Here are my personal opinions…
FYI I only stick with airline contracts and try to play it a more realistic way, just like it is somewhat reasonable to ask British Airways to fly an A388 to a Chinese major city (SZX, NKG, HGH, XIY, CKG… even they don’t fly to these destinations, but you can imagine there could be a market with travel demand to London) but it would never be a good case to fly an American B77W between MSY and LEJ, who will be on this flight? I am also very open to buy more ground crew with GPs. The rating is also very associated with the way I play the game, keep that in mind.
>D Family
SXM (D)
My rating: D
I do love the beautiful view and that is the only reason I give a [D] instead of [D-]. So at least this is very positive.
Many people mentioned the backtrack but the very short [Buffer Zone] between takeoff waiting spot and terminal area is also very frustrating. You can barely squeeze in two large jets without blocking certain planes on the way to the ramp.
At the time of the release due to ATC function was not available, SXM was more fun to play since it was not that tiring. But now the fact is the only time I want to play with SXM is the time I would like to really enjoy myself in the sights rather than airport itself.
Still SXM is a very interesting airport. I would like it to be in the game, sitting there, then wait until when people are thinking about doing the same thing as I do.
Rating after a potential rework/update: D+
If all the C, and B757 planes exit the runway at the exit in real operation instead of the current one, I would like to give it a [D+]. It cannot solve many hardcore problems but mitigate some. And if I am not wrong it will also have an additional A stand, which is better than nothing.
INN (D+)
My rating: D+
INN also comes with beautiful view like SXM and the runway operation are somehwat better than SXM (the backtaxi problem exists but no significant impact on efficiency). And this earns INN a [D+].
However, the problem with [Buffer Zone] still exists (but not very heavy since there is no E class jets here at INN). And there are no enough ground facilities which may cause delays in handling, quite weird for an airport intended for newcomers in the game.
Rating after a potential rework/update: C-
If it is possible to have enough ground facilities with a reversed direction of runway operation I would definitely give it a [C-].
>C Family
PRG (C-)
My rating: C-
Sorry to put devs home airport here. This does not necessarily means I don’t like this airport (of course all others mentioned there). This should just be a tier list for best resource mining maybe?
Many people mentioned the terrible taxi time. I also need to point out the not so good [Buffer Zone] (I take it important because if you have large buffer zone you can opt for higher arrival ratio which will increase the amount of planes you can handle in a period of time). Very limited cargo stands (and even passenger E/F stands, but this is more to be a problem of the airport itself) also make play PRG a not pleasant experience.
Rating after a potential rework/update: C+(If all stands are up to real-life data, plus all stands around Terminal 3)/A+(Based on Prague 2035)
I would like to see a rework of PRG in the future with stands around T3 to be added (even that means very, very long taxi time), this will make this airport at least with more options to play with.
If we do see Prague 2035 be a reality, I do think PRG can be jumped to [A Family]. Two separate runways, many E/F gates with shard stands, what you can complain for?
SAN (C-)
My rating: C-
Many things in SAN are how you don’t want the game to be. Potential planes taxing blocking arriving planes, runway exits for many B/C planes are based on their terminals rather than using the shortest possible (due to the taxiway limitation). Very limited gates for E/F planes as well. Not very enough ground staff to handle all the planes…
One very good thing about SAN that people barely mention is the very large [Buffer Zone] for taking off planes so it is very unlikely any departing wave blocks the taxiway for inbound planes .It is also a good airport with short taxi time, which many mentioned in past times.
A recent update brings in multiple D stands in existing T1 and T2, saving it from D family but still cannot move it to a better location. I am waiting for the new T1 update patiently. Will be very happy to revisit SAN again.
Rating after a potential rework/update: C(Based on current T1 stage 1 and rework on T3, cargo terminal)/B(Based on future T1 stage 2)
When new T1 is fully complete (or devs make it happen before its time), there will be dual taxiways to boost the runway efficiency further and the Stage 2 Pier will have multiple shared gates with more E class gates to accommodate international arrivals.
BRI (C)
Yes, I put it slight higher than PRG, a shorter taxi time contributes to that, and the [Buffer Zone] in BRI is also larger.
The taxi route in this small airport is also efficient so I do play this airport regularly. The downside is mainly about the lack of ground crew, hope a later update will allow us to have more.
Rating after a potential rework/update: C+
There are few more stands to be added in BRI and we will generally have more ground crews to handle 1 additional plane, better than nothing, still.
MSY (C)
MSY may not be a bad airport when you have a first look into it, but after you sorted out how this airport works, it is bad now.
Only selected gates have access to the second runway perpendicular to the main runway for B/C planes to take off and you want to avoid those ones will lead the plane to the main runway for better efficiency.
All D/E/F planes will take off from the main runway but that is not a big problem for me. There is a huge [Buffer Zone] on both sides so you can opt for the extreme thing, set arrival/departure ratio to 5:1.
My stat now is that you probably have 7-10 C planes on the ground being handled at the same time if you carefully assign planes to the gates that have access to the second runway.
One thing particularly good about MSY is that you won’t have to worry about ground crews, generally enough in all cases.
Rating after a potential rework/update: N/A
There is probably nothing to be updated in MSY and I don’t know any expansion plan.
NGO (C+)
My rating: C+
Yeah, I know, Nagoya does not look that bad to be in [C family]. There are decent amount of cargo stands (all larger stands up to F), and plenty of passenger stands (all up to F for those with jetbridges). Taxi time is very great and there is a huge [Buffer Zone] for outbound planes… Sounds good?
But if you play it so long you may find out why.
There are no enough ground staff handling the vast amount of airplanes flying in so most of them just park there doing nothing. The single runway is also a bottleneck when you buy a lot of ground crews, ahhh… Only 1 runway after all!
You also miss a very great feature that could make the airport so different from other airports: Domestic widebodies from the big two carriers (JL and NH). Having more widebodies could mitigate the issue of runway.
Rating after a potential rework/update: C+(If all gates are adjusted to real life sizes)/B(If we have access to JL/NH domestic widebodies)
There should be a rework of NGO without any doubt but just making all the stands same as real life sizes does not change the problem with the airport after all. I think this airport can be moved to a B tier if we can access JL/NH widebodies on local contracts. This will be a true game changer.
How about the second runway? Just have a look and you know what I would like to say.
SYD (C+)
My rating: C+
Sorry again to give it C+ even I am an Aussie.
Some people may think I am giving it a too low rating. So yeah, even it is big and looks great, there are so many factors dragging it back. But the problem is nothing about the airport, terminals, or stands, it is all about the runway operation.
The airport is divided into two parts, international and domestic. Almost every widebody (which of course mostly international flights except the ones for Perth, I also even make widebodies to NZ and other pacific islands to be handled at the domestic side) access international terminal and therefore only one runway is used for landing and take off for all international flights. The main runway also has literally none [Buffer Zone] making planes accessing cargo stands and even those A380 jetbridges predominantly used by Qantas in real life barely accessible.
The core of the problem is beyond that, all the inbound planes for domestic terminal also land on the same runway and take off from the another runway.
So there is a choice for all players:
-Focus on the domestic side, to make full use of the two runways, which will result in a waste in ground staff.
-Focus on the international side, to make full use of the ground crews, which will result in a waste in runway slots available.
I tried to balance but the best solution is always going extreme on either side. Oh damn, either of them are silly!
Rating after a potential rework/update: A(Making two sides using two runways separately)
There is not many things to be done, the gates were recently updated and I appreciate this, but just a small change in runway operation could make everything different. That’s plenty of it. The expansion of SYD is still unknown in details so I won’t discuss that.
>B Family
GRU (B)
My rating: B
GRU is very good in ground crew numbers and balanced in passenger and cargo. But there are two significant issues making it bad.
I think the most obvious problem with it is the compatibility with ATC and if you activate departure basically the ATC will only prioritize takeoffs, which is very annoying. So the only solution is to manually control the departures, which is very, very, very tiring when I played GRU from LV 1 to MAX.
Another issue is also with the [Buffer Zone], so there might be significant outbound planes on the taxiway, attempting to access the runway, block inbound planes to their stands.
If you have a method to negotiate around the two (and don’t mind of course), it can be in the A family, but sadly I don’t think I can ignore the two issues.
Rating after a potential rework/update: A+(Updated ATC logic for runway pairs)
If the ATC can really do 1/1 arrival/departure ratio in a runway pair that would one of the best airport to play with from my perspective. It will also be a game changer for all players.
MCT (B+)
My rating: B+
It used to be B- but an update adjusting the runway operation and runway crossing (it has changed, check it out, but it does not mean it isn’t a bottleneck anymore) make it to be in a better tier.
Loads of E/F gates and in a really efficient layout is the upper hand, plus we have access to many A388s from regional level is also amazing. We have plenty of widebodies to play with in the mid game is a big booster.
The ground crew is slightly lower than what we actually need is a bad thing. No enough cargo stands is also a problem.
Rating after a potential rework/update: A-(Updated stands according to real life)
I have checked the latest satellite image and I think there will be more stands (including shared stands/gates) and therefore more ground crews. We will also have additional flexibility since there are also D gates available. This will somewhat boost the grinding experience.
LEJ (B+)
My rating: B+
I love to deal with cargo airport from my point, LEJ is the place I would love to play with (remember cargo planes comes with better rewards than passenger counterparts). Two runways are also good for the game as well.
Many people has mentioned the problem, lack of ground staff. I also found I may probably need 300+ to keep this airport has a great flow. But now I only have around 150, who knows how many do we really need!
Rating after a potential rework/update: A(Updated stands according to real life)
Reworking the airport will make us have more shared stands, especially at the passenger terminal side, the number could be somewhat good since we can get more ground crews (perhaps 25+). We will also have many, many, many D stands for cargo(replacing the current ones with C and E), this may not be that ideal since I believe most people are playing around B77LFs but I am excited about that and happy to modify my contract list.
>A Family
BKK (A)
My rating: A
It used to be a S- for me before the recent runway operation update. And now that issue similar to GRU comes (but no significant [Buffer Zone] issues).
Over all BKK is a very big airport and very efficient to play with, and there is no doubt about that. I sometimes find myself lacking so many ground crews and a lot of planes are waiting on the ground! But if you taking all things altogether it still stands out as a good airport with most of things balanced.
Rating after a potential rework/update: S-(Either updated stands according to real life or updated runway operation), S+(If both of them are implemented)
I have looked at the satellite image and suggest more than 100 shared stands (mostly from the F stands in the satellite terminal, remote stands and cargo terminal) could be added if BKK is updated with shared stands as per real life. This means 100+ additional ground crews, which is a big boost for sure.
If there is an ATC update like what I mentioned in GRU section, it will be another great thing. When both of them are a reality, we have a S+ airport for sure.
LHR (A+)
My rating: A+
Ahh… LHR. Great things first, this airport is really about the giant beasts (I mean A388 and BA are the boss here so you can fly them to everywhere on this planet) and you will never run out your ground staff at any time. The runway occupation time is also rather optimized.
But when you ask yourself why I have around 300 ground crews and feel it could never run out, if that is LEJ I still suggest maybe not, you are into the problem preventing it to be a S tier.
Only one runway is used for landing… And planes at cargo terminal and T4 will have to cross the runway for landing to depart from this airport. This is the normal peak hour operation for sure, but if we can access a special peak hour operation (with both runways operate independently) will be better and make full use of the ground crews.
Rating after a potential rework/update: S (Updated runway operation)
Like I said above, it could make LHR very different and I will want to revisit it very often.
How about the Heathrow expansion? Let’s wait until 2040 and only god knows which stage they are in! But if it is according to the plan, that will be [EX].
>S Family
SCL (S-)
My rating: S-
There are no many things you can complain about SCL. Probably you are still a bit short in ground staff and there are not many cargo stands.
But let’s see, this is the best dual runway airport so far at this moment I think. Constant and very short, efficient traffic flow and you don’t have to stick with the largest ones to make this airport full of planes. The [Buffer Zone] is beyond huge and you could very comfortably set the arrival/departure ratio to 5/1 and have no issue for doing so.
Rating after a potential rework/update: N/A
I don’t know any expansion plan for SCL.
IAD (S)
The best airport so far in the game, very balanced except cargo, and 4 runways means this airport is simply a beast.
The problem could be also about ground crews and I cannot remember how many crews I have bought with GPs, probably 30?
Rating after a potential rework/update: S+(Updated stands according to real life)/S+(New concourse)
I suppose updating the stands will allow us having about 25+ more ground crews, that is two additional widebodies being handled. A boost in efficiency of course, making it to a higher tier.
A new concourse is proposed and could add more stands and thus ground crews, but that would not be a big game changer so won’t move it into the [EX] tier.
>EX Family
HKG (EX, upcoming)
My rating: EX (Very likely based on info we have now)
Yes, HKG will be the [EX] thing. The only thing you have to do is to prepare enough GPs to buy ground staff (maybe 250?), leave the rest to your ATC, get a cup of coffee, and enjoy the ocean of jumbojets.
Rating after a potential rework/update: N/A
, and with a reasonable result, but there were two things missing:
. I do agree though. The endless waiting to get a plane taking off whilst one’s landing.
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