I definitely agree with Ray, also consider that for (relatively) long term VAs, you can't determine much about performance over very short periods of time (like a week). I made a few queries on our database to get some ACTUAL data (not speculation).
(I was originally trying to get the last 3 years - but we moved to our new website less than 2 years ago)
Turnit,
To me, our operations look almost average/on the low end at this point, but it has definitely been worse. And it's important to note that the spikes in the plot occur when the team introduce a new set of routes, a competition, events etc. For example, I believe the 30 flights spike was when we just introduced the Wings around the world competition (pilots have dedicated over 1500 hours of flight time to that), and the jump 3 months ago was when we just introduced some new routes. The rest (between 1 and 4 flights per day), like what we're at now is just the usual.
I barely have any time to fly or do much with the VA these days, and from what I've heard - so does most of the current staff (like Ray mentioned in a post earlier, it is quite difficult for us young guys - with school/college, work, looking for someone to spend your life with etc. to dedicate a lot of time to this. Atlas/Global has quite a few older members, but merlion doesn't - we relies on new pilots to keep things going) I'm not in touch with the staff at merlion, but I do get on the forums to see what's going on, and I find people working out new schemes/events/routes etc. all the time.
In fact, about 3 years ago, I said the same thing about Atlas based on their statistics over a week/month (I bet a lot of the Atlas guys remember,
) but I was obviously wrong as they are still active now - as Global.
We current have around 300 pilots registered (there were more total registrations but we removed pilots without any flights for over a month) but only 98 have flown in the last 6 months - most of them who joined in that period, and only 11 pilots in the last month. However, that is actually pretty normal for us - there are only 3/4 pilots who fly with us now that have flown with us 2 years ago (even I'm not on that list!).
Again, these are just some stats you might want to know to understand how things seem to be working here over the long run - maybe they will help you build a successful VA (I'm assuming that's what you're trying to do?). I would suggest you find someone who has time to dedicate to the VA, or work out a system that constantly brings in more people - we switched our leadership around a lot, giving a lot of opportunities to new pilots. And I admit, it's a lot easier to get more users if you already have a large user base, but that's a lot of hard work in the beginning and is what makes the difference - even though I still doubt whether it was really worth it.
And I know you've been told this a lot before, but do consider joining one of the other large, friendly communities here. You might have a lot more fun with Global, merlion, JAFVA etc. instead of trying to start something alone (or with a very small group).
Sadly, I still don't have a lot of free time (starting grad school now!
) but I do drop in even once in a while - both here and merlion to see how things are going.
Cheers,
Naru