EVERETT, WA – MetroAir Virtual Airlines celebrated its first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Monday with a special pre-delivery ceremony at Boeing’s Everett Delivery Center. The 787-8 variant of the Dreamliner is the first of 5 first 787 orders that MetroAir has placed with Boeing. MetroAir also has 5 options and 10 airframes to be leased.

MetroAir will initially deploy the 787-8 on a series of trial flights to Los Angeles, Portland, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Austin, and Fort Lauderdale from their central hub in Kansas City. This trial period will give MetroAir an opportunity for both flight and ground crews to become familiar and get hands-on experience with the aircraft. The 787-8 will be operate on these routes until March 1, at which point they will begin service on their permanently scheduled routes.

While specifics have not been announced beyond the initial Los Angeles-Manchester route, Chief Operating Officer William Hogarth stated “the 787 is expected to make appearances in Mumbai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, and Honolulu”.

The high-profile Dreamliner is part of MetroAir’s broader fleet growth effort, which also includes the recent addition of the Embraer 145 to the regional fleet, and the Airbus A330-300 last year. Some of MetroAir’s narrow body fleet is also reaching the end of expected use, with their oldest airframes joining the airline nearly 10 years ago.

The interior of MetroAir;s 787-8 boasts 35 Prime class lie-flat seats, 25 premium economy seats, and 154 economy seats.

A little more than 10 years ago on a cold Michigan morning, founder Mark McCoy had a crazy idea to build a new virtual airline that was focused on realism. The plan was to start the airline off like a new real world airline with a very limited fleet (and  cash balance).  The airline officially started with 6 Boeing 737-200ADVs and 3 Bombardier Dash 8-Q200s. ”Today is just the beginning” said McCoy on that very first day; his words have never rang so true.

For those of you who like numbers, in the 10 years we’ve had some impressive stats. Keep in mind that we did lose some data at one point so the numbers for all are really a little higher. In the 10 years, we’ve had:

• 90,591 bids
• 69,276 pireps
• 49,699 acars flights with 8,642,628 position reports
• 7574 unique flights
• 111,718 forum posts

…and don’t forget all of the nose cones!

It’s been a great 10 years at MetroAir. We’re sticking to the original motto of “realistic. innovative. professional.” We’re planning a full year of celebratory fun, starting with the re-activation of the old 732 flights.

N711MT has been in storage at Ontario Int’l Airport since it’s retirement in March of 2008. Over the past few months, MetroAir mechanics have been working to get it back in flying order. In celebration of our 10th anniversary, the B732 will be making a grand tour of some of historically notable MetroAir destinations. Tour flights will be routed DTW-PDX-ONT-LAX-MCI-AUS-FLL-BWI-ORD-DTW, along with a ferry flight between Ontario and Detroit.

Stay tuned, we have tons of events, competitions, and prizes all lined up over the next year!

Here’s to another 10 years!

The original MetroAir route map (Jan 2006):

MetroAir Homepage (Apr 2006):

MetroAir pilots will have the ability to fly 30 Fly UK routes using Boeing 737-800, Boeing 767-300, and Boeing 747-400 aircraft from Fly UK’s London Heathrow and Manchester hubs. Fly UK pilots will be able to fly Airbus A319 and Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 aircraft on select routes throughout the United States. Pilots of each airline will not be required to join the roster of the codeshare airline to fly the codeshare flights. However, pilots are encouraged to join each others airlines to experience additional routes and aircraft offerings, as long as minimum flight requirements are met for both airlines. Codeshare flights will be duplicated in each airlines’ database under a reserved codeshare flight number. A complete list of active codeshare flights can be found on the Codeshare tab of each airlines Operations pages. Aircraft models and liveries of the codeshare airline will be made available to all pilots.

Matt Calsada, CEO of MetroAir Virtual said, “We are extremely pleased to sign this codeshare agreement with Fly UK, a leader in the virtual aviation industry, to maximize passenger travel opportunities through the vast networks of both airlines. Dedication to excellence is very high on our priority list when considering a partnership of any kind. We are confident that we’ve found a perfect fit with Fly UK.”

Fly UK Virtual Airways (callsign: Skyways [UKV]) was founded in April of 2004 and based their operations out of Leeds – Bradford Airport. Since 2004, Fly UK Virtual Airways has opened hubs at London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London City, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Birmingham, as well as starting cargo and low cost (fly2) divisions. In ten years of operation, Fly UK’s roster has grown to over 900 pilots from 65 different countries, and a route network of 213 destinations worldwide.

MetroAir Virtual Airlines (callsign: Metro [MET]) was founded in the fall of 2005 and began operations out of their Detroit, Michigan hub, with a hub in Ontario, California opening shortly after. MetroAir now operates hubs at Baltimore-Washington (BWI), Los Angeles Int’l (LAX), and Kansas City (MCI), with headquarters in Kansas City. Since its inception, MetroAir Virtual has been run on the concept of operating as a true airline would, allowing the pilots to grow with the airline. After nearly 10 years of operation, MetroAir Virtual operates a fleet of over 300 aircraft to destinations on five continents, giving pilots never ending opportunities.

Fly UK Virtual operates flights to 15 destinations in the United States, while MetroAir Virtual operates to 3 UK destinations, which include 29 weekly flights to London Heathrow.

Operationally, both airlines will expand their route networks through the codeshare agreement, allowing passengers to transit seamlessly across the world on both carriers. This codeshare agreement will give MetroAir and Fly UK passengers greater access to destinations in Europe and the United States, respectively. The upcoming codeshare has already had a positive impact on MetroAir operations, with the start of daily nostop service to London Heathrow from Kansas City. Passengers wishing to travel to or from London can now do so via MCI.

“The new codeshare agreement will expand MetroAir’s presence in Europe and provide our customers with even more choice and better connections,” said MetroAir COO William Hogarth, ” The biggest benefits that our two airlines will gain from codesharing are the lucrative, but often competitive transatlantic routes. The codeshare will enable us both to strengthen our grip and allow both carriers to minimize empty seats yet maximize profitability and convenience. I am very much looking forward to seeing the new services begin and firmly feel that it will be another great chapter in both airline’s history.”

LOS ANGELES, CA – MetroAir Virtual Airlines announced Friday their intentions to move their West Coast hub from Ontario International Airport (KONT), to Los Angeles International Airport (KLAX), 40 miles to the west.

Ontario was opened shortly after MetroAir began operation in 2005 and built its role as the airlines’ West Coast hub. As the airline grew, Ontario followed suit, eventually becoming MetroAir’s second busiest airport by number of daily operations. However, Ontario International Airport was built as a reliever airport for LAX, and was never meant to be the hub of a national airline. Due to small terminals and limited international facilities at Ontario, MetroAir shifted all Southern California international operations to LAX in early 2014. MetroAir was welcomed into the LAX market with promising numbers in their new LAX-Shanghai service, as well as favorable results to major domestic markets such as Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and Seattle.

Due to the separation of domestic and international operations, connecting passengers were placed on dedicated Allegius “shuttle” flights between Ontario and LAX. As expected, complications of adding another flight to passengers’ itineraries occurred and MetroAir executives knew operations had to be consolidated.

“Our main concern was the disruption that the separation of [domestic and international service] would have on our customers. We wanted to minimize delays and hoped that adding service to our main O&D markets would help” said Chief Operating Officer William Hogarth in a statement, “Our intention was to test the water with LAX and see what response we had. The results we got over the second quarter of 2014 only further confirmed our ideas of moving the West Coast hub to LAX.”

MetroAir will continue to operate out of Terminal 3 at LAX and will be the sole lessee of seven of the 13 gates. The other six gates are leased by Virgin America. Furthermore, MetroAir Virtual will have access to 18 remote gates located on the west side of the airport. All international flights will operate out of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, with select international departures departing from Terminal 3.

Hogarth stated MetroAir has no plans to abandon the Inland Empire by any means.

“We will continue to maintain a strong presence at Ontario International Airport,” he said, “While the total number of operations per day will decrease, we will still be here to serve the market that has given us so much over the past 10 years.”

MetroAir aims to complete the move by the end of Q1 2015.

MetroAir will be the sole lesee of Gates 30-34

MetroAir’s nonstop service to Santiago, Chile from Fort Lauderdale will be downgraded from an Airbus A330-200 to a Boeing 757-200, while Fort Lauderdale to Brasilia, Brazil and Baltimore to Manaus, Brazil will be increased to a Boeing 757-200 from Airbus A319s. Additionally, Chicago to Dublin, Ireland will receive an extra 3x weekly service on a Boeing 757-200, on top of the current daily 757 service.

In line with continuing international expansion over the past year, MetroAir has announced four new routes. MetroAir will begin nonstop service to Zurich and Warsaw from Chicago-O’Hare, as well as nonstop service to London-Heathrow from Boston and MetroAir’s Midwest hub, Kansas City. Flights from Chicago to Zurich and Warsaw, as well as Boston and Kansas City to London-Heathrow, will be operated on Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

“We’re growing and adding flights in important transatlantic markets,” said Chief Operatinfg Officer William Hogarth, “We want to give our passengers a wide variety of possible destinations and we’re thrilled to be able to do that.”

Lastly, MetroAir’s newest Boeing 777-300ER, subleased from Kenya Airways, will be replacing an Airbus A330-200 on the Baltimore to London-Heathrow route.

The start date for each flight change/new service is listed below (all flights daily unless otherwise noted):

11/1:

KMCI-EGLL, A332

KFLL-SCEL, A332 -> B752

11/8:

KFLL-SBBR, A319 -> B752

KBWI-EGLL, A332 -> B77w

KORD-EPWA, A332, 3x weekly

KORD-LSZH, A332, 3x weekly

KORD-EGLL, A332, 1x weekly additional frequency

11/15:

KBWI-SBEG, A319 -> B752

11/22:

KFLL-KBOS-EGLL, B752

11/29:

KORD-EIDW, B752, 3x weekly additional frequencies

Check MetroAir out online @ http://www.metroairvirtual.com

KANSAS CITY, MO – MetroAir Virtual has announced today the addition of a daily charter flight to Sochi, Russia in coincidence with the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. MetroAir will operate an Airbus A330-200 aircraft to Sochi from their eastern hub in Baltimore. These flights will serve as the only direct connection from the United States to Sochi during the Winter Olympics and will provide over 12,000 total available seats.

Sochi International Airport is located 14 miles outside of Sochi (pronounced SO-chee) and is bordered on two sides by mountainous terrain. Approaches into Sochi can only be made from the west, over the Black Sea, and care must be taken in the event of a go around. Similar to Aspen Airport in Colorado, Sochi is a “one way in, one way out” airport, meaning aircraft will be taking off and landing in opposite directions due to the surrounding terrain.

URSS Charts

Visit MetroAir Virtual online @: http://metroairvirtual.com

MetroAir pilots will now be able to undergo training and certification for the VATSIM pilot ratings, starting with the P1 rating.

“We’re very pleased to be able to offer our pilots this additional training opportunity. A lot of work went into our becoming an authorized training organization and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their hard work reaching this great milestone,” Matt Dissinger, MetroAir’s Chief Technology Officer, said.

The VATSIM P1 rating is the first rating for pilots which requires training and certification and covers being a VATSIM Online Pilot. The rating system ranges from P0, which requires no training, to P9, which requires extensive training.  Currently only P1 – P3 ratings are available to VATSIM pilots.

“It’s an exciting time for MetroAir and we hope to offer additional VATSIM certifications in the future,” said Matt Calsada, MetroAir’s Chief Executive Officer.

Pilots interested in joining MetroAir Virtual Airlines can find out more information about the airline and the VATSIM training program at www.metroairvirtual.com.

Join us on Saturday November 12th at 8pm EST on Teamspeak and Vatsim for a special farewell event to mark the end of Washington Dulles’s 4 year service as a MetroAir Hub and to welcome Baltimore as our new East Coast home. The event will allow for a fly-out of IAD or a fly-in to BWI. If you’re feeling adventurous, do both!

If you do plan on doing both the fly-out and the fly-in, here are some suggested routes to allow you to complete all legs within the scheduled time for the event.

IAD>Chicago>BWI
IAD>Raleigh>BWI
IAD>Toronto>BWI
IAD>Boston>BWI
IAD>Detroit>BWI

If you are joining us for only the fly-out portion, try to fly out of Washington Dulles between 8 and 9pm EST. If you are joining us for the fly-in portion, try to fly into Baltimore Washington between 9pm and midnight EST. We are planning for the 777 ferry flight piloted by Mr. James Hepburn to be arriving at BWI around 11pm EST.

Washington has been MetroAir hub for 4 years and is one of the longest serving within the Airlines history. During its 4 year history Washington has flown more than 23,000 flights which acounts to more than 50% of the total flights metro air has filed during its 5 years. Many of the top filing pilots for Dulles are no longer with us, but some do remain such as Derrick Medlin, David Izzi, Tim Moskal, Diego Pedraglio and Michael Sarver. This is your last chance to be part of Washington’s legacy before Baltimore takes the limelight.

For those pilots who do take part in this Farewell event they will be given the new “iad2bwi” livery or reimbursed MetroMiles if already downloaded. So we hope to see you all there to fly the flag for Washington one final time.

Check MetroAir Virtual Airlines out at: http://www.metroairvirtual.com

The new "iad2bwi" commemorative livery

Kansas City, KS – November 1, 2011 – Early today MetroAir executives made major announcements from their Kansas City headquarters.

Chief Executive Office Matt Calsada started the announcement by saying “In recent months, MetroAir’s commitment to the Baltimore region has increased with flights to Chicago Midway, Kansas City, and Fort Lauderdale. These initial flights have been used to test the market share from Baltimore as well as give our Operations team a chance to become familiar with the Baltimore terminal.”

MetroAir officially announced that Baltimore-Washington International will become the newest hub, while Washington Dulles will transition to a focus city. Washington-Dulles will continue to serve Chicago Midway, Newark, Dallas, Houston, Fort Lauderdale and Kansas City.

“While there is risk with opening a new airport and an even bigger one with the commitment to a hub, this move also offers many opportunities for MetroAir. The new Baltimore hub fits into our business strategy and comes at a perfect time for the airline.” Said Matt Calsada, MetroAir Chief Executive Officer.

Executives recited a number of reasons for the move with gate space ranking the highest. “Dulles has only 6 mainline gates which made daily operations severely limited.” said William Hogarth, the airline’s scheduled operations director. Baltimore often outperforms Dulles in terms of delays. MetroAir executives also cited relatively little international competition from Baltimore as a reason for the move. When reporters asked if MetroAir was looking to expand international service, Calsada answered “We have been looking for ways to increase our international service but have been stunted due to available gates at Dulles.” With an increase to 4 common use gates at BWI from the 2 dedicated wide-body gates at Dulles, speculations by industry insiders have already been made on potential new destinations that MetroAir will serve.

Hogarth said that switching hubs was like “getting the best of both with little cost. The geographic proximity of Baltimore and Washington are so close that there was minimal impact to our scheduled operations.” He continued to say that only 1 route was cut due to feasibility and that all of the flights transitioning from Washington to Baltimore will have very similar travel times. The switch also allowed the airline to review its operations and the opportunity to make the schedules more efficient. “The operations team spent the better part of the last month planning the switch, ensuring adequate turnaround times and planning to make the most efficient use of the airport.” said Hogarth.

Hub Managers at the airline will also be going through a bit of change as the airline shifts it’s hubs. Chief Personnel Officer Lindle Romero stated that all 3 hub managers will be relocating. Tim Moskal will be moving to Ontario; Derrick Medlin will make a return to Kansas City; and Sean Mullineaux will be steering operations at the new Baltimore hub. Romero stated “With a new hub coming online, we wanted to make the most effective use of our staff and re-align them to where they can make the most impact.” All pilots, regardless of rank or domicile, will be permitted to move hubs. Any pilot requesting a move may place a request with Human Resources to transfer hubs. Steve Iles, the airline’s Human Resources Manager stated that “All pilots at Washington Dulles should place a request stating their desired hub transfer no later than November 10th. Any pilot who fails to state their desired hub by that date will be transferred to a hub of management’s choice.”

The meeting concluded with Calsada saying “We are optimistic that these changes will help to propel MetroAir forward. Everyone here at headquarters is excited about the changes and we hope that all of our staff, customers and investors are as equally excited to see what the future brings.”

It is with great sadness that I announce that Derrick Medlin has tendered his resignation as hub manager to the executives.  Derrick has been not only a hub manager but a friend, confidant, and mentor to the entire pilot base as a whole.  I’m happy to report that he will remain on as a pilot and has not ruled out the possibility of returning to staff one day.  You will continue to see him flying online for the Kansas City Krushers, as well as seeing him on Teamspeak, etc.  I speak for the entire executive team, staff and pilots of MetroAir when extending our sincerest “Thank you” to Derrick for volunteering your personal time and for your dedication to all of us during your tenure as our Kansas City Hub Manager.  Derrick has definitely been a role model for all pilots, new and old alike.  Derrick will be handing over the keys to KMCI on February 1st, 2011.

With all that said, I would like to present Derrick with the highest honor we can bestow upon him here at MetroAir Virtual, the MetroAir Distinguished Service Award.  I can think of no one more deserving of the award.  Only six other pilots in the history of the VA have received this honor.
Congratulations Derrick!  

You can read a bit more from Derrick about his resignation in this thread:  http://www.metroairvirtual.com/forums/index.php?topic=11495.0

ATTENTION ALL KMCI pilots: We need to bring a win to KMCI for our departing Hub Manager, we can definitely pull this off.  Let’s give him a winning send off!

I’m pleased to announce that Sean Mullineaux has graciously accepted the position of Kansas City Hub Manager.  Sean joined MetroAir Virtual on November 15, 2009.  He’s also one of our MetroAir mentors and has recently mentored the first MetroAir student of the new MetroAir University to graduation!  He’s on Teamspeak nightly and looks forward to working with everyone at Kansas City and the entire pilot base.  Even though he was a pilot at ONT, I’m sure he will rally the forces behind Kansas City now to keep the paddle and award where it belongs (Me biased?…Nawwww :D)  He’ll be working with Derrick for the remainder of the month becoming familiar with all the systems behind the scenes to keep KMCI running like the finely tuned machine Derrick has built it up to.

Best Regards,
Lindle J. Romero
Chief Personnel Officer
MetroAir Virtual Airlines