It's been nine months since we announced the development of AirlineSim 1.5. That development process, we're happy to report, is coming to a close, and we're planning to release AirlineSim 1.5 two weeks from now - on the 20th of July, to be exact.

AirlineSim 1.5 is the most significant game update since the introduction of the current generation of the game. The flight-planning system has been revised completely, and now offers a much clearer planning interface as well as a stable implementation of indirect routings, or 'via' flights. The new flight rating system is being implemented at last - this will make ratings for both individual flights and connection opportunities much more transparent, and in doing so will offer new opportunities for players to compete in a busy airline marketplace. Additionally, a new statistics system is being introduced, which will make available to the player more - and more detailed - statistics and analysis, with more to come further into the 1.5 development sequence. Also of importance is a significant change to the way firms are structured: 'Holdings' have taken on a special role as unsaleable parent companies, but can take on the roles of operating businesses - flying aircraft, constructing and owning buildings, and so on. What are currently operating airlines - 'Enterprises' - are likewise able to act in most ways as holding companies do now - purchasing and owning shares, owning subsidiary companies, etc.

Although these represent the most important changes, they are not the only ones. Besides the introduction of a completely new user interface, significant optimisation has taken place with regards to geographical data, players' ability to customize the layout of their interface and much more! We're very optimistic about the success of this update, considering the time and effort which have been invested in it and, importantly, the very significant amount of user testing we've been able to accomplish - something we haven't always had the opportunity to do.

Many of you will be familiar with AirlineSim 1.5 as a result of participating in one of these user tests. For those of you who aren't - and for anyone who needs a refresher - we'll be providing information regarding potential gameplay effects of the changes and how you might consider approaching them to all accounts currently registered on active servers, through the in-game message system. If you have any further questions, of course, our forums and support service are as always at your disposal.

Concurrently with the update, we'll be introducing some changes to the game rules themselves, to be considered applicable two weeks from now - in other words, when the update has been introduced. A complete list of changes is available HERE.