About SunAir Express Virtual Airlines

Company Statistics:

Founded: May 1992
Number of Pilot ID Numbers Issued: 700+
Number of Scheduled Flights: 1700+
Number of Airports Served: 350+
Fly to cities in the U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii, Canada, Caribbean, Mexican, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Far East
5 Hubs: Atlanta, San Francisco, St. Louis, Tampa, and Brussels

Company History:

SunAir Express was founded by the late James Martin Swanson (1936-1995) on the Prodigy Online Service in May of 1992. SunAir Express was set up as a regional airline with one hub at Tampa International Airport (KTPA) serving some 20 cities in the southeastern United States. SunAir Express expanded beyond Prodigy to include CompuServe and American Online and is now solely based on the Internet. SunAir Express has expanded to five major hubs with more than 1700 scheduled flights to most major cities in the United States including Alaska and Hawaii, flights to Canada, the Caribbean, parts of Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Far East. Over 700 SunAir Express pilot numbers have been issued since 1992.

In the early days SunAir Express based their operations on the flight simulator "Flight Assignment: Airline Transport Pilot" or "ATP" by SubLOGIC. ATP was superior to "Microsoft Flight Simulator V3.0 and 4.0" back then due to the advanced ATC, build-in airline career assignments and more realistic aircraft flight modeling. What has attracted most sim-pilots to SunAir Express in the beginning was the popularity of ATP and the desire to learn more about IFR flight and airline operations.

SunAir Express progressed from ATP to the ATP companion "3D Advanced Graphic System" (3DAGS), then to "Airline Simulator" (AS1) and "Airline Simulator 2" (AS2), all by Nomissoft. SunAir Express started to support Microsoft Flight Simulator when FS98 finally caught up to AS2 by adding ATC. Most SunAir Express pilots now fly using MSFS2004 (FS9) and some are starting to use FSX. When "Airline Simulator 3" is released SunAir Express expects to support it.

We are fortunate to have some airline professionals and air traffic controllers as SunAir Express officers and pilots. Our members continue to contributed significantly to the development of SunAir Express operation. Their knowledge and experience have aided in our quest to simulate actual air transport procedures.

SunAir Express Aircraft Types:

Beechcraft 1900D
Canadair Bombardier CRJ-200
Boeing 737
Airbus 320
~~McDonnell-Douglas MD-83~~ (Retired from the fleet May 2007)
Boeing 767
Boeing 747
Boeing 777

To join SunAir Express you will need to meet the following requirements:

You need to own "Microsoft Flight Simulator" FS9 (2004) or FSX, "Flight Assignment ATP" (ATP), "Airline Simulator" (AS1) or "Airline Simulator 2 (AS2)".
Microsoft Flight Simulator users must use "FSACARS" to record flight events. FSACARS is free and may be downloaded here: www.satavirtual.org/fsacars/
SunAir Express is open to any pilot who can demonstrate the ability to fly, navigate and land a Boeing 737 under instrument meteorological conditions. This includes passing a short written test followed by a checkride flight that includes an ILS approach and landing with a touchdown rate of less than -500 feet per minute.

For more information about joining SunAir Express please visit the Join SunAir Express web page. If you have any questions or comments about SunAir Express you are encouraged to Email us.

Company Officers:

President / CEO: Dave Blake SAX212
Past President / CEO: James Bond SAX089
Pilot Operations Center Managers: Marty Becker SAX054 and Dave Vega SAX702
Flight Operations Manager: Dave Vega SAX702
Aircraft Maintenance Manager: Dave Vega SAX702
Human Resources Manager: Dave Blake SAX212
ATL Hub Chief: Lyle Kirgan SAX272
SFO Hub Chief: Dave Blake SAX212
STL Hub Chief: Dave Vega SAX702
TPA Hub Chief: Dave Blake SAX212
Brussels Hub Chief: Chris Saunders SAX411