News

A new Beginner's World #1 scenario is now open again according to our normal scenario rotation schedule.

This Beginner game series is aimed for all newbies and other players wishing to test different playing styles in an easier environment. The two beginner scenarios follow always the standard easy settings and same time frame as the previous beginner scenarios, and they restart about once every month.

Our server upgrade has been now completed and all systems and simulations have been moved to the new server hardware.

Please report if you encounter any problems!

Note that you might need to:

• Clear your browser cache and cookies
• Login again to the site

There might be still some occasional issues in the systems but we'll try to make everything perfect during the following days :)

Like previously announced a major server hardware upgrade has been in plans at AirwaySim.

We are now beginning to switch the services to the new hardware and due to this there will be a maintenance break during which all services will be closed for a few hours.

The starting time is set for this Thursday, 28th of June and the maintenance will start at approximately 09 UTC. Estimated duration is 2-3 hours, depending on how well everything works out (there may be some unexpected issues that will extend it but we'll keep you informed).

During this time the game worlds will be closed (and time paused). The website and forums are also temporarily closed, and there may be short periods where the whole website is unreachable.

This upgrade is planned because the old hardware needs to be retired already and at the same time we will get a very noticeable boost to the performance and calculation capability of our servers.

The new Beginner's World #2 scenario has been just opened.

This game series is aimed for all newbies and other players wishing to test different playing styles in an easier environment. The two beginner scenarios follow always the standard easy settings and same time frame as the previous beginner scenarios, and they restart about once every month.

AirwaySim's web server system will be upgraded soon. Our current setup has served us well and since it has been in use from winter 2013 it is already good time to retire that hardware. This upgrade allows us to give you the best possible service and to develop better features in the future too (by increasing the calculation capacity).

At the same time we will also switch our ISP (service provider) since the support and services from current ISP (Nebula) have not been satisfactory. Our new servers will still be located in Finland (like already currently), and we will continue to use own dedicated hardware for best capacity and configurability.

Since some of the testing and setup work is still in progress no exact time / date has been set for the upgrade but plans are to do it by the end of this month.

During the upgrade all games will be paused and website will be unaccessible for approximately 2-4 hours. We will inform you all a few days prior of the exact time of this maintenance window.

This is a pure hardware upgrade so there will not be any feature changes or updates. All of the background systems like database engines and other such sofware will be updated but these are not visible to users.

The next new game worlds (apart from normal rotation of Beginner's World) will begin after this upgrade is complete.

As part of our planned server upgrades, we are updating the list of supported devices/browsers to be in line with modern design and security requirements.

The oldest compatible clients will be: Firefox 27+ [released 2014], Chrome 30+ [2013], any MS Edge [2015], Opera 17+ [2013], Safari 9+ [desktop, 2015], iOS 7+ [mobile, 2013], Android 4.4.2 [mobile, 2013], IE 11+ on Windows 7 or higher [2013].

The limits on this compatibility list are determined by either the software design or the server systems (such as the SSL connection security requirements).

Based on our usage analytics from last 6 months none of our active users are affected by this change. In other words, there have been occasional hits to the site with older devices but for example IE 8 was registered on only 0.01% of all sessions during last 6 months, and Windows XP in 0.3% of the sessions, and are thus negligible. (note; Windows XP itself is still supported as the operating system makes no difference, but the combination of XP and old IE browser is not supported due to modern SSL connection requirements. With WinXP you should use Chrome or Firefox.)

Due to new legislation coming into force shortly we, like many other businesses, have updated our Privacy Policy. The updated policy is written to include more information compared to the previous version, as required by the new rules, but in practice our data and privacy policies remain mostly similar than before since we have already previously operated very respectfully towards user privacy and protecting the data.

If you have already opted in to receive our newsletter you do not separately need to opt in again due to these legal changes.

A new Beginner's World #1 scenario is now open again according to our normal scenario rotation schedule.

This Beginner game series is aimed for all newbies and other players wishing to test different playing styles in an easier environment. The two beginner scenarios follow always the standard easy settings and same time frame as the previous beginner scenarios, and they restart about once every month.

The new Game World #4 is now open!
» Join here!

GW#4 is one of the four main and long airline sim games at AirwaySim. This time the starting year for GW#4 will be earlier than before, the time period is 1955 to 2035.

The 1955 start offers a wide range of aircraft models to choose from. On the used aircraft side you can choose from the huge supply of war-surplus DC-3s, but many post-war models are also available from the aircraft brokers. These include a good supply of DC-6s, Connies and smaller Convairs just to name a few. New aircraft selection has dozens of models and some of the earlier jet models too. In the near future the 1960s and 1970s will be an interesting time in aircraft developments.

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

• Standard difficulty level
• Cargo with City Based Demand system included (the passenger demand model still follows the older more static model).
• Time period 1955-2035.
• Game's speed is initially 30 minutes per day but will speed up to 25 minutes per day in 1990.
• 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.
• Passenger demand levels are higher than in real history at the start of the game, especially in the early parts of the game.
• 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).
• The aircraft production rates and amount of airport slots are higher compared to the standard "realworld" setting.

If you have not played in a game world with the new cargo features drive by City Based Demand, please check the following notes:

• Remember that the cargo demand, which is in city based system, can change up or down.
• Passenger values are calculated using the old system.
• Familiarize yourself with the new "potential demand" concept (ref. manual). You should look at the potential demand as the best case scenario and it will be only reached if there is no competition on other surrounding airports to the same destination. Thus the actual demand (also shown in the charts) will usually be lower.
• The new system models local economic climate - if a country has a recession the demand values can go down very much.
• The changes in demand values are gradual but due to server performance some of the calculations are performed only a 1-3 times per game month for each area (especially now when the system has to deal with both the new and old system).
• 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.
• 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).

All set! Move over to the Game Area and join the new game and have fun!

The new Game World #4 will open on Sunday April 29th

» Pre-join now!

GW#4 is one of the four main and long airline sim games at AirwaySim. This time the starting year for GW#4 will be earlier than before, the time period is 1955 to 2035.

Your new airline in 1955 has plenty of opportunities with the arrival of new post-war piston-engined propliners and the first jets are not far away either. The first decades offer an interesting period in the history of air travel and you can continue to build up your airline empire into the future.

This game world, like all others, will include the cargo features powered by City Based Demand system. And as a twist from the normal random events in the system we shall also create more random (non-historical) events that affect the global economy and air travel demand.

You can already pre-join this upcoming game world. Go to the Game Area and you will find this new game waiting for you there. 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.

The opening time of this game world will be at approx. 15.00 UTC on Sunday 29th April. The first 24 hours of the game is static and the game clock will start on Monday.

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 initially 30 minutes per day but will speed up to 25 minutes per day in 1990.
• Passenger demand levels are much larger than in real history at the start of the game, especially in the early parts of the game.
• 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).

» Pre-join the game here

The short mini-game titled Regional Challenge has ended, and here are the usual final statistics. We'd like to thank all airline CEOs who participated.

The details of the next new scenario, Game World #4, will be announced shortly! And another shorter "challenge" game is also in the plans for May/June.

The new Beginner's World #1 scenario has been just opened.

This game series is aimed for all newbies and other players wishing to test different playing styles in an easier environment. The two beginner scenarios follow always the standard easy settings and same time frame as the previous beginner scenarios, and they restart about once every month.

This time the BW#1 scenario has new settings. The time era is now from 2010 to 2019. The full cargo features are also included as with all other new games from now on!

Play it here: https://www.airwaysim.com/game/?gView=263#game263

The new Beginner's World #2 scenario has been just opened.

This game series is aimed for all newbies and other players wishing to test different playing styles in an easier environment. The two beginner scenarios follow always the standard easy settings and same time frame as the previous beginner scenarios, and they restart about once every month.

We are now starting to roll the cargo features also to Beginner's scenarios, and this BW#2 game is the first one with cargo.

Play it here: https://www.airwaysim.com/game/?gView=261#game261

Aircraft database of current Game Worlds #1, #2 and #3 have been updated.

All aircraft models that have been added to master aircraft database since these game worlds have started have now been added to these running games. This means mostly the inclusion of the latest batches of cargo aircraft (but also some other models like DC-8-70s conversions). So each of these three main games have now the full and complete selection of every a/c model in the AirwaySim database.

Any data of any existing aircraft already in the database is not changed, so you may see different fuel usage or runway performance values for similar cargo and non-cargo models of the same fleet. (it's not a good idea to change the specs of any models already in use by players)

Please note that it will take several game months for the dynamic aircraft pricing to stabilize to correct levels for these newly added models, so at first their prices may differ from previous models in the fleet group.

Similar update rounds will be done in the future when more aircraft are added.