RED MOUNTAIN AIRLINES GROUP
**RMAG TO END OPERATIONS AFTER 20 YEARS**
Twenty years to the day after launching, Red Mountain Airlines will fade into the sunset. There have been various permutations of RMA throughout the years, even periods of dormancy, mostly driven by evolution within the broader flight sim scene. Simply put, it was time to retire the name and branding for the foreseeable future. What Red Mountain Airlines Group had evolved into was a kind of GA/luxury bizjet hodgepodge, and this website will maintain an archive of that RMA history. What will replace RMAG may be explained via the time-honored game of mergers and acquisitions. Just as Heritage Northern Airlines was spun off into part of Eska Airways in early 2026, Red Mountain Airlines Group is subject to the closure of a virtual sale to a new entity. Effective July 1, 2026, RMAG will be no more. Taking its' place will be a new virtual flying club with an emphasis on bizjets, plausible real-world situations, and pilot imagination.
First conceived in 2006, Red Mountain Airlines was run as a virtual airline for MS Flight Simulator 2004/X until 2009. There have been many re-imaginings and refinements to the concept, over the years. RMA was flying the Boeing 757 from a Phoenix Mesa Gateway (KIWA) base to Hawaii a full five years before Allegiant Air did the same. It was eventually decided that an airline was not a workable concept, unless it was very small scale. The website was rendered dark, in 2019, after a few years of dormancy.
The real world, and developments in the world of MSFS have served to show that RMA operations at Gateway, and the secondary base at Scottsdale (KSDL) work best as a fixed-base operator of GA aircraft, with FSX/P3D as the primary simulators involved, and the flexibility for both FS2004, MSFS2020, and X-Plane (v10+) users to find ideas for enjoyment and adventure. With that in mind, the website was re-launched in 2022. The RMA flagship operation might simply be a virtual FBO, and as such, flights would be mostly charters in and around the home State of Arizona, and around the American West. The striven-for service level would be an ability to offer "on demand" service to southern California (Van Nuys, Orange County, Carlsbad and all 3 Palm Springs area airports), Las Vegas (all 3 airports), the Salt Lake City area (including Ogden and Provo) and Denver (Broomfield or Centennial).
The Van Nuys operation began in the 1970s with services to the Palm Springs and Monterey areas coupled with tee times at high-end golf courses found there. The operation has expanded from a Piper Seneca II (Carenado stock N262KA, now based at KUDD) to a King Air C90B (N298DS) and an Embraer Phenom 300 light jet (N414RM; included in the RMAG download), and retains the Links Air branding that had become established. Flights have RMA flight numbers, and are to areas with multiple courses playable in Links 2003, still one of the best golf simulators around.
There is also a Hawaiian operation conceived in 2007 and derivative of the golf focus of the Van Nuys operation known as Mauna Rua Air (yes, that's Red Mountain in Hawaiian). After much evolution, it became a GA operation using King Airs and the Daher Socata TBM family, with bases in Kona and Lahaina.
A partnership with a small operator in South Florida operates GA/light jet charters under the brand name and callsign of SunChaser. This operation also flies vintage piston propliners around the Sunshine State, and American territories in the Caribbean.
Pilots are able to fly and earn flight hours within FS Hub as a member of the RMAG, flying for any of the three divisions. That's as simple as it gets. RMAG may have some structured routes, but operates as a flying club on FS Hub, enabling the maximum degree of freedom for the pilot.
If you like having a callsign and flight number, and are familiar with the EditVoicepack utility, a Red Mountain callsign is available. You can see that this website is "no-frills," written in a blog style to pack as much information into as little space as possible. A thorough reading should set the mind of the properly motivated flight-simmer to racing through the possibilities, finding the fun, and perhaps a new VA to fly for. It's just about tapping into what one man's imagination has come up with, and creating your own adventures within the presented frameworks from there. Click on the links and prepare to taxi.
