airport categories, runway surface and length, opening hours, NOTAMs and slots
Airport categories
Every airport has a category by size: T0 is a hub with slots and expensive fees (LKPR, EDDF), T1 a large regional airport (LKTB, LOWW), T2 a regional one with scheduled traffic, T3 a small airport with a paved runway (LKHK) and T4 a grass strip, bush strip or heliport. The category drives fees, board size and how big the jobs there are — small airports have small jobs on purpose, so a small aircraft can make a living from them.
Runway surface and length
A type may use only the surfaces in its type sheet: airliners asphalt and concrete, rough-field aircraft also grass, gravel and dirt, seaplanes water, helicopters almost anywhere. The runway length needed depends on weight: the catalogue applies to MTOW, a lighter aircraft needs less, but never below 60 % of the catalogue. The dispatch message names the airport, runway length, type and weight.
NOTAMs
A NOTAM is a notice about an airport restriction: a closed runway or airport, a shortened runway or a weight limit. It lasts 4 to 72 hours and appears mostly where people fly. It shows on the map and at the airport, and when you have a base or an aircraft there you get a notification. Dispatch checks NOTAMs at departure time and around the planned arrival; a dispatched flight completes under the state at dispatch.
Opening hours and disasters
Small airports without a tower are open from 7:00 to 21:00 local time. Outside those hours you can still land and depart, only with a surcharge (see Flight costs). An airport in a disaster area may have a shortened runway, no fuel or be closed at night — the board shows it at the destination and dispatch checks it.
Slots at hubs
At hubs (T0) arrival and departure windows at peak times are auctioned. An auction lasts 12 hours, a won slot is held for 168 hours and slots are visible 48 hours ahead. Whoever flies in a window whose slot another company holds pays 85 % more for ground handling; it does not ground them. The slot market is on the Slots screen.
World, fuel and weather
events, fuel prices, refuelling and real weather
World events
World events start on their own, a few hours in advance, and last from hours to weeks: a closed airspace (no dispatch into or out of the area), a ground staff strike (dearer handling and fewer jobs), a fuel price spike, a seasonal peak (more jobs) and a frontal system. The World map shows them with their area and what they change — whoever looks ahead reschedules flights before it costs money.
Humanitarian campaigns
A major disaster with a red alert becomes a humanitarian campaign by itself, and the admin can declare one for any other event too. A campaign has three milestones — 25, 50 and 100 % of the need. When it passes one, the milestone fund is split between companies by the tonnes they delivered up to that moment (whoever arrives later shares in the next milestone). Every contributor also gets humanitarian and commercial reputation and a campaign badge named after the disaster: bronze, silver or gold by the highest milestone. The payout counts as humanitarian revenue, so no tax is paid on it. You see the milestones and funds next to the event progress in World and in its detail.
NOTAMs and opening hours
A NOTAM is a temporary restriction at an airport: a closed or shortened runway, a temporarily closed airport or a weight limit on one runway. They appear by themselves where people fly and the admin issues them too; they are usually announced a few hours ahead. Dispatch checks them: if at departure time or around the planned arrival the aircraft has no usable runway left (closed, too short, or limited below its MTOW), the flight cannot be dispatched and the refusal says until when the restriction lasts. A flight dispatched before completes — the tracker only sends an ACARS message. Small airports without a tower are open 7–21 local time: a departure or arrival outside the hours goes through, but you pay an opening surcharge based on the aircraft weight. You see NOTAMs and opening hours in dispatch, in the briefing and on the airport card in World; a company with a base or a parked aircraft there gets a notification about a new NOTAM.
Demand map
On the World map, switch on the Demand and job board layer: the dot colour says how pressure moves the pay (blue = saturated airport, pays less; amber to red = drained, the remaining cargo pays more), the dot size is the board target and a green outline is activity. Hovering a dot shows the numbers, clicking an airport draws where most of its traffic goes — turquoise for people, amber for cargo, thicker for a larger share — and the airport card shows how many jobs are on the board, how many it aims to hold, and the pay multiplier. The My bases and routes layer shows your bases, home and FBO routes in violet, so you can see where another base would make sense.
Seasonality
Demand changes with the time of year. In summer more passengers head to the sea and the mountains, in winter to ski resorts, and before Christmas there is more cargo everywhere. In the southern hemisphere summer is in January, and near the equator hardly anything changes. The season shifts where board jobs lead and grows the board of a resort at the height of its season; it does not change pay — that still rests on demand pressure. World events also change board size in their area: a seasonal peak grows it, a strike or a weather front shrinks it. A resort in season has a “season” tag on the World map.
NPC carriers
Where players build up traffic, an NPC carrier settles: a real company with aircraft and pilots that flies rotations from a T0–T2 hub with the same engine as a player. It takes only part of the board (at most a fifth at a major hub, a third at a regional one, a quarter of that at a player base) and never the best-paid jobs — those belong to people; its flights do not raise activity. When activity fades, the carrier leaves after a few days: pilots go to the job market, aircraft to the used market. NPC flights are grey on the World map, and an airport with a carrier shows a tag. It pays for fuel and fees like everyone else: it also refuels from player depots when they are cheaper than the airport — but at most a fifth of a depot stock per day, so a single depot is not drained over and over.
Fuel and refuelling
Fuel prices differ from airport to airport — remote ones are dearer — and events move them. You refuel on dispatch or manually on the stand; refuelling also shows whether it pays to carry cheap fuel to where it is expensive. When the airport has a fuel depot, fuel comes first from your own depot and then from the cheapest offer by another player; the rest comes from the airport. In the briefing you can pick a specific seller or take fuel from the airport only. A player’s depot may sell at most half again the airport price, and a depot dearer than the airport can be chosen only by whoever manages the company’s finances — for a pilot such a choice is replaced with airport fuel. Extra fuel weighs, though: whatever you carry above the plan raises the burn for the flight, so carrying cheap fuel pays off only where the price gap beats the penalty.
Weather
Weather comes from real METARs and TAFs. It does not forbid your flight — it decides whether an AI crew will fly, and when the administrator turns the bonus on, a flight with real weather in the simulator pays extra. A diversion due to weather or a failure is accepted and the job’s deadline moves.
World. Weather from real METARs with runway wind and diversion risk; events that move demand and prices — a seasonal peak, a handling strike, closed airspace. NOTAMs close and shorten runways, and small airports keep opening hours.
Based on the in-game help and manual (Help tab) — the numbers are the default rule values; the in-game manual shows the ones the server is using right now. Post questions and experience in this thread.
Airports, runways and NOTAMs
airport categories, runway surface and length, opening hours, NOTAMs and slots
Airport categories
Every airport has a category by size: T0 is a hub with slots and expensive fees (LKPR, EDDF), T1 a large regional airport (LKTB, LOWW), T2 a regional one with scheduled traffic, T3 a small airport with a paved runway (LKHK) and T4 a grass strip, bush strip or heliport. The category drives fees, board size and how big the jobs there are — small airports have small jobs on purpose, so a small aircraft can make a living from them.
Runway surface and length
A type may use only the surfaces in its type sheet: airliners asphalt and concrete, rough-field aircraft also grass, gravel and dirt, seaplanes water, helicopters almost anywhere. The runway length needed depends on weight: the catalogue applies to MTOW, a lighter aircraft needs less, but never below 60 % of the catalogue. The dispatch message names the airport, runway length, type and weight.
NOTAMs
A NOTAM is a notice about an airport restriction: a closed runway or airport, a shortened runway or a weight limit. It lasts 4 to 72 hours and appears mostly where people fly. It shows on the map and at the airport, and when you have a base or an aircraft there you get a notification. Dispatch checks NOTAMs at departure time and around the planned arrival; a dispatched flight completes under the state at dispatch.
Opening hours and disasters
Small airports without a tower are open from 7:00 to 21:00 local time. Outside those hours you can still land and depart, only with a surcharge (see Flight costs). An airport in a disaster area may have a shortened runway, no fuel or be closed at night — the board shows it at the destination and dispatch checks it.
Slots at hubs
At hubs (T0) arrival and departure windows at peak times are auctioned. An auction lasts 12 hours, a won slot is held for 168 hours and slots are visible 48 hours ahead. Whoever flies in a window whose slot another company holds pays 85 % more for ground handling; it does not ground them. The slot market is on the Slots screen.
World, fuel and weather
events, fuel prices, refuelling and real weather
World events
World events start on their own, a few hours in advance, and last from hours to weeks: a closed airspace (no dispatch into or out of the area), a ground staff strike (dearer handling and fewer jobs), a fuel price spike, a seasonal peak (more jobs) and a frontal system. The World map shows them with their area and what they change — whoever looks ahead reschedules flights before it costs money.
Humanitarian campaigns
A major disaster with a red alert becomes a humanitarian campaign by itself, and the admin can declare one for any other event too. A campaign has three milestones — 25, 50 and 100 % of the need. When it passes one, the milestone fund is split between companies by the tonnes they delivered up to that moment (whoever arrives later shares in the next milestone). Every contributor also gets humanitarian and commercial reputation and a campaign badge named after the disaster: bronze, silver or gold by the highest milestone. The payout counts as humanitarian revenue, so no tax is paid on it. You see the milestones and funds next to the event progress in World and in its detail.
NOTAMs and opening hours
A NOTAM is a temporary restriction at an airport: a closed or shortened runway, a temporarily closed airport or a weight limit on one runway. They appear by themselves where people fly and the admin issues them too; they are usually announced a few hours ahead. Dispatch checks them: if at departure time or around the planned arrival the aircraft has no usable runway left (closed, too short, or limited below its MTOW), the flight cannot be dispatched and the refusal says until when the restriction lasts. A flight dispatched before completes — the tracker only sends an ACARS message. Small airports without a tower are open 7–21 local time: a departure or arrival outside the hours goes through, but you pay an opening surcharge based on the aircraft weight. You see NOTAMs and opening hours in dispatch, in the briefing and on the airport card in World; a company with a base or a parked aircraft there gets a notification about a new NOTAM.
Demand map
On the World map, switch on the Demand and job board layer: the dot colour says how pressure moves the pay (blue = saturated airport, pays less; amber to red = drained, the remaining cargo pays more), the dot size is the board target and a green outline is activity. Hovering a dot shows the numbers, clicking an airport draws where most of its traffic goes — turquoise for people, amber for cargo, thicker for a larger share — and the airport card shows how many jobs are on the board, how many it aims to hold, and the pay multiplier. The My bases and routes layer shows your bases, home and FBO routes in violet, so you can see where another base would make sense.
Seasonality
Demand changes with the time of year. In summer more passengers head to the sea and the mountains, in winter to ski resorts, and before Christmas there is more cargo everywhere. In the southern hemisphere summer is in January, and near the equator hardly anything changes. The season shifts where board jobs lead and grows the board of a resort at the height of its season; it does not change pay — that still rests on demand pressure. World events also change board size in their area: a seasonal peak grows it, a strike or a weather front shrinks it. A resort in season has a “season” tag on the World map.
NPC carriers
Where players build up traffic, an NPC carrier settles: a real company with aircraft and pilots that flies rotations from a T0–T2 hub with the same engine as a player. It takes only part of the board (at most a fifth at a major hub, a third at a regional one, a quarter of that at a player base) and never the best-paid jobs — those belong to people; its flights do not raise activity. When activity fades, the carrier leaves after a few days: pilots go to the job market, aircraft to the used market. NPC flights are grey on the World map, and an airport with a carrier shows a tag. It pays for fuel and fees like everyone else: it also refuels from player depots when they are cheaper than the airport — but at most a fifth of a depot stock per day, so a single depot is not drained over and over.
Fuel and refuelling
Fuel prices differ from airport to airport — remote ones are dearer — and events move them. You refuel on dispatch or manually on the stand; refuelling also shows whether it pays to carry cheap fuel to where it is expensive. When the airport has a fuel depot, fuel comes first from your own depot and then from the cheapest offer by another player; the rest comes from the airport. In the briefing you can pick a specific seller or take fuel from the airport only. A player’s depot may sell at most half again the airport price, and a depot dearer than the airport can be chosen only by whoever manages the company’s finances — for a pilot such a choice is replaced with airport fuel. Extra fuel weighs, though: whatever you carry above the plan raises the burn for the flight, so carrying cheap fuel pays off only where the price gap beats the penalty.
Weather
Weather comes from real METARs and TAFs. It does not forbid your flight — it decides whether an AI crew will fly, and when the administrator turns the bonus on, a flight with real weather in the simulator pays extra. A diversion due to weather or a failure is accepted and the job’s deadline moves.
World. Weather from real METARs with runway wind and diversion risk; events that move demand and prices — a seasonal peak, a handling strike, closed airspace. NOTAMs close and shorten runways, and small airports keep opening hours.
Based on the in-game help and manual (Help tab) — the numbers are the default rule values; the in-game manual shows the ones the server is using right now. Post questions and experience in this thread.