Airport Features (Lounges, Gates, Etc.)

[rohithbala]

The following is multiple feature requests all revolving around aspects of airports (lounges, gates, etc.).

1. Lounges: My first feature request are lounges. Lounges in airports would work similar to how terminals work currently. There would be a separate list underneath the list of terminals, for lounges. Lounges can be customized with selection of services included, what classes can be allowed in, capacity, and other options, to give a price, like the price given for airplanes based on engine selection, configuration, etc. 
2. Gates: There should be a custom amount of gates at every airport to make it more realistic in size/capacity. We can't make gates to have a loading capacity and a list of lights compatible to board on that gate, so the easiest way to make this feature would just to be consider all of the gates to be of the same type. Terminals should also be a feature to make it even more realistic.
3. Subsidiaries: Not a feature that is necessarily needed, but subsidiaries would be a cool feature.
4. Sponsoring: Like subsidiaries, not a feature that is necessarily needed, but sponsoring would also be a cool feature. Airlines would be able to sponsor numerous companies.

I know sviridot is very busy with work and would probably be unable to spare the time for the research into most features these days, so my suggestion is that active people in the community, if he approves, would be able to compile a list of, for example, gate counts for major airports worldwide. If there is interest from sviridot after seeing a sample of the data that would be collected, he could approve a continuation and this job of collecting statistics could go on so that, in example, gate counts could be listed for most airports that exist worldwide. After that, all sviridot would have to do is add the feature, which will take some time, but not as much as having to research beforehand himself.

[Empire Airlines LLC]

I was thinking something similar! I also thought it would be cool if when creating an airline there would be some sort of simple design software to make a logo (paint bucket, draw tool, layers, simple images, shapes tool, etc.). I don't personally need it because I regularly design things on photoshop, however people unfamiliar with graphic design may find it easier to personalize their brand and get immersed in the game. It would definitely decrease the amount of logoless airlines, which I feel like would add a bit more life into the sim. I also think that the create airline button should be a bit more obvious. I am not trying to criticize anything, but generally I feel like people on the internet want to try things and then learn them, not learn things and then try them. If someone hadn't personally recommended this website, and I had just stumbled across it, I might have simply closed out and forgot about it because the create airline button wasn't obvious. Something as simple as a big blue "create airline" button would probably do the trick. Might increase the number of users, idk.

Edited April 27, 2024 by Freedom Airways INC.

[HunterJerry]

I too like the idea of lounges, and maybe have ability to lease out to another airline too 

[Fargio]

On 4/28/2024 at 1:56 AM, rohithbala said:

Lounges: My first feature request are lounges. Lounges in airports would work similar to how terminals work currently. There would be a separate list underneath the list of terminals, for lounges. Lounges can be customized with selection of services included, what classes can be allowed in, capacity, and other options, to give a price, like the price given for airplanes based on engine selection, configuration, etc. 

Do you suggest being able to profit from the lounges?

[Eagle Express Holdings LLC]

@rohithbala I definitely agree. Maybe I could help @sviridovt with compiling gate counts and whatnot.

[sviridovt]

I definitely would be open to adding different types of gates/sizes etc and actually do want to go deeper on these non-flight features in the near ish future. Data does remain the biggest obstacle to these types of features and I do plan to crowd-source data updates (one of my goals right now is to class nations/cities by their business/leisure appeal for the new demand model that is in the works), @Eagle Express Holdings LLC I am open to naming a new data manager if you're interested in helping with the data since we don't have one right now. 

 

That said, my current priorities as far as non-flight features are: 

• Expanded fleet management options, including greater control over maintenance, more in depth IFE/IFS etc. 
• More in-depth reputation system, to tie into the new demand system that will view different customer segments differently so you can further specialize an airline to target specific market demographics (ie business travelers vs. low cost leisure travelers etc.) 
• Expanded staff options

[Eagle Express Holdings LLC]

@sviridovtI would definitely be interested! 

[Eagle Express Holdings LLC]

@Freedom Airways INC. I like the idea of implementing your own livery with a paint tool-type thing. Maybe @sviridovt can think about it?

[sviridovt]

Just now, Eagle Express Holdings LLC said:

@Freedom Airways INC. I like the idea of implementing your own livery with a paint tool-type thing. Maybe @sviridovt can think about it?

I actually do have that planned as part of a UI overhaul. I haven't gotten around to updating the specific pages but the new UI is actually up currently behind a feature flag since it's not yet ready for broad adoption as it's still very WIP, but here is the work in progress: 

 

[Eagle Express Holdings LLC]

@sviridovt w

[rohithbala]

On 12/4/2024 at 11:52 AM, Eagle Express Holdings LLC said:

@rohithbala I definitely agree. Maybe I could help @sviridovt with compiling gate counts and whatnot.

Any chance some temporary fixes can be done for smaller, regional airports in major countries, especially the US, by going from two to a single terminal in said minor airports?

[sviridovt]

On 4/15/2025 at 11:29 AM, rohithbala said:

Any chance some temporary fixes can be done for smaller, regional airports in major countries, especially the US, by going from two to a single terminal in said minor airports?

One thing I've been thinking about is using historical airport usage as a metric to gauge airport popularity and size. In the new demand model airport rating plays a big role in city based demand model (passengers have a preference for what airport to fly out of), since I don't necessarily have that data I'm using historical data of where airlines fly out of as a basis for that metric. Something similar could be used to approximate some default size as well. 

[rohithbala]

10 hours ago, sviridovt said:

One thing I've been thinking about is using historical airport usage as a metric to gauge airport popularity and size. In the new demand model airport rating plays a big role in city based demand model (passengers have a preference for what airport to fly out of), since I don't necessarily have that data I'm using historical data of where airlines fly out of as a basis for that metric. Something similar could be used to approximate some default size as well. 

I think that would be fine for international airports regardless of size, and for larger end domestic airports, but regional level small ones I think would be harder to calculate.

I'm not one of them tech wizards, so I don't really know, but can the terminal counts and sizes for each airport just be edited manually one by one by just changing the values of them, or is it more complicated than that? If it's simple like that I think just opening a forum where people can put in airport terminal sizes/counts to be approved by either a few confirmations by other members (upvotes) or screenshots of proof and then those that pass you can edit them in whenever you have spare time

[sviridovt]

4 minutes ago, rohithbala said:

I think that would be fine for international airports regardless of size, and for larger end domestic airports, but regional level small ones I think would be harder to calculate.

I'm not one of them tech wizards, so I don't really know, but can the terminal counts and sizes for each airport just be edited manually one by one by just changing the values of them, or is it more complicated than that? If it's simple like that I think just opening a forum where people can put in airport terminal sizes/counts to be approved by either a few confirmations by other members (upvotes) or screenshots of proof and then those that pass you can edit them in whenever you have spare time

Yes, it can be manually updated, and I even had an effort to create a system to allow folks to do that to avoid manual effort on my end but didn't get around to finishing it. Way too busy with real life rn but will pick that up at some point, but even then we need some sensible defaults. 

[chchchchicken]

Also I think that it would be nice if there were bus or stair gates at some of the busy airports. I am trying to operate an airline in SK, and Incheon is a pain to find good gates. And the slot rentals are extremely expensive.