It’s so close.

I’ve never been able to reliably say this until now: we’re very, very close to opening. Yes, that’s right, opening… well, RE-opening is more like it. We’ve been offline for over a year, working as hard as we can to rebuild our website, and now, we’re almost good to go. Probably two weeks is the most reliable count; we’ve got two, not one, but two webmasters working on this project, and both of them know their stuff, and know it well.

So what’s left to do? Just to give you an idea of how many things are happening at the same time… Static materials (aka descriptions and what not), Airline SOP (which is being done as we speak), aircraft manuals (which are ALSO being done as we speak), THEARABIANSTORE dutyfree Cafepress store (which is being arranged at the moment), TravelerMagazine’s website (which is going to be compeleted soon by myself), GlobalOne Alliance Website (which is being worked on by one of the webmasters), timetables (which are 90% complete and in the process of being uploaded to the website [yes! The website is ALREADY functional folks!]), Public Relations materials (pretty much done, just minor touching up), and then a few other features that are 90% complete but I can’t mention due to the fact that they’re surprises.

Speaking of surprises… we’ve got a few in store in our fleet. If you look to past press realize you’ll realize what I’m talking about. If you don’t, then don’t worry, you’re going to be in for something grand! But I will leak one thing to you: of the five A340-500 orders, two have been converted to A340-600. Why? You’ll find out soon enough.

I can’t wait to open this up to the world once again, and I’m sure you that you can’t wait either. The opening is just the first stage… first stage of what? You’ll soon find out.

That’s all I’m leaking, for now.

In Serious Need of an Update

Well here goes the first update in a while. So, here it goes.

First of all: www.arabianva.com/test.

This is an example of our 'static' site. There's no automation there, just the site as it will hopefully look. We have another example of this site, but automated. But why am I showing you this? Well, this is how it will look, and the other is how it will operate (I know, an odd way of development, but we know what we're doing). Soon, we'll be taking the aesthetics from the static site and put it together with the dynamic site to give you the finished product (soon!). Now, the thing about the static site is that it's not done; there are broken links, etc. that need to be fixed and content that needs to be inserted. Give us a day or so and we'll have it all done for you.

Secondly... well, there is no secondly (well no secondly that I can SHOW you). Well, actually, I can tell you something. Be prepared for a few surprises once Arabian opens in July. We have a few things in store, and we're waiting for you to discover them! We're not going to have you wait for nothing!

Just be on the look out on many of the Flight Simulation forums in the community for our press releases... I think that in the coming weeks they're going to get more and more exciting!

Updates

Things finally seem to be looking up for Arabian in terms of web and database development, though I do not want to sound overly excited just yet. As a matter of fact, things seem to finally be going according to plan.

However, that doesn't mean that we don't have a few obstacles; we do. We always do, and the fact of the matter is that challenges will never cease to exist for the company. However, one thing will make us more able to meet these challenges: organization.

More often than not, airlines are incredibly disorganized and overworked, with the bulk of the work falling on one individual that, as is, is already over worked. But the beautiful thing is now, I'm beginning to be more comfortable with the airline's direction, especially since there's almost a consensus among staff and analysts pertaining to the path that the airline intends to take.

Now, take this as an insider's tip, but the airline is really interested in the A380-900 and it's development, and will be watching it very closely. It seems like a perfect option for our expansion plans after 2010. But hey, I never said anything, right?

And then again, I won't mention anything about some new paint jobs coming out of the paint shop, I mean, it's not like anyone reads this thing anyways, right? **winks**

And as a note, all readers have the ability to comment on entries and ask questions, so by all means, please do.

Frustration.

When coders ditch you there is a sense of hopelessness; a sense of being ripped off and lied to, pushed into a corner where the only options you have are the amount of dollar bills in your wallet and the motivation to make this happen at any cost.

And that’s the position I’m in right now. What do I do? Frankly, it’s a no brainer. Arabian is happening, but the problem now is finding someone generous to help us. With a budget of 250 dollars, the work is literally charity, and whoever is to hep us would have to believe in the goal of Arabian, and in its potential to be successful. It’s been a long five year road… and the road gets longer, more complicated, and stressful, but isn’t that part of running a business, virtual or not? There are always stresses, always complications along the road that, in the moment, make you feel helpless, hopeless, and silly.

So… finding someone. That’s a good place to start. Problem is: everyone’s busy, and the only thing that many people believe in is money. The most money, the more motivation. The less money, the harder they laugh. And it’s tough not being taken seriously, especially since, now that I think about it, I’ve been so gullible to actually believe people when they said they’d meet a deadline, especially in the web design and coding industry. Unless you’re paying thousands of dollars, don’t expect someone to meet your deadline; and even if you’re paying thousands of dollars, deadlines aren’t always met.

But either way, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is your ability to keep your head up, move forward, and find solutions to every problem that comes up. All I know is that when this airline gets set up, we will be big, we will be the best, and we will represent our people, our region, and our love for aviation as best as we can. At the end of the day, we are Arabian.

From php to asp.

It happens every now and then; the miscommunication of units between two coordinating forces. We saw it missions to space where the units accepted were metric and the units given were, well, English, resulting in the loss of a multi-million dollar spacecraft.

And now, it has happened to Arabian; the website is in PHP and the script itself is in ASP, meaning that we have a Russian linguist trying to read Chinese and translate it into English. In other words, we have a dilemma. Our coder is currently looking at the website script to see if he can translate it into ASP, and chances are we will (we have faith in him); but the point of the matter is that for future reference, it would be a good idea to get a clear idea of what your script entails and if it's in PHP or not.

But either way, it's yet another obstacle that Arabian will overcome; after all, the company has had its (un)fair share of obstacles over the past five years, and this shouldn't be a problem. As a result of this, we might be seeing operations at the end of January, which isn't bad at all. All aircraft are flying without an operations system, which means that everything is done by hand. Which reminds me, I have to send bonuses to our poor hub managers and operations personnel; I'm sure it's a tough job keeping things running as they are now.

Yet while I pull my hair out and try and coordinate Arabian and get our website issue resolved, I'd like to make it clear that Arabian isn't going anywhere. We've spent five years working up to this point; we've had webmasters go AWOL on us before and have dealt with airlines copying our slogans, logo styles, etc.; we've had much worse, and this will only mean that our opening will be the more exciting and memorable for all those involved.

Imitation, the highest form of flattery.

It seems that the whole theme of cultural pride and representation has been a vagrant part of the airline mindset. After all, who wouldn't want to represent the region they come from in the most positive light? It's natural.

Throughout my time at Arabian I've seen many airlines use some of our concepts, ideas and even materials, directly copying them into their operations and claiming it to be their own. Usually such things get on my nerves, but I've been thinking differently lately. The world grows off itself; each person learns from the ideas and mistakes of another; it's a connected system in which most contribute and all benefit. Though lately some airlines have had suspicious similarities with Arabian, it's a good idea to remember that things could also be pure cooincidience, something CEOs forget routinely.

I remember many-a-times, at [un-named] flight simulation forums, where airline CEOs accuse one another of copying, if not stealing, work from one another, and in many cases it is obvious that they did, and in many, it is the accuser that is indeed the 'copy-cat.' But the point of the matter is this: if you come up with an idea, you can come up with another. Thus let'em copy.

We at Arabian worked hard for over five years to reach the point we are now, and though we are not operational, we still feel as if we are a part of this community, and have contributed at least something positive; our motto of professionalism, culture and a pride and dignity in our region has reached far and wide into the community, and if anything that motto has literally been carried over to other airlines.

And as a message to all airline CEOs, I say this: motivation is one thing, but imitation is flattery; and your job as a CEO is not to flatter the competition, but to inspire them so that they can begin to flatter you. In other words, don't get offended when another airline copies your work, be flattered; that doesn't mean you let them, but it will at least allow you the ability to write up a letter to them nicely... professionally, and with less profanity.

Just getting it all put together now...

Web design, graphics design; scripting and PiRep systems, unreliable web masters, you name it, it's happened to Arabian.

We've gone through about four web masters and designers, and all but one of them has lived up to half of their claimed potential. Thousands of dollars have gone into Arabian, mostly in the form of updated computers and camera equipment that are used to take the photos that are edited to make the vast majority of graphics on the upcoming website.

But believe me, it's rough being a CEO of a company just coming to its feet; true, we're not 'real,' but let me tell you, there's nothing better than running a virtual company before running a real company. Of course, it's not the same, but you do learn a lot of good management and organizational skills that you'll need, like dealing with disgruntled staff members, solving disputes and dealing with public relations. You'll learn how to manage web space, deal with email lists, and keep things nice and tidy; you'll be a prodigy, well, almost.

It's all coming together now, for Arabian; our website design is almost done, and after that it's simply scripting in the PiRep system; after that, it's launch, and a re-opening of an airline that took five years to make.

We're almost there... almost. We're keeping our heads up, but also expecting the worst and hoping for the best.