routes serving 46 Norwegian airports. This is due to the recent codeshare of KLM with Widerøe. Combine these flights with the recent release of Orbx Norway scenery and you will have some great scenic flights in a variety of different aircraft types! However, I encourage you to enjoy those flights responsibly as many airports feature very short and narrow runways (in some case below 3,000 feet). It is thus crucial that aircraft larger than the DHC-8 / ATR-72 are not used in and out of airports with runways shorter than 5,000 feet as any violation may compromise the safety of the flight and could result in the PIREP being held and possibly rejected. Enjoy the new addition and stay tuned for more Operations updates. Silvian Baltac Executive Vice President of Operations
02/23/2018	Various Airline News	Paul Hale
Dear Pilots, We want to update you on some important staff changes within the AFVA staff structure and also the announcement of the closing of one of our programs. A320 Assistant Chief pilot: We received a higher than normal amount of applications for this position and all candidates were extremely strong and had some excellent merit points to join our staff, thank you to all that applied for the position and we sincerely hope the fact that you were not successful on this occasion will not stop you applying for future positions. After some excellent interviews and a really difficult decision we have selected our candidate. Please join me in congratulating Conner Pierce into his new staff role as A320 Assistant chief pilot, an extremely well deserved promotion. Boeing 767 Program: This program will be discontinued with immediate effect due to the fact that neither Air France or KLM or many of our code shares fly the 767 as a primary aircraft any longer. Boeing 707 program Due to the retirement of the 767 program, Its Chief Pilot Kalev Kadek has been reassigned to the Historical Boeing 707 Program as Chief Pilot. Silvian Baltac stands down as temporary B707 Chief Pilot to concentrate solely on his senior staff duties. Any active pilots in the 767 program, please contact myself or Silvian and we will transfer you to a program of your choice that you are qualified and rated to be in. DC-3 Program Please welcome aboard Ethan Fortier as our new DC-3 Chief Pilot, Ethan has been working alongside current staff in recent months, updating manuals and grading PIREP's to help out existing staff members, With Silvian, as mentioned above stepping away from acting Historical Chief Pilot duties to concentrate solely on Senior Staff duties it was a natural choice for Ethan to gain promotion and recognition for the hard work he has done behind the scenes. Congratulations to Conner and Ethan on their new positions and Kalev for his inter-airline promotion! Best regards, Brian Hankey Silvian Baltac Fabien Bergeret Paul Hale AFVA Senior Staff
01/17/2018	Changes to AFVA Staff	Silvian Baltac
Dear All, It is with a heavy heart that the Senior Staff of Air France / KLM announce the resignation of Serge Nanovsky as Chief Pilot of the A320 program and Assistant Director of Human Resources. Serge submitted his resignation due to significant work pressures and felt that he did not have the time to commit to AF/KLM VA at the levels required. This entails a few changes to the AFVA Staff structure: - Ben Maskell, the current A320 Assistant Chief Pilot, will replace Serge as Chief Pilot. As a result we will soon be recruiting for a new A320 ACP, so stayed tuned for the job posting and apply! - Paul Hale will leave the A330 program and will be assisting Fabian as our new Assistant Vice-President of Human Resources. - Teodor Negru, our Director of Documentation, has accepted to take up the responsibility of leading the A330 Program as Chief Pilot whilst remaining in charge of our documentation. Please join me in thanking Serge for his contributions during his time as A320 Chief Pilot. Congratulations to everyone on these well-deserved promotions! Best Regards, Silvian Baltac Executive Vice-President of Operations
01/17/2018	Career Opportunity Opening: A320 Assistant Chief Pilot	Paul Hale
A career opportunity to join the staff at AFVA has been opened. We are currently seeking an Assistant Chief Pilot to join our A320 program Please read thoroughly through the job description and eligibility criteria before making your application. https://www.afva.net/job.do?id=0x2e All applications must be made online via the above link. Good luck and please do not hesitate to email me with any questions. Best Regards, Paul Hale Assistant Vice President Of Human Resources. phale@afva.net
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
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