Hi all Firstly sorry to be dragging up the old ariane debate, but I have only very recently caught up with all that has gone one, with regards Ariane's supposed business practices and people posting under many different psuedonyms When catching up with the goings-on of around 8 years ago or so it was conjectured that Ariane MAY NOT have any official license or endorsement from Boeing. Now I purchased the Ariane 737-600 for FS9 several years ago, and despite not being sent the included box material, like checklists, landing cards etc (I did eventually receive them though, which was good) the overall product was OK at best. The nav database was quite bad, having no SID/STAR for my local international airports. The refresh rate on the displays was quite bad too. Last year I purchased the 737-700 for FSX, and again had the same problems. Even after activation the displays for the other airlines were blank. Eventually I fixed this...the panel files were placed in the wrong place! Now I have no real issue against ariane. The planes have been OK (not brilliant) and customer service was OK for me. I have heard some horror stories, but I think they have been a bit better in recent years. My question is this though: I am sure many of us bought the aircraft (for significant expense) on the premise and good faith that Boeing had said this aircraft was of a quality whereby they were happy to associate with it. This gives me the impression that it was a good simulation. However, as I mentioned earlier it was THEORISED that this so called 'Boeing Officially Licensed Product' may not in fact be officially licensed by boeing. If this is this case, then selling a product which does claim to be officially licensed counts as FRAUD. This does worry me now. I and many others purchased these products on the good faith that they were of a quality that boeing approved of. What do you guys think? Is there a genuine agreement with Boeing or is this just a way of selling more expensive products? Do Boeing know of Ariane? Maybe a call to Boeing's PR dept is in order :) Thanks for any feedback. Much appreciated

I would be very surprised if they had got away with it for this long if they did not have some sort of endorsement / licensing in place. That said, it really doesn't tell you much about their relationship with Boeing - it may well be that for a small payment you can officially claim that your product is licensed whether it is a T-shirt or a FSX model. Looking at their prices though I am sure that they would use it to justify the cost !!! Then again it may be in much greater depth. I can imagine though that after today it may matter little, I suspect that Ariane's sales may be taking a bit of a nose dive endorsed or not !! G

Here is what Chock wrote in http://forum.avsim.net/topic/273358-pmdg-737-ngx-the-view-forward/page__st__825 regarding the matter of the official licensing. Chock wrote the AVSIM review of the Ariane 737. "However, the 'officially licensed by Boeing' status of such products can mean a lot of different things. The Ariane 737 is indeed produced under an official license from Boeing, which it really had to be if Ariane Design wanted to throw the Boeing logo about all over the place in relation to it, since that is Boeing's corporate trademark and they don't just let anyone use it. Boeing's reputation is based on certain core values and traditions. But, if I was prepared to pay Boeing for a product license, and guarantee to meet certain quality standards of print for example, I daresay I could produce a drinks coaster with the Boeing logo on it, and that too would be an 'officially licensed by Boeing' product. So with that in mind, I would not necessarily take the officially licensed Boeing status of the Ariane 737 to mean that Boeing think it is the bees knees as far as fidelity to the real thing goes."

It's nuance. Ariane probably paid Boeing to license the use of their mark, like a product advertised with the "Good Housekeeping" seal.

http://www.avsim.com/pages/0902/pt_again.html This article should shed some light :D

How come nobody have attached their name to that article? I dont really trust unsigned articles.

How come nobody have attached their name to that article? I dont really trust unsigned articles.

Probably to stop Ariane threatening an individual with legal matters, as was their SOP at the time. Not sure how relevant the article is now 9 years on, other than as historic value. G