Virtual airlines were started to give a sense of purpose to activities conducted within a flight simulator.This basic premise has evolved over time, along with available technology, to provide increasing levels of immersion but always with the same core purpose. When combined with increasingly powerful personal computers, advancing flight simulation software, and communications networks, virtual airlines are often able to provide compelling, realistic, experiences similar to operations inside a real airline. Virtual airlines also provide an avenue for members to gain access to additional content, such as aircraft and scenery, for use with their simulator. The appeal varies; for younger members, virtual airlines provide a sandbox environment where they can experience the corporate environment of commercial business in the airline industry, without the risk of financial loss. These organizations also provide an outlet for those who are interested in aviation but unable to fly themselves in real life due to financial, health, or other reasons.

Academics have stated that members of these groups can often show significant attachment and immersion in their activity, building strong relationships with those who they share their created "space" with. Participants can become unusually dedicated and committed to their group through the forging of their strong bonds and sense of identity, despite the construct being entirely (or nearly entirely) fictional. Some of the groups are run similar to real-world airlines, and members can get a taste for being a professional pilot by joining one of the organizations.

History

Virtual airlines are early examples of online gaming communities, many of the first virtual airlines can be traced back to the early 1990s in flight simulator forums of services such as AOL or CompuServe, with some of these still in operation today. Since they were first formed, these organizations are often characterized by their highly organized and structured nature when compared with other virtual groups in the gaming community. It is possible that such organizations represent some of the earliest examples of organized gaming groups similar to the clans and guilds seen in modern video gaming. While at least the early history of virtual airlines is predominantly on the Windows or DOS operating systems, Macintosh users also took part in the mid 1990s. It has been proposed that virtual airlines have existed since the creation of the first flight simulators, therefore predating the Internet.

Rapid growth in popularity of virtual airlines was experienced just prior to and through the new millennium. During this time, they were considered to be an immensely popular hobby often noted for how seriously it was taken by its participants.Since the rapid development of the Massively multiplayer online game genre, virtual airlines and online flight simulation in general have seen much greater competition for participation and membership.

FLOCK-AIR VIRTUAL AIRLINE

has beside providing the possibility and space, to fly in a full simulated Airline Organisation structure, also as Target to bring people from all over the World together, to share knowledge about flying, technology, and Aviation. Due to the fact, that no real World Airline is copied in its Operation, the Member run Group is more flexible than most of other virtual Airlines, because Routes, Aircraft types and other ressources can just be assigned on Member requests. Hubs, Flights and all possibilites that the Airline Software tools are able to generate are oriented on what the Members wanna invest their time for and also the slim Organisation structure builds only on suggestion base the on going development and is not leaded in any harder real World Management style, as a lot of other Airlines are acting.The Crew is the value and so the people are building the Airline and thats the only secret Flock-Air has, the Pilots from all over the World, with all their support, fun and big big kind of humor are building the main ressource. All the technology can be copied,rebuild or dubplicated, but through to the fact, that the people are the number 1 factor, Flock-Air and its successful growing Community can never be stopped.

and much more technology system are used!