News

A new Beginner's World #1 scenario is now open!

Join here: https://www.airwaysim.com/game/?gView=317#game317

AirwaySim has always two concurrent Beginner's World scenarios running (BW#1 and BW#2). They both use the same settings and same time frame.

Our beginner game series is aimed for all newbies and other players wishing to test different playing styles in an easier environment. Duration of one scenario is always approximately 60 real days. The scenario runs for ~10 game years with a speed of 25 minutes per day, and all of AirwaySim's main features are included in these scenarios.

When a BW scenario ends, a new one will start within a few days. The two scenarios are running in parallel so that there is always one BW scenario start every month.

Internet Explorer 11, the final IE version, was released in 2013. Some of the planned changes and updates to third-party modules used by AirwaySim will not offer full IE11 support anymore, and for that reason AirwaySim will stop officially supporting this browser. Several other web services have already stopped the support for this old browser.

All of the main functions and the basic system should still work normally with IE11 but some additional visual functions might have compatibility issues in the future.

Euro Challenge game world is now open!

» Join here!

This shorter scenario is part of our series to bring more variety and more frequent launches of new scenarios. This challenge is based in Europe and you can fly freely in any of the countries in the region. There are no restrictions on where to base or expand your airline (full open skies). No longhaul traffic is available.

Settings of this scenario:

• Time span: 2010 - 2025, at 25 minutes per game day.
• Normal difficulty level / Short length scenario.
• Airports only from the European region.
• All aircraft models except longhaul aircraft are included.
• Free basing - no political restrictions on where your airline can open new base airports.
• The overall play duration of this game is about 3 months.

Game play related settings specific for this scenario:

• Fuel prices are fully customized and will not follow the real historical developments at any stage.
• Additional base airports are customized: You may expand your airline to any available airport in the game (no political limitations). The maximum 10 bases per airline limit is valid.
• Alliances are available to be formed from the first day.
• Cargo with City Based Demand system included (the passenger demand model still follows the older more static model). This game is the first to use the new v.2 cargo calculations. Please remember that cargo and passenger figures are rather low at the game start but will grow.
• The aircraft production rates and amount of airport slots are higher compared to the standard "realworld" setting.
• The airport slot numbers follow the new and updated slot system with slot releases happening only when the airport expands (apart from the first game year). Slot setting factor is at x2.0 compared to standard AWS slot model.
• The used aircraft market is deliberately a bit smaller in this game launch so be prepared to order new aircraft from the manufacturers. The majority of aircraft are large jets but there are also a lot of smaller regional aircraft available at the used a/c market (different from a regular game world). Initial aircraft selection: 15% A320 series, 10% B737NG, 8% CRJ seris, 6% ERJ-140 series, 6% B737 Classic, 5% MD-80, 4% ATR etc.

If it has been a while since you started at early stages in a major AirwaySim games, here are a few reminders and tips:

• The game clock is paused for the first day and will start moving after 24 hrs. The used aircraft market will refresh several times during the first static 24 hour day (but you can only make two orders for aircraft during the first day).
• There are plenty of used aircraft available to begin with, but the used aircraft market will soon become limited and the popular aircraft types are sold/leased very quickly. Take care when picking the aircraft you plan to use.
• New aircraft ordering will be available after the time starts to move (= from day 2 of the simulation), but it is of course always recommended to lease several used aircraft to begin with.
• Be patient with the route sales figures since your Route Image grows slowly. Do not spend all your cash on planes at once, remember to leave a good reserve. It takes time to gain profits and there might be unexpected early problems..
• Some popular airports will for sure become limited on airport slots soon. This is normal and you should use larger aircraft or other airports in that case. Please remember that slots are only available when the airport infrastructure expands.
• The passenger demand will grow steadily during the course of the game, and is rather low at the very beginning.
• Consider joining an alliance from early stages of the game, they are great resources for improving your game play (tips and help from fellow players).

Head over to the Game Area and join the new game. Welcome onboard!

The next AirwaySim's airline simulation scenario, called Euro Challenge, opens on Friday January 17th.

This shorter scenario is part of our series to bring more variety and more frequent launches of new scenarios. This challenge is based in Europe and you can fly freely in any of the countries in the region. There are no restrictions on where to base or expand your airline (full open skies). No longhaul traffic is available.

The basic settings are:

• Time span: 2010 - 2025, at 25 minutes per game day.
• Normal difficulty level / Shorth length scenario.
• Airports only from the European region.
• All aircraft models except longhaul aircraft are included.
• The overall play duration of this game is about 3 months.

This scenario will open at approximately 11 UTC on Friday January 17th. Click on the link to pre-join this game now!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone at AirwaySim!

This year we've developed and improved AirwaySim in several areas. The highlights have been:

• The new aircraft performance system (accurate model based on real aircraft flight data and manuals) and associated aircraft data updates (still ongoing). There has been a huge amount of data research involved and the aircraft modelling will be bit-by-bit updated to this new highly accurate model.
• Government subsidies and incentives for fuel prices and aircraft purchases (in the former Eastern Bloc).
• The new and more clear game structure with different length and difficulty classifications, and a better internal management model on how the game worlds are rotated over time.
• New airport expansion model (infrastructure upgrades affecting airport slots, costs and many other aspects).
• Improved alliance and airline scoring systems to work properly with the ultra-long games.
• Various interface improvements for better usability (further ideas and feedback always welcome).
• Addition of dozens of new aircraft upgrades/conversions.

In addition to these updates the work is ongoing with for example improved aircraft seat configuration systems, which have been previewed some time ago. We'll keep you up-to-date with the progress.

The traditional holiday discount code is also here again: The code XMAS19 will give you a 15% discount from all Credits purchases. Code is valid this year a bit longer (until Dec 26th 23.59 UTC).

Hope to see you onboard in the simulations also in 2020!

The Age of Flight is one the main ultra-long airline sim scenarios at AirwaySim. These epic length scenarios run from 1955 to 2035 with 30 minutes per each simulated day.

This game world follows the standard settings for long AirwaySim games:

• Standard difficulty level.
• All airports, all aircraft models (including the "prototypes") and all features are included.
• Additional base airports follow the standard rules, max 10 bases per airline, and the amount of planes based outside HQ will grow over time.
• Alliances are available to be formed from the first day.
• Game's speed is 30 minutes per day.
• Cargo with City Based Demand system included (the passenger demand model still follows the older more static model).
• Passenger demand levels are somewhat higher than in real history at the start of the game to accommodate the large player base.
• The aircraft production rates and amount of airport slots are higher compared to the standard "realworld" setting.
• Fuel prices are random and may or may not follow the historical oil/jet fuel developments (or a combination of both where it follows the real history at some periods and is random at others).
• Inflation index is a bit modified from real-life history data for more linear change in prices. Interest rates follow the real history.

Notes regarding the launch of this particular game world:

• As always with these very long and popular scenarios we've taken special care to check the aircraft availability for start-up. There are plenty of good choices in both new and used market.
• In total there are about 20000 pre-generated aircraft to choose from (these are released bit-by-bit to the used aircraft market). This time the DC-6 is the most popular pre-created fleet with 3% of all planes of that model, followed by CV-240/340s (20%), Constellations (13%), and DC-4s (6%).
• As the pre-launch of this game world has been popular please be patient with the growth and aircraft acquisition. Especially the cost of airport slots is again (deliberately) quite high in the beginning to slow the rate of the initial expansion a bit.
• The passenger demand will grow at most of the times during the course of the game. There are some periods of global recession (the rate of the growth models well what has happened in real history and when the market started to grow rapidly).
• Air cargo in the 1950s-1970s is a very small business. The cargo demand levels are somewhat elevated from "realistic" values for the sake of playability, but still the big cargo business doesn't really become viable until later in the game.

If it has been a while since you started at early stages in a major AirwaySim games, here are a few reminders and tips:

• The game clock is paused for the first day and will start moving after 24 hrs. The used aircraft market will refresh several times during the first static 24 hour day (but you can only make two orders for aircraft during the first day).
• There are plenty of used aircraft available to begin with, but the used aircraft market will soon become limited and the popular aircraft types are sold/leased very quickly. Take care when picking the aircraft you plan to use.
• New aircraft ordering will be available after the time starts to move (= from day 2 of the simulation), but it is of course always recommended to lease several used aircraft to begin with.
• Be patient with the route sales figures since your Route Image grows slowly. Do not spend all your cash on planes at once, remember to leave a good reserve. It takes time to gain profits and there might be unexpected early problems..
• Some popular airports, or other small airports, will for sure become limited on airport slots soon. This is normal and you should use larger aircraft or other airports in that case. Remember that airports (and their slot numbers) can only expand and grow when their infrastructure level grows (apart from the first few years in the game). In some airports the slots may be a limited resource. Take care when choosing your base airport!
• Consider joining an alliance from early stages of the game, they are great resources for improving your game play (tips and help from fellow players).

That's it! Boarding has started! Now go ahead and click on to the Game Area and join the new game. Enjoy!

A new Beginner's World #2 scenario is now open!

Join here: https://www.airwaysim.com/game/?gView=315#game315

AirwaySim has always two concurrent Beginner's World scenarios running (BW#1 and BW#2). They both use the same settings and same time frame.

Our beginner game series is aimed for all newbies and other players wishing to test different playing styles in an easier environment. Duration of one scenario is always approximately 60 real days. The scenario runs for ~10 game years with a speed of 25 minutes per day, and all of AirwaySim's main features are included in these scenarios.

When a BW scenario ends, a new one will start within a few days. The two scenarios are running in parallel so that there is always one BW scenario start every month.

The North America Challenge mini scenario has ended. This 3-month game was played in the modern era and 29 players made it all the way to the end.

The next AirwaySim games opening are the Beginner's World #2 opening today, and the ultra-long The Age of Flight opening tomorrow. The next shorter challenge game is planned in mid-January.

A new major feature has been added today to all game worlds to make the operation of early era Soviet aircraft more desirable and to better model the effects of state-controlled economy: Government subsidies and incentives. This new feature allows the governments to issue financial benefits for airlines using aircraft produced in their country.

In other words if you are based in the Soviet Union and also fly aircraft made in the Soviet Union, the government will pay a large part of your fuel bill and give big discounts for new aircraft purchases (up to 20-30%). If you are based in other friendly country, such as Cuba, you will get similar benefits for flying Soviet aircraft (up to 10-20%). All these communist subsidies end when the Soviet Union collapses (end of 1991).

Check the details from the software Changelog.

One of our three epic simulation scenarios will restart again with a fresh game world. The Age of Flight scenario opens on Friday December 20th. This game will run from 1955 to 2035.

The basic settings are:

• Time span: 1955 - 2035, at 30 minutes per game day.
• Normal difficulty level / Epic length scenario.
• All aircraft models included.
• The overall play duration of this game is about 20 months.

This scenario will open at approximately 15 UTC on Friday December 20th.

Click on the link to pre-join this game now! With the pre-joining function you can reserve a spot in this new game and we will e-mail you to remind of the game world's opening.

p.s. If you are interested in a shorter game world, the next Beginner's World #2 starts on December 22nd and the next shorter "challenge" scenario in mid-January.

The AirwaySim Previews thread has been updated at the forums.

The new cabin configuration systems will include also a dynamic visual seat map of the aircraft. The seat configuration you choose is displayed at the user interface giving you a visually excellent view on how the aircraft interior looks based on your seat type selections.

In this preview you can see a A320-style aircraft configured in two-class configuration. The business class has Standard seats (with middle seat left empty for added comfort) with 32" seat pitch, and in economy class the High Density seat with 30" seat pitch. The red areas represent the areas reserved for doors, toilets, galleys etc. and is non-useable. The green area shows the available space left over / available for increased seat pitch or more seats.

The work for the new cabin systems continues by incorporating the rest of the different seat types and verifying all of the aircraft data. Also several background systems need to adjusted to this new system, and also the final user interface for creating the configurations needs to be planned.

A new Beginner's World #1 scenario is now open!

Join here: https://www.airwaysim.com/game/?gView=312#game312

AirwaySim has always two concurrent Beginner's World scenarios running (BW#1 and BW#2). They both use the same settings and same time frame.

Our beginner game series is aimed for all newbies and other players wishing to test different playing styles in an easier environment. Duration of one scenario is always approximately 60 real days. The scenario runs for ~10 game years with a speed of 25 minutes per day, and all of AirwaySim's main features are included in these scenarios.

When a BW scenario ends, a new one will start within a few days. The two scenarios are running in parallel so that there is always one BW scenario start every month.

The Dawn of the Millennium game world is now open!

» Join here!

This is a mid-length game world (duration 8 months), and part of our series to bring more variety and more frequent launches of new scenarios at AirwaySim.

Dawn of the Millennium starts in mid-1970s and takes you through the financial turbulence of 1970s and early 1980s, then towards the growth period of 1990s, and finally reaching the difficulties faced by airlines after 9/11. Overall a very interesting period to manage your airline!

The basic settings are:

• Time span: 1975 - 2007, at 30 minutes per game day.
• Normal difficulty level / Medium length scenario.
• All aircraft models included.
• The overall play duration of this game is about 8 months.

Game play related settings specific for this scenario:

• Fuel prices are customized and may, or may not, follow the real historical developments.
• All airports globally and all aircraft models included. The "non-realistic" prototype aircraft are also available.
• Additional base airports follow the standard rules, max 10 bases per airline, and the amount of planes based outside HQ will grow over time.
• Alliances are available to be formed from the first day.
• Cargo with City Based Demand system included (the passenger demand model still follows the older more static model).
• The aircraft production rates and amount of airport slots are higher compared to the standard "realworld" setting.
• The airport slot numbers follow the new and updated slot system with slot releases happening only when the airport expands (apart from the first game year). Details can be found from the changelog. Slot setting factor is at x2.0 compared to standard AWS slot model.

If it has been a while since you started at early stages in a major AirwaySim games, here are a few reminders and tips:

• The game clock is paused for the first day and will start moving after 24 hrs. The used aircraft market will refresh several times during the first static 24 hour day (but you can only make two orders for aircraft during the first day).
• There are plenty of used aircraft available to begin with, but the used aircraft market will soon become limited and the popular aircraft types are sold/leased very quickly. Take care when picking the aircraft you plan to use.
• New aircraft ordering will be available after the time starts to move (= from day 2 of the simulation), but it is of course always recommended to lease several used aircraft to begin with.
• Be patient with the route sales figures since your Route Image grows slowly. Do not spend all your cash on planes at once, remember to leave a good reserve. It takes time to gain profits and there might be unexpected early problems..
• Some popular airports will for sure become limited on airport slots soon. This is normal and you should use larger aircraft or other airports in that case. Please remember that slots are only available when the airport infrastructure expands.
• Consider joining an alliance from early stages of the game, they are great resources for improving your game play (tips and help from fellow players).

Welcome and have fun!

The ultra-long scenario The Age of Flight (Game World #4) has now ended. This scenario was played from 1955 to 2035 and lasted for 1.5 years. Thank you to everyone who participated!

The next scenario to start is the medium-length game Dawn of the Millennium, opening on the 15th of November. You can already pre-join it from the link below. The next ultra-long scenario to replace this ended game world is planned to launch in December!

The next AirwaySim's airline simulation scenario, titled Dawn of the Millennium, opens on Friday November 15th.

This is a mid-length game world (duration 8 months), and part of our series to bring more variety and more frequent launches of new scenarios at AirwaySim.

Dawn of the Millennium starts in mid-1970s and takes you through the financial turbulence of 1970s and early 1980s, then towards the growth period of 1990s, and finally reaching the difficulties faced by airlines after 9/11. Overall a very interesting period to manage your airline!

The basic settings are:

• Time span: 1975 - 2007, at 30 minutes per game day.
• Normal difficulty level / Medium length scenario.
• All aircraft models included.
• The overall play duration of this game is about 8 months.

This scenario will open at approximately 15 UTC on Friday November 15th. Click on the link to pre-join this game now!