Playable Airport Rankings Post

General discussion
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We used to do fairly regular airport rankings over in the Hot Takes thread, but since these often aren’t as hot of takes, and its been a few months (April is the latest I can find) I think its time to do these again especially with more and more folks finishing HKG. I’ve tiered my rankings again and tried to theme them.

F Tier – Insurmountable Problems

17 – PRG – The taxi times even for C aircraft are just too long to really enjoy it. This airport also needs an update as a lot of the stands are just copy paste from the SMLX system still without anyplace to park D planes. (-3)

16 – CNN – I just can’t get behind this airport. The taxiways aren’t right, the terminal isn’t right. I get that this wasn’t the goal with generic airports but I can’t get past it. The changing runway direction is a novelty, and so that gets it ahead of PRG for now. (NEW)

D Tier – The Negatives Outweighs the Benefits

15 – LHR – This airport always feels empty and the runway capacities don’t match anywhere close to the tarmac capacity. With no variety in local contracts either, this airport is perhaps one that has aged worse than any others. (-5)

14 – BKK – The cargo terminal especially suffers from poor taxi times, but a lot of the poor taxi times for passenger aircraft can be mitigated with the stand blocking mechanics. It’s an improvement over where it was, but if you want a big airport experience, this is still one of the lesser experiences in the game. (-3)

C Tier – Good airports that need updating to modern systems.

13 – NGO – Its hard for me to rank this airport so low, but the old model, lack of dedicated D stands, and other modern improvements to the game like overlapping stands makes this airport feel too dated. It’s a good airport and HKG being added recently is great for connectivity. (-5)

12 – SAN – this airport runs super smoothly, has good connections, but the visuals, older stand models, and improper cargo location are issues with this airport. Perhaps when it’s remodeled we’ll also get the new terminal! (-5)

11 – LEJ – this airport suffers from some poor taxi times and runs fairly slowly, but with some of the new cargo aircraft the variety is improving. I want to see this model updated with dedicated D stands, overlapping stands, and some of the modern improvements, but the premium pass giving some unique planes puts it near the top of this tier. (+1)

10 – IAD – this airport flows well, connects to the vast majority of playable airports, but the lack of realism (no D/E stands in the domestically terminal for 757s, 767s, and 777s detracts from the airport. This airport would also be improved by overlapping stands, especially in said domestic terminal. (-4)

9 – MCT – this is a long time top 3 airport for me. Its still the only airport in game that connect to every other playable airport in game, but the fact that it hasn’t been updated with some more modern features (combined stands, overlapping stands, and D stands) makes it feel like it needs a touch up. (-6)

B Tier – Oh So Close

8 – BRI – This airport is beginning to creep up my rankings again. Despite some of the taxi times being on the long side, stands 201 and 205 being combined stands and the fact that this is one of the few older airports with dedicated D stands makes it feel relevant in the current state of the game. If they added the 3 C/D stands that exist IRL as overlapping stands with 201 and 205, this airport would get a chef’s kiss! (+5)

7 – SYD – The recent updates to this airport with the dedicated B and D stands, overlapping stands, combined stands on the terminal, a new cargo pad, combined with the A21NY allowing C connections here has this right on the edge of being an A tier airport for me. I want more B/C aircraft to be useful in player connections as that’s where this airport shines, but it’s so much better than it was at release. (+2)

A Tier – Enjoyable Airports

6 – INN – beautiful airport that now has two cargo stands and a dedicated stand improves both contract variety and player contract potential. This airport fills and runs smoothly, and has excellent views! (-1)

5 – MSY – A medium airport with excellent connections to most playable airports in game. Flows decently, especially when focusing on C contracts which is where this airport shines. The two different terminals is an interesting visual contrast as well. (-1)

4 – GRU – Despite the frequent runway crossings for arriving planes this airport still flows relatively nicely. I love the overlapping stands, dedicated stands for all sizes, and the flexibility of the combined stands. The connectivity is good, but it does tend to feel somewhat empty because of the runway operations. That said, having a large cargo terminal in South America is a nice plus after so long of only having LEJ! (-1)

S Tier – Personal Favorites

3 – HKG – I almost put this as #2. So much about this airport is so good – ranging from dedicated stands for all sizes, the traffic flow is stellar, a large cargo apron for Asia is huge. I wish combined stands where a thing for the central parking area, and I do wish more overlapping stands were included for the remote stands, so that I could park small C planes away from T1 and T2 more frequently. (NEW!)

2 – SXM – this airport is still my favorite for contract variety and livery spotting. Can’t beat those Caribbean airlines and their prop planes. The combined stands allow for a lot of fleet flexibility, and the runway backtracking adds some interesting strategy where you can out optimize the ATC features if you do it yourself. (-1)

1 – SCL – I have a new favorite airport! The flow is incredible. Two landings running straight into terminals make the airport get going fast, and I love the variety of stands and overlapping stands. Cargo terminal is a bit small, and I wish there was dedicated D gates, but these drawbacks just don’t beat how smooth this airport runs. In addition, its more manageable size keeps it feeling fuller than HKG does in my opinion. (NEW!)

Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s rankings and airport tiers! And kudos to the devs, pretty much every airport ranked 13+ in the game is one that I enjoy, which isn’t something that I felt a year ago, so great work on everything and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

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Overall, I agree with your list! Great selection! But in the end, there’s something for everyone – I don’t think everyone would rank SXM so highly.

A small side note:

You can reach any airport not only from MCT, but also from IAD, SAN and MSY. :slight_smile:

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Azul’s Airbus A330Neo, please. This is the best game of airplanes

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As far as I am aware, there are no C or D aircraft that can fly MSY / iAD > CNN, Am I missing something?

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Oh, you’re right. I completely forgot about CNN. :frowning: At least you can say that if an airport can handle E, then IAD, MSY and SAN are included. :slight_smile:

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Wait… SAN > LEJ is possible with an E aircraft? I need to get a connection on that route then! I’m mostly only doing LEJ as a cargo airport but I like collecting all the player connections possible as well.

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Hmm good question tbh

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Nice list and I agree with most of it except I would put msy in C or D because of the lack of scenery and planes taking a long time to vacate the runway and I would put sxm in B tier because of the backtracking( which is necessary but annoying). Also I would put lhr and bkk higher because in my opinion the positives(tons of profit) outweigh the negatives. And lhr can be quite the fun airport to play if you let a bunch of planes land first before handling them.

Also for @Thatflyerguy @ukplanespotter757 shouldn’t these posts go in the WOA hot takes thread because that is where the other airport rankings are

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These are fair criticisms of the airport. I just don’t feel like it fits in D as the taxi times more than make up for the runway exit times in my opinion, and the 3D scenery is going to be somewhat limited just because of its IRL location. I do agree it could use some improvements, and maybe justifies dropping it back to the C tier. Once a bunch of other airports get remodeled I fully expect to do that.

I actually don’t mind the backtracking, especially as we’ve gotten more planes that don’t backtrack at SXM (F100s FTW!) or have better stats and shorter backtracks (B753s for example). Definitely the closest thing to a hot take on my list for sure.

My issue with LHR / BKK based on profitability, is if that’s the core part of the rankings, then the big airports will be at the top and the small airports are at the bottom. At the end of the day, pretty much every airport can make you more Wollars and SP you’ll ever need, and ultimately – LHR and BKK don’t match up with the other airports for me, but I understand that not everyone has the same priorities.

I reached out to UK before posting this, and they recommended making a new post unless egregiously a hot take, which I don’t really thing this is. Leave the hot takes for the hot takes, and move this to be its own collection of chat. May be worth dragging all the old rankings lists into this one though!

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I disagree with SXM i would stick it in F or even lower, Horrible taxiways, lack of D, E and F stands and worst of all ONLY 3 CARGO STANDS. Sure the scenery is great but it is massively outweigh the cons of SXM.

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I figured this would be the most dividing pick that I had.

I think sticking it into the F tier completely misses the point of the airport. It’s not supposed to be a D/E/F focused airport ) though to be fair, with some D planes using the shorter backtrack than E planes, it can flow really nicely with a sizable amount of D planes. The airport shines with B, short runway C, and short runway D aircraft.

If you don’t like flying those planes and want to spam A388s, then it’s not a good airport for you. If you’re looking for an airport where your smaller planes can shine – this is the king of those airports. I like the variety, so I’ve tried to sprinkle airports with various strengths, weaknesses, and sizes throughout my rankings because spamming E/F planes all day is just boring.

SXM is an incredibly unique airport with its contracts available, the planes that function well for a fleet here, and has perhaps the most unique operating scheme to manage from an active playing perspective. For me, that’s worth rewarding and makes it such a great change of pace as a player.

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I respect the list, but I don’t share it; I disagree.

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Everyone else should share your own! Its fun to compare people’s lists!

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Thought I would compile my own personal ranked list of airports in WoA, ranked ‘worst’ to ‘best’. For context in this list, I play purely with real-to-life contracts, gates, and operations, so I play all airports just like how they operate in real life, so my list will be skewed in that way.

These rankings will be based on the criteria of “Contracts (and the pass contracts)”, “Layout (Operations)”, “Enjoyment”, “Realism (layout)”.

Also, I currently do not yet own LEJ or BKK, so I cannot speak on those.

I say all of this with love to the devs, I still enjoy every airport, I’m just giving my pure truthful feedback here.

Let me know what y’all think!

F Tier - Generally just unenjoyable to play:

15th - Kannur (CNN):

CNN was our first generic airport, so I felt like I had to buy it. It flows perfectly fine, and looks fine enough. Obviously it’s not going to be realistic, because it is a GENERIC airport, so that doesn’t bug me very much. The thing that really gets me is the lack of real life contracts. CNN serves a grand total of TWO airlines in realize life, IndiGo and Air India Express, which to be fair is the fault of the Indian government, but as a realism player, it leads to extreme boredom, and I gave up on this airport after like level 10. The only saving grace for this airport for me is the realistic changing runways based off of METAR / ATIS data, which I actually LOVE a lot, but I really just don’t prefer to play this airport. I played it for about four hours when it came out and it haven’t touched it since.

Layout Realism: 1/10

Contracts: 1/10

Pass Contracts: 2/10

Operations: 5/10

Enjoyment: 2/10

14th - São Paulo (GRU):

GRU was one of the most anticipated airports to be added to WoA, but honestly, I don’t get the hype. The real-world layout of the airport is honestly horrible IMO, with the two runways always having to cross one another, long taxi times, and with the amount of shared stands you have, you feel like you have lots of stands, but you really don’t. The local airlines aren’t that interesting to me, and the rewarded contracts you get from the pass (besides the Varig 763) are honestly just kinda meh to be honest. I dunno, I know some people like this airport, and the devs did a really good job recreating this one from real life, but in my opinion, this one just ain’t it for me.

Layout Realism: 9/10

Contracts: 5/10

Pass Contracts: 4/10

Operations: 2/10

Enjoyment: 3/10

D Tier - Not necessarily my favorites:

13th - Muscat (MCT):

MCT honestly isn’t a bad airport, I know it’s a lot of people’s favorites, it’s really well made and it looks nice, but honestly it’s just never been for me. The local airlines aren’t too great IMO, I really dislike SalamAir’s livery for some reason, and Oman Air just doesn’t really excite me that much to be honest. The airport operates fairly smoothly, and it has some unique regional contracts that you can’t get at any other airports, but between the location, airlines, and design, I’m just not that big of a fan.

Layout Realism: 6 /10

Contracts: 5/10

Pass Contracts: 6 /10

Operations: 5/10

Enjoyment: 3/10

12th - London Heathrow (LHR):

LHR was another highly anticipated airport, and it does have its perks, but there are a few big killers IMO. Firstly, the ground ops have always felt a bit slow and clunky, with two runways and lots of crossings, it just becomes mind-numbing trying to deal with all of the aircraft. Secondly, the local contract availability is absolutely abysmal, with the possibility of only getting a BA E170 or E190 every time you roll the local contract. Also, the surrounding scenery could be a lot better, as it is mainly just flat grassland, which is pretty unrealistic. Lastly, it’s insane to me that we don’t have ANY rare/special liveries as rewards for the pass at LHR, especially the fact that we don’t have even one rewarded Concorde contract. It would be really nice if we could at least just a BA Concorde to JFK contract. Overall, okay airport, but lots of things could be better.

Layout Realism: 7 /10

Contracts: 4/10

Pass Contracts: 3/10

Operations: 4/10

Enjoyment: 4/10

C Tier - I’ll play them every once in a while, they are nothing special, but fine:

11th - Innsbruck (INN):

INN is a very ‘satisfactory’ airport. It doesn’t do anything well, it doesn’t do anything bad. It is perfect as a ‘tutorial’ airport, but I honestly think that’s kinda all it is. It is really hard to play realistically, because IRL it only has like 4 year-round routes, so it plays really slowly. The only big thing it’s missing is General Aviation, as INN has a lot of flight training and corporate aviation that operates out of there, so having GA would help this airport a lot and make it more interesting. Another little thing I have is it would be nice to get at least one special livery reward from the pass, maybe like an retro Austrian A320. Overall, good airport, just nothing special.

Layout Realism: 9/10

Contracts: 5/10

Pass Contracts: 2/10

Operations: 5/10

Enjoyment: 5/10

10th - Nagoya (NGO):

I’m not the first to say it, but NGO desperately needs a rework. Its stands are completely inaccurate, and definitely needs help. It’s a somewhat unique airport, with some cool contracts. When the Boeing Dreamlifter is added, I hope we get it as a permanent contract as a reward from the pass. The airport is decent overall, nothing big to say here.

Layout Realism: 3/10

Contracts: 5/10

Pass Contracts: 4/10

Operations: 5/10

Enjoyment: 4/10

9th - Prague (PRG):

PRG can be a fun one. It has some pretty interesting IRL contracts, so you can have a lot of airline diversity. It does have some long taxi times however, and the gates are fairly unrealistic. The rewarded contracts are honestly pretty meh, and could definitely use a few special liveries. Prague, in my experience, is that airport that you randomly go play for a few days every couple months. It’s not great, it’s not terrible. It’s overall a good airport.

Layout Realism: 7/10

Contracts: 4/10

Pass Contracts: 2/10

Operations: 5/10

Enjoyment: 5/10

B Tier - Overall good airports, just missing a couple of things:

8th - Sint Maarten-Princess Juliana (SXM):

SXM is just great. Great layout, great scenery, great aircraft, great contracts. But it is SLOOOOOW to play. If you want a busy, fast paced airport with lots of heavies, this one ain’t for you. One big thing SXM lacks however is General Aviation. Like I said for INN, most of the traffic to and from SXM is GA, so we really need to get that into the game. Overall, beautiful airport, super fun to play, just really needs GA.

Layout Realism: 9/10

Contracts: 8/10

Pass Contracts: 4/10

Operations: 5/10

Enjoyment: 6/10

7th - New Orleans-Louis Armstrong (MSY):

I would consider MSY a generally pretty solid airport, but it is not the most diverse, that’s for sure. The airports looks fine, gates are pretty accurate, and its nice that they include both the current terminal and the old retired terminal. But like I said, if you are playing realistically, you get a LOT of 737s and A320s, and that’s about it. You get a little bit of cargo, little to no light or heavy aircraft, with the only real-world Heavies being the FDX B763 and the BAW B772. It’s a good airport, but good lord is it a grind, it can definitely become boring quick. The rewarded contracts are very nice though, especially the Southwest Retro 737 Max, I love having current special liveries as rewarded contracts, makes the airport feel more alive. Overall, good airport, just very grindy.

Layout Realism: 8/10

Contracts: 3/10

Pass Contracts: 8/10

Operations: 5/10

Enjoyment: 7/10

6th - Bari (BRI):

Bari is pretty good. It’s a nice, realistic, and actually relaxing airport to play. The pass contracts are rather meh, taxi times can be long, and like INN and SXM, it needs General Aviation. But it’s a nice airport to play, especially in the evening while you eat dinner or study. Overall, great airport, not many comments here.

Layout Realism: 8/10

Contracts: 5/10

Pass Contracts: 2/10

Operations: 8/10

Enjoyment: 7/10

5th - Washington-Dulles (IAD):

IAD would EASILY be in my top 3 if it wasn’t for one thing. This airports stand layout is so horribly outdated and unrealistic. I genuinely want to play the heck out of this airport, but the lack of M stands in the center terminal, L stands at the united terminal, and shared stands throughout, just completely kills the realism for me, which makes me not want to play it. Literally everything else about it is incredible, its just the stands that throw me off.

Layout Realism: 2/10

Contracts: 9/10

Pass Contracts: 9/10

Operations: 9/10

Enjoyment: 4/10

A Tier - Great Airports / Personal Favorites

4th - Santiago (SCL):

SCL is really, really well done, and criminally underrated. The layout is nice, the airline variety is decent, the scenery is fine, the rewarded contracts are great. Where this airport falls short is for a few reasons. Because it is the next in line after GRU, it feels repetitive, as both airports are in a similar location and have similar airlines and contracts. Also, this airport really needs its military presence that it has in real life. IRL, the Chilean Air Force has an Airbase there, and aircraft such as C-130s, KC-135s, UH-60s, UH-1s, F-16s, and F-5s are common sights at SCL, so having those guys operate out of SCL would be great. Overall very good and very underrated airport.

Layout Realism: 9/10

Contracts: 7/10

Pass Contracts: 8/10

Operations: 9/10

Enjoyment: 8/10

3rd - San Diego (SAN):

This might seem like a weird pick to be this high, but god I love playing SAN. Yes I am biased, because I grew up on the West Coast of the USA, so all of the liveries are familiar and nostalgic to me (similar to PDX) But SAN is a really good airport in my eyes. Good contracts, good scenery, good location. Yes, the layout is pretty unrealistic, but hopefully it gets remodeled soon. The pass could use some rewarded contracts, too, maybe some Alaska and Southwest special liveries. Overall, another really fun and underrated airport, can’t wait until they update this one with the new layout and some special livery rewarded contracts.

Layout Realism: 4/10

Contracts: 8/10

Pass Contracts: 6/10

Operations: 9/10

Enjoyment: 9/10

2nd - Hong Kong - Chek Lap Kok (HKG):

This will probably be my number one soon, but I’m just not very far along in this one yet, I only have like 10 contracts and level 12. From what I’ve seen so far though, absolutely impeccable airport. Layout is perfect, scenery is perfect, airline and contract diversity is insanely good, and the SEVEN rewarded special livery contracts you get is just the cherry on top, wish we had that many for every airport haha. I think after playing this one a bit longer it’ll be my number one. However, one big problem a lot of people have pointed out is the lack of local widebody contracts, which is a big problem. My only other complaint is I don’t think there are enough camera locations for an airport of this size. Overall, absolute masterpiece, very well done on this one, devs.

Layout Realism: 10/10

Contracts: 9/10

Pass Contracts: 10/10

Operations: 9/10

Enjoyment: 9/10

1st - Sydney-Kingsford Smith (SYD):

SYD is what an airport should be in WoA. It’s perfect. Scenery? Great. Layout? Great. Contracts? Great. This airport does everything right. The aircraft diversity is amazing, having both lots of Saabs and Dash-8s, as well as lots of narrow body jets, as well as lots of heavies, ah, it’s perfect. Also the rewarded special livery contracts are great, too. My only complaint is not being able to use the far runway for arrivals. Overall, SYD is my personal favorite airport in game right now. It’s just so so so so so well done.

Layout Realism: 10/10

Contracts: 10/10

Pass Contracts: 9/10

Operations: 8/10

Enjoyment: 9/10

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Interesting :face_with_monocle:… two different rankings

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I pretty much agree with your ranking, GRU as much as it’s a really pretty airport just really sucks and feels like a chore to play. Only difference I’d have in my list is firstly SAN would go to 14th because even though it’s a really pretty airport, it sucks to operate in and like GRU feels like a chore but GRU has the added advantage of more stands and a more unique location. SAN feels like a poor mans MSY :laughing:.

Secondly, I’d swap LHR and NGO, I find NGO to be a real bore of an airport with added awful scenery (The worst looking airport imo) however it’s got a decent flow and plenty of opporunities, LHR goes up because it’s a British airport (Bias I know :laughing:), if we got MAN it’d drop massively lol - It both needs those special contracts and needs something more than BA at the airport, the E170 roll is really painful, especially for local and regional contracts.

Finally, INN and BRI would jump up to SAN’s position, BRI in 2nd, INN in 3rd. Why? Cause I love them and I can’t put a finger on it. INN just has a really fun location and a nostalgia about being airport no.1 whereas BRI scratches that missing Med/Canaries holiday airport which I so desire.

Lovely list, well done.

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Poor devs… :confused: but GRU is really a bad layout airport

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A better choice would’ve been Rio’s GIG airport but it’s a lot larger even though it has likely the same amount of stands and also only 2 runways. I’m probably wrong here but it seems that GRU was picked for its compactness. I feel it’ll get better if we get more airline variety there and the wind direction swap. Will resort in shorter taxi times.

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São Paulo is more north, right? Maybe they chose this because of the range for new SCL players to make B contracts to GRU, but your right, GIG would’ve been a better choice/option

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It’s really interesting to see your rankings as you play different than I do. I barely use AI contracts and don’t care about contract realism at all. The extent I care about AI contracts is with the locals and as long as it isn’t “this airport is BA for 40 levels”, I’m willing to ignore and consider them adequate unless the liveries really stand out to me.

I hope one day we have more player connections for B/C aircraft at SYD. I agree with you that the airport is almost perfect, but as someone who values player connectivity more than anything, not being able to send planes A21NX and small to players is a non-starter for me to want to play this regularly.

I’m also glad to see you singing the praises of SAN. It’s a longtime favorite for me just because of its simplicity and how little I have to wait to start it when I open it up with the runway dumping planes directly into the terminal.

Thanks for sharing your perspective!

(Also - yes please we need GA yesterday for all these airports. It would add realism to airports as small as SXM and even to the larger ones such as IAD! Would be lovely…)

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