[Other] - LHR Heathrow Past Versions Idea

[Hirohitoswaifu]

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What is your suggestion?
London Heathrow is an iconic airport. The majority of people around the world know its name and it was for many years the busiest airport on the planet and in the 1960s to 1990s, Gatwick provided overflow for the airport due to so many airlines wanting to fly in there and no ability to handle them. There were laws in-place limiting flights, Bermuda Agreement II, just due to the airports size and prestige.

If and when Heathrow gets remodelled, it would be cool to have the option to revert the airport back to a previous rendition for gold as it’s undergone a lot of changes since the 1980s. Now I have no idea if this is even feasible but potentially being able to revert the airport back to 2015 or 2000 would allow for many different play-styles at one airport. I don’t know how contracts would work with this I’d say just leave them lol.

The reason for suggesting this is because I’ve been rampaging around historical LHR again (I like doing this with lots of world airports and cities, cool to see how things develop) and 2002/3 LHR would be cool to see, having the third runway and the old Terminal 1 and 2 with no Terminal 5.

Now Runway 23 wasn’t used that often at this point, I believe I read on the Pilot forum that the last aircraft to use it was an SAA 747 landing on it in 2003 but it’d be cool as an option.

Plus, so many interesting types at the airport which we don’t see today, Swiss MD-11, Delsey A332 from BRU,

Late 2014/Early 2015 LHR with operating Terminal 5 and 1,

2008/10 (Sadly no satellite view in 2009 but old Terminal 2 and new Terminal 5 existed together,

Early 1990s LHR Terminal 4 (BA Landor in full swing),

Terminal 2,

Terminal 2 looking at 27L in 2002,

2002 Jetphotos,

1993 Jetphotos,

2012 Jetphotos,

How would it work in the game?
So you’d have a new menu pop up when you click on Heathrow to open (Maybe you have to unlock SYD first before you get this menu popping up or maybe once you hit Level 84), it would give you the option to select the Heathrow you’d like to load, the current one being the main option and then the others underneath with their year as the button, each costing say 50 Gold or something (Each one could also maybe have their own small pass as well).

The years could be say,

• 2014/2015 (So you can have Terminal 1 and 5 together) or 2009 for the same reasons but old Terminal 2,
• 2002 (The final days of Concorde and Runway 23 plus the construction work for Terminal 5 would be a feature and BA at Terminal 4, BMI in full ops transitioning from British Midland),
• 1990-5 when the new Terminal 4 was no long opened in 1986 (If 1994/5 was picked you could have a host of MD-11’s as well as DC-10’s, B742’s, L1011’s, DC-9’s, MD80’s, Fokker’s, 737 Classics and -200’s and the newer A320 family. You’d also get older airlines like Air UK, British Midland and Dan Air as locals, Swissair, Sabena and many others as regionals and the likes of TWA, maybe Pan Am if 1991 (Though ofc this is unlikely due to copyright and licensing), Continental, Olympic and much more. Also if 1991, BA’s L1011’s still flew until that October.
• 1980 (This might be a stretch to find images to properly model it) you’d have a host of older generation aircraft including the Trident for BA and ofc the Negus livery.

Why is this a good idea?
What improvement would this bring? Better usability, realism, fun factor, accessibility?

Heathrow I find to be a royal pain at the moment and even though you get a lot of options with the airports contracts, it lacks diversity locally (Especially if you’re a new player starting out at the airport and just have BA E170s/RJ100s which has become a bit of a running joke in the community).

This would provide players with more ways to play the airport, shouldn’t be a massive amount of work for the devs (I’m guessing as the likes of Terminal 3 would remain the same, some cameras would have to be moved but the majority would also be able to remain (Terminal 5 camera would have to go for the 1990s option and Terminal 4’s for the 1980 option aswell as the control tower having to be moved for pre 2006 versions).

The big amount of work would be contracts, having to set up and work out which airlines would be around and which types would too but honestly I’d just leave it. Give players the choice but add the older contracts only available in those time periods.

This might be a mad idea but could be cool. With the arrival of the 747 Classics, there looks to be more classic types on the horizon and they’d perfectly fit into these time periods with new liveries and colours. Plus players who don’t wish to do these time periods don’t have to but it would open the gate for players who would and would show younger players old aviation.

Let me know what you think. This could be applied to other airports too like potentially a Sydney in 2000 for Ansett and other interesting types, or for Zurich around the same time period with the old style terminal and Swissair in full with MD-11s galore or GRU with the VASP and VARIG spam of the early 2000s and the tighter packed airport stands.

Optional: Image or reference
LHR 1 Hour 1999, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTuBsi0NvZE

1997 (6.35 if you’re after the planes, before is shots of inside the airport and people moving about), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFw0ljK62Gc

August 1990, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5rSk1-5gaU

1990s playlist, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fosG8SukkMc&list=PLW3s3jsjwy3jQwTnnSSrhKzGZN73v1trw

2000, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SbFhmPc6D4

2005, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcyUYB_FRyI

3 Concordes in a row in late 2003, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g99fG4TbNCc

Chap telling you the history in 2006 if of interest (Some cool planes), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgW0kjpT3GM

2010-2015 was when I was massively into aviation haha so this is the era I’d love to replicate and why I’m big into Terminal 1 era being an option (BMI till 2012 would be ideal though having both 1 and 5 would be perfect),

2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIRwdZIejYk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scizEpDDuF8

2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyl3lOlMxZU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El-EgivCWb8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF-7vCEso_0

2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inNLxT2-DfU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RzJlX14yqA

[Pizza_711]

I wholeheartedly agree with this! I honestly think lhrs layout was so much more interesting back when everything wasn’t so “linear”. And it’s about to get a lot less interesting with t3 getting replaced with more t2 and t5 extensions. The version I would like to see the most is that 2012-2015 era, where t1 and t2 were both in operation, and t2 had that connector bridge from the main terminal to the satellite.

[Hirohitoswaifu]

That’s exactly the era I’d love to see too, I’m thinking 2009 just because of Terminal 5 being built and Terminal 2 still keeping its old shape with the larger amount of C stands. One of the problems I find with LHR (One of the many lmao) is the lack of C stands especially at Terminal 2.

2014 LHR had the new Terminal 2 but old Terminal 1,

2008 LHR had the old Terminal 2 and 1 and also had Terminal 5 up and running bar Concourse C which was being built as the new section of Terminal 2 was just beginning construction. Would love Terminal 5 in full but Terminal 1/2 not starting construction but ofc that sadly wasn’t how it was. Devs could do that though .

[Hirohitoswaifu]

To add to this while I’m thinking about it, this is an idea for Heathrow as it’s the one with the most changes but Sydney could be an option for a 2000 version as I put above. Not much visually different as per the Google Earth below but the change in local liveries and airlines could be very interesting and something cool to add to the end of the pass,

Jetphotos 2000, 2001.

GRU is another contender both visually with the airport and liveries/airlines on offer. Here’s 2001 GRU,

Jetphotos 2001,

Potentially 2006 (Jetphotos),

Zurich could be an idea as could the likes of IAD and MSY but for all of these up to 2000 which is when the Google Earth disappears, there isn’t that much visually different except you get less. LHR, especially in 2008, you get a different layout with maybe less E stands and definitely less F stands, but you’d get loads more C stands and 757 stands too.

Might be sparking a new idea here

[DHC8]

This could be an idea for another APP though

Maybe WOA Retro or something since the devs have expressed interest in Kai Tak

[Hirohitoswaifu]

It’s an idea. I think Kai Tak was going to be part of this game though rather than separate, I could be wrong about that however. It could be a good way of creating more income for the devs for those of us who have no interest in spending real cash on our own fleets. Instead could spend cash on reverting an airport to an earlier time period.

[Pizza_711]

Well if were talking about the idea of a retro version of WOA, I think having Zurich from the late 90s/ early 2000s would be cool; no E gates, widebody A gates, and larger B gates would make for a unique experience

I also think 2000s mct, scl, 90s san, iad would provide some pretty unique gameplay as well with a layout and contracts that are pretty different than the ones we see today

[Jose123]

Modern things are better; it’s good to cherish the past, but only there, because everything evolves and changes for a reason. Regards

[Jamesonplanes]

Would love this, I’m currently about a year in to making an LHR realistic flight route list with Flight numbers and aircraft from 2018, feels like yesterday but was somehow 8 years ago! Been doing it for about a year on and off, done about 2/3 of it, haven’t touched it in 5 months lol, I’ll get back to it in summer.

[Tanman]

Honestly, I do like this idea, and to go along with what @Pizza_711 said, they would need to do a “historical” setting(s) for every airport, not Just LHR. What I’m thinking that would entail is just the airport layout from the certain year, and then contracts that would have been available and realistic at that time.
Overall this is a fantastic idea though.

[ukplanespotter757]

That might be your opinion, but a lot of us here like to mix a bit of past and present. We all play in our own styles at the end of the day, if you aren’t a fan of older aircraft and liveries then don’t use them. You just carry on playing in your own way.

[horsepowergeek]

Not everything new is better….

[Hirohitoswaifu]

Oh I see,

#32 – Devblog after Update 3.5.0

Perhaps that’s how it is for you, but I know that many like me want to see iconic aircraft like the Tri-Star, the older variants of the B747, the B727, B717, and the older Airbuses, I’m sure of it.

[Pizza_711]

I get where you’re coming from, but saying an airport flooded with a321neos is better than an airport flooded with classics 747s is quite the opinion indeed…

[DHC8]

Tbf some people like realism while others like nostalgia

To each their own I guess

But honestly I still think another game will be a better idea because realistically the game is slowing down quite drastically sometimes with each added airport, the memory of the game only grows larger and ultimately you’ll have two versions of the same airport.

But at the end of the day it’s the devs who decide what they want for their app