The Terminal

The console, in the terminal on the right of the screen, opens every program and answers commands, such as the weather at an airport. What the operation reports is on the Alerts above it. Type a command at the > prompt and press Enter. Commands can be typed in capitals or not. Leasing, scheduling, slots and booking maintenance are done in the programs the commands open.

The menus at the top of the screen type these commands for you, so you can see what they are.

Alerts

The Alerts, above the terminal’s tabs, list everything the operation reports, with the time and the desk that reported it: Ops Control (OPS), Maintenance Control (MX), Dispatch (DISP) or Passenger Services (PAX). What needs acknowledging stays at the top of the list, and the rest follow, newest first. ALERT is an aircraft grounded or a flight with no aircraft cancelled. WARN is a departure an hour or more late, beyond any retiming, or an aircraft leaving from somewhere it isn’t. Both stay until they’re acknowledged. NOTE is a movement 15 minutes or more late, or a flight you’ve cancelled. The rest are routine: departures and arrivals, hangar visits, engines and deliveries. A long report takes two lines; point at it to read all of it.

Alt+A: Gives the Alerts the keyboard, bringing the terminal back if it’s minimised.
↑ ↓: Pick one.
Enter: The whole report.
O: Opens the flight or aircraft it’s about (Open flight or Open aircraft when the key bar has room).
A: Acknowledges a WARN or ALERT.
Esc: Back.

Messages

The Messages tab (Alt+G) is the teletype traffic, as sent. See Movement messages.

Commands

WX EGLL: The weather report (METAR) at an airport, by either code (WX LHR works too); the report names it by its ICAO code. Point at any part of the report to see what it means. METAR does the same.
TAF EGLL: The aerodrome forecast (TAF) in force at an airport, by either code. Point at any part of it to see what it means.
SCHEDULE: Shows the flight schedule.
FLEET: Shows your fleet, including aircraft on order.
MARKET: Opens the aircraft market, to lease aircraft for your fleet.
ROUTES: Opens the route manager, to open and close routes between airports and schedule their daily flights.
SLOTS: Opens the airport slots, to plan the slots a route needs at busy airports.
CREW: Go to the Crew tab: pilots and engineers by rating, the standby plan, the people, and candidates.
HIRE, HIRE C0012: List the candidates, or hire one. See Crew.
CONTRACT V70 12: Order engineers holding a rating from an agency. See Crew.
STANDBY, STANDBY V40 CPT HOME 0500 12 2: Show the standby plan, or set a line of it: rating, CPT or FO, HOME or AIRPORT, the start (UTC), the hours, and how many every day. None takes the line off. See Crew.
MAINT: Opens maintenance control: every check and engine overhaul coming due, and the visits booked for them. See Maintenance.
MAP: Shows the map: where every aircraft in the fleet is, and the airports in the schedule. See The map.
WXMAP: The weather map, and the significant weather chart. See The weather map.
SWAP UE101 G-ABCD: Tail swaps the next UE101 to aircraft G-ABCD, and pins it there. Add the day to pick another one: SWAP UE101 09JAN G-ABCD. See Which aircraft flies what.
POSREQ G-ABCD: Asks an aircraft in flight for a position report now, as the Request Report button on the map does. The request and the answer are both in Messages.
POSITION G-ABCD CDG 1400: Orders a positioning flight, moving G-ABCD empty to CDG (either code will do), leaving at the next 14:00Z. Leave out the time to send it as soon as it can go, or add the day: POSITION G-ABCD CDG 09JAN 1400. FERRY does the same. See Which aircraft flies what.
UNPIN UE101: Hands the next pinned UE101 back to the planner (add the day to pick another). UNPIN G-ABCD unpins every flight G-ABCD has still to fly.
FLIGHT UE101: Opens the flight’s details: the one in the air, or else the next to leave (add the day to pick another, FLIGHT UE101 09JAN). FLT does the same. See Flights and passengers.
DELAY UE101 1030: Delays the next UE101 to leave at 10:30Z; DELAY UE101 +45 45 minutes after its timetable time. Add an aircraft to move it there too: DELAY UE101 1030 G-ABCD. Without a time, it opens the flight’s Delay dialog. DLY does the same. See Flights and passengers.
SAVE: Saves the company, as Ctrl+S does. It’s saved on its own every few minutes too.
CANCEL UE101: Opens the next UE101, asking to confirm cancelling it. CANCEL UE9001 calls off a positioning flight before it leaves.
REPORT: Opens the operating report: utilisation, idle time and costs. See The operating report.
FAX: Opens the fax filing, with the briefs and faxes from the other departments. See Faxes and briefs.
REGISTER G-ABCD G-UEAA: Gives aircraft G-ABCD the new registration G-UEAA, as R on the Fleet tab does. Its earlier registrations stay in its history; one another aircraft has had can’t be used again.
NOW: Takes the schedule back to now, as Space does. NOW 1/5, NOW 1/3 or NOW 1/2 puts the now line that far in.
TERMS ON, TERMS OFF: Turns the visual terms guide on or off, as View ▸ Visual Terms Guide does: airline terms in the programs that you can point at are underlined with a wavy line. Those linked to the User Manual open it when clicked. TERMS alone switches it over.
AIRPORTS ON, AIRPORTS OFF: Turns the airport codes guide on or off, as View ▸ Visual Airport Codes Guide does: airport codes in the programs are underlined, and pointing at one shows the airport’s name. AIRPORTS alone switches it over.
HINTS ON, HINTS OFF: Turns helpful hints on or off, as View ▸ Helpful Hints does: prompts in the programs and on the schedule about which keys do what, and what can be dragged. HINTS alone switches it over.
HELP: Lists the commands in the console.

Press ↑ and ↓ at the prompt to bring back earlier commands, and Esc to leave the prompt. See also Keyboard shortcuts.