by Jakemaster » Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:31 pm
But why do you need an official painter for a VA you haven't even formed yet? Why not do something more realistic and start out by say developing your VA based off a real airline. If I was to do a VA I would follow the ExpressJet model or something similar. Start out by not even worrying about your own planes and all that, fly the routes of another major airline under your pilots. ExpressJet flies ERJs and CRJs for Continental Express and have done so for many years. After you get established with a good number of pilots and a solid roster of pilots with some significant hours, use your 'revenue' to purchase planes and branch off with your own routes.
A serious VA tries to be as realistic as possible. I fly under the SimAirline group, we have a whole bunch of airlines and as a pilot I can pick what airline and what route I want to fly. It's not the most strict VA, but it's very realistic because the routes you fly are real life routes taken from real life time tables.
A VA to look towards to see what I sort of mean by my business model expressed above is MetroAir. I considered joining them but chose not too because they were too strict for me. Tom Collins is the CEO I believe and the airline started out with some regional props, then bought a 737 and expanded, and has continued to expand its fleet and destinations.
Running an airline is no joke, it's a serious business. I would even consider you join a VA just to see what its like to fly for one before you create one
lol
