Have you looked around in the game lately????
He's charging a subscription fee for an outdated game. One step above minecraft is what this game is.
If this game was on Xbox it would have been on gamepass long ago, as gamepass is where games go to die
Subscription fee doesn't come into play for the free two-week trial - you don't even have to supply credit card info to start. But most people (65%) didn't even last 10 minutes according to Hitech. I suspect the game's user interface design and graphics probably make a poor first impression on anyone who is familiar with more recently development flight sims. Could also be they have difficulty in setting up their controls, but honestly I didn't find AH any more difficult than in IL-2, War Thunder, or DCS - although their user interfaces are prettier and much more modern-looking.
It's a shame because in AH, I immediately feel more connected to the players when I log in - the voice channels and chat buffer are busy with activity, and it's easy to jump in and be a part of it. With the the real time radar on the clipboard map, you can see exactly where the action is. Heck, many times when I login I find myself in the tower of a field that is currently under attack. Now that is jumping right into it!
As an online player in IL-2 and DCS, I feel more isolated. And to get voice comms you have to DL and fiddle with 3rd party SimpleRadioSystem, and SRS buffer doesn't show up in your VR view, so you cant see what channel you are on, or the handles of who's transmitting.
AH does a lot of things right IMO, but is really past due for an overhaul and update of the UI graphics. And maybe it's time to ditch the subscription model and instead charge one time for the base game and planeset, and charge a premium for the rest as collector planes. I'd be for any changes that help AH survive and grow.