About VELA
A Swiss virtual airline, run like a real one
VELA is based in Zurich and flown by real people in flight simulation — with a published timetable, a fleet that is looked after and one standard for every flight.
In plain language
What is a virtual airline?
A virtual airline is an airline that exists in flight simulation. Its aircraft are flown by people at home, on simulators that reproduce the aircraft, the weather and the airports in great detail. Nothing leaves the ground, no tickets are sold and nobody is carried anywhere.
VELA flies on VATSIM, a worldwide online network on which pilots and volunteer air traffic controllers share one simulated airspace in real time. A VELA flight out of Zurich is flown live: it is cleared by a controller wherever one is on duty, it meets other traffic on the way, and it takes as long as the real journey would.
What makes VELA an airline is everything around the flight. There is a timetable to keep, a fleet to maintain, crews to plan and a standard to fly to. This website presents that operation the way an airline presents itself to its passengers — destinations, timetable, aircraft and cabin — and everything on it describes flights that take place in the simulator.
Behind every flight
How VELA works
Every flight rests on the chain an airline relies on: planning, crews, aircraft and training. The vocabulary is the industry’s own, so each part comes with a translation.
Real dispatch
Every leg departs with a SimBrief OFP and an operational release from VELA dispatch — fuel, weather and performance included.
In plain terms
The OFP is the operational flight plan, calculated with the SimBrief planning service. The release is dispatch’s confirmation that the flight may go.
vIFM flight bag
Our own iPad EFB carries your briefing, weather, navlog and ACARS into the cockpit — and closes the flight when you shut down.
In plain terms
An EFB is an electronic flight bag, the tablet that replaces paper on the flight deck. The navlog lists the route point by point; ACARS is the data link between the aircraft and operations.
Crew rostering
Monthly lines, trip bids and standby duties built from real crew pairings — you fly a roster, not a random route board.
In plain terms
A roster is a pilot’s duty plan for the month. A pairing is a chain of flights that starts and ends at base, and a bid is a request for a particular trip.
Living fleet
Each tail logs hours and cycles, carries a techlog with MEL items and goes through maintenance — engineering is part of the game.
In plain terms
A tail is one individual aircraft; a cycle is one take-off and landing. The techlog records its defects, and the MEL, the minimum equipment list, says which of them may wait and for how long.
Training & checks
Web-based trainings, an entry knowledge test and check flights keep standards high — from application to command upgrade.
In plain terms
A check flight is flown under the eyes of a VELA examiner. A command upgrade is the step from First Officer to Commander.
One ecosystem
Intranet, vIFM, vOPS cabin app and the engineering app all speak to one platform — one source of truth for the whole operation.
In plain terms
The intranet is the crew website behind the login. The apps cover the flight deck, the cabin and engineering, and all of them read the same data.
Network and fleet
The airline in numbers
Every figure is taken from the current timetable and from the aircraft in service.
Careers
Join the crew
Two seats, one standard. Bring a study-level Airbus, VATSIM discipline and the will to fly it properly — we bring the airline around it.
First Officer from 150 hours, Commander from 250 hours on the A320 family. Study-level means a simulator aircraft that models the systems and procedures of the real one in depth.
VELA is a virtual airline
VELA Airlines is a virtual airline for flight simulation. It is not a real airline: it operates no real aircraft and carries no passengers.
No real tickets are sold. The flights, timetables and bookings shown on this website exist in the simulator only and cannot be used for travel.
VELA is not affiliated with any real-world carrier.
Help & contact