We’ve had sim ants, sim cities, sim hospitals, railroad tycoons, theme parks, roller coasters, Caesars, Pharaohs, a million football and sports management titles plus a host of other ‘ultimate’ god games and administration simulations but how do you fancy the trials and tribulations of running an airport? Compared to some of the titles just mentioned you might think this is the soft option – think again…!  

AIRPORT INC. utilises all the decision-making found in other titles and condenses them into very easily manageable toolbar icons. You begin with the choice of location for your airport, from Europe to South America to Australia, and each one will have it’s own defaults of weather conditions, geological problems and competitors to deal with. You’ll also have a choice of site within those locations – nearer to the city is dearer but will generate more passengers, further away is cheaper but with less trade. A simple choice but you have to bear in mind your relatively limited funding.  

First you need to buy a plot of land and, perhaps, take an option on some surrounding countryside in case you’re going to expand later on. Then you’ll have to build your terminal building, car parks, road access, fire stations, control tower, taxiways and, of course, the runway itself but this is all done with the click of a mouse and a bit of thought. Once these major structures are in place you can open up your airport for business. At first it may just be small contracts that come your way but as facilities improve larger airlines will want to use you. 

You’ll have to cater for your passengers too. They’ll need check-in facilities, shops, seating, baggage handling, toilets, security – perhaps even a taxi rank, bus terminus or rail link to the city. In every case it’s you, the player, who decides exactly where it will be placed, even down to things like fire extinguishers. Multiple camera views let you sit in the tower and watch the planes come and go, follow the circuitous route of the taxies that patrol your access roads and even put you inside one of your punters as he ambles around your terminal building so there are plenty of alternatives to mess around with. Full zoom facilities also let you home in on a particular area to check it out at close quarters, which is useful for the fine details. 

The idea, of course, is to make your airport pay and once your runways are open to traffic contracts have to be agreed with your clients. You can adjust your costs for landing, fuel and many other options to either attract more business or make more cash from existing clients but bear in mind if you charge too much they’ll probably go elsewhere. The more busy and successful your airport becomes the more factors you’ll need to juggle. Restaurants and fast food outlets, cargo theft, staff strikes, delays, passenger problems, crime, aircraft maintenance and catering, emergency landings etc. etc. In fact everything that happens in a real airport can and probably will happen in yours.  

As owner-manager it’s your job to try and make sure that everything runs smoothly but, unlike real life, there are no subordinates to delegate to or to blame when things go wrong. You control everything yourself – you make all the decisions and you take all the glory for a job well done. Are you up to this megalithic challenge? Then get AIRPORT INC.