Sydney has probably been the most challenging airport for me in World of Airports.
The traffic flow, crowded stands, and constant arrivals made it difficult to manage efficiently, especially during busy periods.
I’m curious to know which airport gave other players the biggest operational challenge. 
I really dislike INN, mainly due to only 1 runway and constant backlog of departing planes blocking Stand 11 and 10 when busy. I prefer big airports with lots of runways like HKG and IAD where air traffic controllers can efficiently bring a constant flow of planes down when I am logged in and efficiently clear through my backlog of planes.
LHR is far and away my pick for the absolute worst airport in the game in my opinion. And its not because of the crowds but more so the lack of them.
The vast expanse of the airport with just a single landing runway makes the entire airport unsalvageable. It’s just an empty, boring mess. INN, BRI and SXM have much more natural flows that keep the airport feeling active, and frankly after years of playing this game there isn’t really a currency I need more of so their reduction in grinding efficiency isn’t a big deal for me!
You hit the nail on the head! For such a massive layout, having just a single landing runway makes LHR feel incredibly empty and sluggish. It completely kills the pacing. I agree that smaller airports like INN, BRI, and SXM have a much tighter, more active atmosphere that keeps you on your toes. When grinding for currency isn’t a priority anymore, you definitely start valuing a dynamic gameplay flow over just a giant, boring map. Spot on analysis!
Hopefully, the devs see this and consider reworking the traffic or runway utilization for LHR in future updates to give it the bustling hub feeling it deserves."
I totally get your frustration with INN. That single-runway bottleneck is a real headache, especially when the departure queue starts backing up and completely paralyzes Stands 10 and 11. It ruins the whole operational flow. There’s definitely a unique satisfaction in managing big hubs like HKG and IAD—having multiple runways lets you handle heavy traffic simultaneously without the entire airport coming to a grinding halt. Total control and maximum efficiency
So far, I’ve only progressed as far as IAD.
Of all the airports I’ve played so far, it is absolutely the “best” one. It’s the first one where I can utilize the tower automation features and still generate a surplus of SP. And that’s despite the fact that I’ve only unlocked half of the gates. At this point with about 100 contracts everything is perfectly manageable. I only have to focus on the actual ground handling, leaving me enough time to sit back and watch the takeoffs and landings. I’m really enjoying this style of gameplay, particularly with the automation features.
As for INN: while I do like its visual design following the upgrade, the slow pace caused by the backtracking gets on my nerves after just a few takeoffs, making it essentially unplayable for me.
I’m not sure if I’ll even want to play another single-runway airport after experiencing IAD. The constant, simultaneous (and automated) takeoffs and landings across multiple runways just feels so much more dynamic and engaging.
I plan to continue unlocking the airports sequentially, as the process of reaching and unlocking new airports provides me with a great deal of motivation. However, IAD is sure to remain one of my favorites.
I started the game with INN like everyone else but I bought LHR, earning my way up to NGO naturally and I was able to do that before I unlocked SYD through LHR. I’m British and thus wanted Heathrow to begin with but it really sucks. It’s massively slow, always looks empty and tough to properly plan, even with the scheduler.
NGO I wanted to enjoy but it feels so flat and really needs some love. I hope it’s the next remodelled one after BRI and if it comes after the 737s, I’m hoping we get a lot of nice new liveries to populate it with.
As CJ said, INN, BRI and SXM are great for feeling full and for you actually being invested in and I think for big airports, BKK hits that nail nicely (Though I’m a bit sick of it for the moment because I invested too much in my own aircraft and player contracts so it’s looking terrible again). IAD is a mixed bag. Was great to start with but it’s so far from the real setup that I just don’t enjoy playing it. It needs that United terminal and the shared stands at minimum.
SYD is slow but the diversity of airline and liveries and the ability to at least partly fill it up put it well above LHR. GRU and SCL, SCL is miles better than GRU and one of my favourite airports, but they both sorely lack in livery diversity which means I don’t open them. Hopefully with the 737 remodel we get a huge influx of older airlines and classics which will really change the face of the airport. Plus we need TAM and LAN in their fullest at minimum to break up the monotony of LATAM liveries (How did they go from 2 stand out liveries to one boring one!!!).
SAN sucks, it’s slow, never gets full and takes ages. Could also do with more livery and airline variety for the airport too like US Airways, Continental, Northwest, Midwest, America West and AirTran to name but a few. Would really spice it up. Hopefully with the 737 remodel and all the new Alaska and Southwest liveries and types it will make me pick it up again but we’ll see. Hoping we get old Alaska liveries with the new ones too.
MSY is nice, I just haven’t got far with it yet. Others I’ve not mentioned I’m mixed opinion on. MCT is decent but really drab for diversity, HKG is just too big to fill but it looks good and feels alive unlike so many others. Need that Southern runway to pump pax traffic to the central terminal. PRG I’m waiting on the remodel as it’s current setup means you have long taxi times and queues block your airport quickly.
I think my biggest issue with SYD is I have to choose between filling up the domestic terminals, which is much harder to do due to the low landing time of those planes, or focus exclusively on the international terminal. I haven’t found a way to get the whole airport feeling alive, and I think thats a limitation of the single runway system.
Plus it has its cargo terminal in the wrong spot! Hopefully once it gets some love with the new terminal, proper cargo terminal placement, etc it feels better. I love how the runway spits planes straight into the terminal. It’s got a really quick ramp up for quick play sessions which is nice. It, like NGO, just needs a lot of love to bring it comparable to modern day airports.
The livery variety is just what it is for the USA at most airports unfortunately. MSY really isn’t any better, and the only reason why IAD is more tolerable livery wise is it’s a large international hub. It’s why I’m an advocate for airports like Anchorage, Phoenix, Denver, Boston etc. All of these airports serve as a hub to one off the few unique regional airlines left, and that to me is a huge plus.
I probably need to go back and give this one another try. I got so sick of it when I was grinding it as I was going 100% player planes at that point (great way to burn yourself out forever lmao). Perhaps I’ll give that a good ole re-open now that ZRH is coming later than we all anticipated…
Yeah, it can be a pain SYD for that. Might help I have 70 of my 190 contract slots filled with special events and a lot are permanently parked on the airfield so my opinion might be a bit borked haha.
Definitely give BKK a go. I enjoyed making the polls on here for other forum users to choose the types. Really helped fill it up with lots of different aircraft and liveries. Plus the sheer volume of C Class liveries around, especially from China and Vietnam keep it very fresh and moving quickly. It also does have its issues, you need to keep the remote terminal filled for as long as possible because otherwise runway 20L becomes a takeoff only runway and renders 20R useless as nothing will cross and it backs up onto the runway. Hopefully we get the new taxiway modelled in the future to avoid the crossing. And try to limit the amount Runway 19 is used because the departures favour that runway and like to block arrivals so you end up with a big queue. For a big airport, it has it’s challenges and isn’t one you can stick the controllers on at and forget about lol. Very much worth a revisit and ofc when the update comes, it’ll be the only one with a local A345 and with a lot of potential 747 classic options.
Just don’t depart every aircraft. You’re in control of the flow.
If it looks empty, you let it go empty.
Might help I have 70 of my 190 contract slots filled with special events and a lot are permanently parked on the airfield so my opinion might be a bit borked haha.
I’ve done this periodically at LHR, SYD, PRG, and some of the other airports that are more egregious with not naturally staying full and I end up finding the airports get stale even quicker as a bunch of planes never moving feels dead. Then I handle everything, and it’s empty and I’m still not happy haha.
Results in me just wanting to play airports that stay more full naturally. I wish planes took longer to handle, or had a mechanic that separated the time between arrival and departure by a variable amount of time (I know split handling has been discussed by the devs so fingers crossed this isn’t too far away). Lots of ways to help with this that doesn’t require us as players to essentially stage an airport.
Definitaly heathrow and sydney. I am someone who likes realistic looking gameplay and screenshots, and with both of those airports having one landing runway with long taxi times, it is just a drag to have to wait for 20-30 minutes for those airports to fill up and then have to strategically decide which planes to handle so that they don’t empty out too quickly.
It’s especially painful because Heathrow is like a second home to me(it is the airport I have flown to the most outside of Canada) and I would love to play it more if it weren’t for this issue. I feel like if both of these airports got dual runway arrivals then for me Sydney will be an S tier airport(Alongside IAD if the terminals get fixed and HKG) and LHR will be an A tier airport(currently a high C low B solely because of this, which I feel is way worse here than SYD).
I totally get your point! Staging the airport with permanently parked planes feels like a temporary fix, but it definitely takes away the realism and makes the game feel static. You’re spot on about LHR and SYD; keeping them naturally busy without burning through contracts constantly is exhausting.
The ‘Split Handling’ feature you mentioned is exactly what the game needs. Having a realistic gap between arrival and departure would naturally keep the stands occupied with active traffic rather than dead weight. Let’s hope the devs implement it soon, because artificial crowding just kills the fun after a while."
INN and SXM would probably be my top comment for disliking
Yes, in terms of the movement we feel, it’s rather boring. Very much so, or rather, it’s true. SXM. It was the first airport I had in the game that was open out of the closed airports, so I thought I’d take advantage of it to win, and now I’ve completely closed it.
SXM is probably the worst airport that i have ever played. long taxiway with aircrafts taking off and landing in C-class to E-class, few crews to handle big planes. However, the airport has such a beautiful scenery
The most important thing is the breathtaking view.
I can’t say the same as you, on the contrary, LHR is the most remaining and a beautiful airport, it’s never empty. And that’s even before the British Airways and Virgin Atlantic They haven’t landed at my airport yet because it’s always full
I have space for 250 aircraft, most of them are game planes.
I checked all the airports up to GRU and SXM is definitely the worst so far.
