Login AltoCloudsAirways
VAMx (Virtual Airlines Manager extended) is a fundamentally modernized and extended continuation of the original Virtual Airlines Manager (VAM) by Alejandro Garcia. The original VAM was a pioneering open-source project for virtual airlines, and we use it as our foundation with deep respect, developing it further under the terms of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
VAMx is not a simple update — it is a complete redevelopment based on the original, consistently bringing the concept into the present and the future.
The original VAM was developed for PHP 5/7 and could no longer run on modern server environments without significant effort. VAMx resolves this completely:
| Area | Original VAM | VAMx |
|---|---|---|
| PHP Version | PHP 5 / 7.0 | PHP 8.4 — fully compliant |
| Database Access | mysqli without Prepared Statements | Prepared Statements throughout, SQL injection protection |
| Database Engine | MyISAM | InnoDB — transactions, rollback, crash safety |
| Password Security | MD5 / SHA1 | bcrypt via password_hash() |
| Mail Delivery | PHP mail() | PHPMailer — modern SMTP authentication |
| Session Handling | uncontrolled | Access control on every page, user_type-dependent |
| Type Safety | none | Strict Types, Type Hints, Return Types everywhere |
| Error Handling | no rollback on errors | Transactions with try/catch and db->rollback() |
VAMx introduces a number of features that do not exist in the original VAM and were developed specifically for AltoCloudsAirways:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| METAR for Every Airport | Original METAR via NOAA for all locations with an official station. For all others — heliports, grass strips, seaplane bases — the METAR is calculated automatically from current weather data. Over 84,000 airports worldwide covered. |
| Automatic Alternate Airports | The system calculates suitable alternate airports for every flight based on current weather — realistic and situation-specific. |
| Emergency and Off-Field Landings | Emergency landings by helicopter and off-field landings by glider are explicitly permitted and correctly processed by the system. |
| 14 Personal Aircraft | Every pilot receives exactly 14 personal aircraft from minute 1 — one per class, each with its own registration. The 14 classes cover all aircraft types available in the simulator. |
| Reputation System | Progress through reputation rather than rankings. Flight zones, countries, special airports and new aircraft classes expand the pilot profile. |
| Lobecs Currency | The VA's own currency, earned exclusively through flying — never purchasable. Redeemable for registrations, liveries, badges and event access. |
| Live Flightboard | Real-time display of all active flights on the home page via iFrame — automatically refreshed every 60 seconds. |
| ACA Design System | A complete custom CSS framework with defined block types (aca-panel-table, aca-panel-content, aca-panel-text), colors and sort IDs — consistent across all pages. |
| Font Awesome Overview | Internal reference page reads all icons directly from the CSS file and displays preview, icon name and copyable HTML code. |
| Pilot Profile Editor | Full admin editor for pilot data including status management (new, active, inactive, blocked) with automatic diary entry and color-coded status display. |
The original work Virtual Airlines Manager (VAM) was created by Alejandro Garcia and released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
VAMx fully respects this copyright. The original VAM logo remains part of this platform as a visible sign of acknowledgment. All extensions, changes and new developments in VAMx are clearly identified as such and do not affect the rights of the original author in any way.
Original source:
virtualairlinesmanager.net
Historical contributors (2020–2025): Jürgen Wagner, Marc Bauer
VAMx – adaptation, extension and maintenance from 2026: Lothar Propson
Credits: Claus Sosnowski, Ben Sinn
VAMx Version: 4.0.1
PHP: 8.4
Database: MariaDB / MySQL — InnoDB
Frontend: Bootstrap 3, jQuery, DataTables, Font Awesome 6
License Base: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Version in deutscher Sprache
Version: VAM [v2.62]
