ATA Virtual Announces Shutdown
ATAv Pilots,
It is with a heavy heart I write this today. ATAv has been my home, my family, my friends, and has remained the bedrock of my involvement in the aviation industry, both virtual and real world. We've all been through the ups-and-downs of following the real-world ATA's difficult and often painful years of financial decline. But what has been so impressive was the pride in their work the ATA employees kept through it all, right up until ATA was forced to shutdown early morning on April 3, 2008.
As of Thursday, November 13, 2008, ATA Virtual will be shutting down. The combination of deflated enthusiasm for the virtual airline in a post-real-world ATA environment, coupled with serious time constraints by existing staff, have created an atmosphere where this airline can no longer thrive and advance it's standing in the community, and would only be facing a road ahead filled with declining pilot numbers and diminished reputation amongst the VA community. It is for this reason the management at ATAv have elected to close down the virtual airline, and preserve the many tremendous memories that have made this VA so great over the years.
This decision was not made lightly, and ATAv staff on all levels were consulted prior to the decision being made. However, we do ask pilots, whether they agree or disagree, to respect our decision and to remain understanding of our perspective on the issues this VA faces. There were many factors that led us to make this decision but as was discussed above, the primary reason has been the depressed result of ATA's shutdown in real life.
We have made every effort to ensure this shutdown is handled properly, and all pilots are ensured they are not being "cheated" out of any hours. We have linked all the rosters on the left side of this page, and the rosters, your profiles remain online, and will be kept online until at least early 2009. This will give pilots time to transfer their hours to other virtual airlines, if they choose to do so, or to transfer their logbook entries to their own personal account. We've also created a Frequently Asked Questions page on the forums to help address the many questions pilots may have, and any further inquires can be directed to this email address.
I speak for every member of the staff team in saying it has been a humbling and outstanding experience serving our loyal pilot community at ATA Virtual. We hope you cherish the many great memories we've shared over the nearly four years of our existence, and hope to encounter you in the virtual skies once again another day.
Thank you, and fly safe,
Nick Bartolotta - Chairman, ATA Virtual
