Cosford Recap & Reflection

[UKV1685 - Matthew Lewis]

 

One week on from a busy and successful weekend at Flight Sim Show 2019, so we though its was a good time for a look back at the event, the announcements and a late bonus we missed.

Firstly thanks to all the members who stopped by to say hello, it was great to meet many of you and hear the positive feedback you all had for the VA. We truly have a large dedicated member-base that appreciate what we do, more on that later. We have also seen a 247% increase in new member applications since the show, if you are one of the 80 new members then welcome to the Fly UK family.


Also a massive thanks to all our donating members that allow us to do these things and all the staff who put the Cosford event together and supported over the weekend. Big shout out to Ross Elliot for being the lead on organising the event. Also staff members Ron Kurz, Matt Crick, Jason Beaumont, John Wheat and Adam Hillier who joined myself on the show stand over the weekend. We had a great time and we certainly hope to be back next year. Additionally thanks the the rest of the staff team not able to attend that put much on hold whilst we focused on the event and supported in many other ways, a team effort all around.

Finally on our roll of thanks, Darren Klenk who went above board to produce some stunning visuals that helped promote Fly UK on screen during the event. Tasked with a small trailer for us to display, Darren provided 45 minutes of footage which provided and excellent showcase backdrop all weekend long. The short version is available to view here on our youtube channel.

A few images from the show..

 

The weekend saw a raft of announcements, plus one we missed. So lets recap in case you missed any

2019 Crystal Mainstream livery 
Ever since we introduced our anniversary livery back in April, we've had nothing but praise for the look and requests to roll it out to more types. Whilst it was only ever intended to be a limited edition, we heard you all and noted the superb feedback that continued to come in via our community channels. It was the Vatsim codec beta test event in August that finally convinced us to switch when the Crystal livery sported by UKV1367 Bob van Someren,  stood out in a sea of UKV and BAV liveries on the event. Thanks to the repaint team who were able to complete a good selection of liveries ready for the launch announcement with more to follow.

New Fleet - 2020
We announced the addition of the 787-10 which will join our long haul fleet next year. The type will serve on high capacity long haul routes alongside the A350, 747 and 777. This will allow the existing 788 dream-liners to explore new long haul markets and lower yield long haul routes.

Nordic Sky has its eyes set on future expansion and in order to do so needs some new wings, we therefore welcome the Embraer E195 exclusive to this franchise. Selected with both FSX, P3D and XP11 users in mind, this type will open up Nordic Sky's network to a wider audience with routes previously limited to the 717.

We also missed this announcement and addition to Highland Connect fleet...the ATR. Joining us for next spring, we add capacity and range to some of our Highland services, not covered by mainstream. The 72 variant is confirmed with other options being considered, more details on these to come as our newly appointed franchise manager brings Highland Connect up to date.

ATR 72.png 178.07 KB

Franchise Fleet re-alignment
With the new fleet announced, we have plans for some major fleet re-shuffling within our fleet. Already confirmed is Aurora which will be aligning to a mostly Boeing fleet taking 737-700 and 800's,  Topa Sky will inherit the A319 and B717 as it expands to West Australia.



Final thoughts from Cosford 2019

Our 15th anniversary year has been a landmark occasion for this VA and was always something to be celebrated. We hope we have delivered this to you our members and marked the occasion suitably. The message we clearly received from all we spoke with at the show was that Fly UK offers something unique that is not replicated anywhere else, something to be proud of and embraced. We know we cannot please everyone all of the time but its clear that our fundamental aims of an open and flexible VA based within the scope of real world operational viability is exactly what you all seek and we'll continue to provide.

Cosford was always intended to be the end mark of this celebration but its become something much more, the start of a new era for Fly UK. The fresh energy from our members and staff has been significant so we find ourselves looking to the future with optimism, renewed passion and pride for this unique and special community.

We plan to be back in 2020 but there is much to come from us between then and now