August 6, 2018

Joint Statement from the VATSIM Founders & Board of Governors

Dear VATSIM Members,

We wanted to take a moment to address the reports and speculation that have been circulating in the flight simulation community over the past few days. Recently, a group of individuals made an unsolicited proposal to VATSIM’s Founders to acquire VATSIM for free. VATSIM’s Founders have declined this proposal.

While there has been a lot of public discussion the past few days about what this proposal may or may not have entailed, in the end this was merely a group of individuals who are attempting to get people speculating and to otherwise accept their vision of the future. VATSIM does not share this vision.

The cash investment that has been widely publicized would not have taken place until after this group had seized control of VATSIM. This proposal would have acquired you, our fellow VATSIM members along with all records, statistics, intellectual property and all other assets that thousands upon thousands of people have worked to create over the past 17 years.

The Founders of VATSIM have full confidence in the Board of Governors, who collectively have decades of experience in the flight simulation community, ensuring VATSIM’s continued success in the future. They are being joined by new colleagues who are filling long vacant positions and are bringing new ideas to the table which will fundamentally change the way VATSIM software development is done.

As VATSIM's leadership, we owe you answers and a firm commitment to the future of our community. We can assure you that the future of VATSIM does not lie with another organization. The Board of Governors has been tasked by the Founders and its members to outline the future of VATSIM.

Technology improvements are our number one priority. We currently have a new voice codec in development with increased clarity and reduced latency. Our future goals include a complete rewrite of the back-end software to provide a modern and vastly improved network experience for all members.

We are listening to your feedback and exploring global initiatives to ensure our new pilots, who are crucial to our growth, are provided with the tools and education to make the most of their experiences with our controllers and fellow pilots.

We want to ensure VATSIM remains the biggest and best international online flying network. We are opening our traditionally closed development process as we believe that our members can and will deliver new technology that will take your VATSIM experience to the next level. We’re also reviewing how the organization operates to ensure it remains truly community led: after all, you, the members, are what makes VATSIM truly special.

We want to reiterate that VATSIM will remain free for all to use. This has been a central pillar of our network and one that we are proud to guarantee going forward.

VATSIM would not be what it is today without the passion, devotion and significant contributions of all of you. Over 80,000 people participate in the community by flying, controlling, and performing various management and administrative tasks every day. The reality is that there would be no VATSIM without you.

We want to thank each and every VATSIM member for everything that you have done to make VATSIM as successful as it has been the past 17 years and we are looking forward to a very bright future.

The VATSIM Founders & Board of Governors