The Aerosoft A330 is moving along nicely, Xbox compatibility is planned

After the Twin Otter, Aerosoft is now working on the next major aircraft release for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Airbus A330 is the choice, and it’s one to be happy about. A good wide-body airliner is surely missing from MSFS at this moment (but do check out the Headwind A330, which is free and rather nice to fly!).

With such a big project under works, especially so soon into the development, we don’t yet have much information about the aircraft, more importantly considering the level of depth that Aerosoft plans to put into the simulation. A very nice 3D model is a given, but we’ll have to see how complex the underlying systems turn out to be.

During these initial weeks of development, Aerosoft has shared some tidbits of information, along with work-in-progress images that show how the work is going with regards to the 3D model. While these are some very early teasers, there’s one particular shot that already provides a good view into the actual exterior of the aircraft. So nice to see the A330 getting ready for takeoff in MSFS!

Aerosoft says that they now have a full team working on this project, which is comprised of three people working on the model, three on the systems, one on the flight model, and a few other technical people assisting on research. Those working on the systems are actually doing a new ‘Airbus basic’ system, in the words of Mathijs Kok, which will be useful not only for the A330 but for all forthcoming Airbus airplanes coming down the line from Aerosoft.

Despite the A330 not being exactly unexplored territory for Aerosoft (they’ve released the same aircraft for P3D just two years ago), the current development effort for MSFS is an entirely new code, built from scratch to take advantage of the entire feature-set of the MSFS SDK. This also means that compatibility with Xbox is expected and very much the plan, even though we’ve seen some difficulties from developers to get their complex airplanes into the console.

All in all, the A330 appears to be progressing nicely, looking to provide MSFS pilots with a new big jetliner to fly those long-haul routes. There’s no indication at this point about a release date or pricing, but we’re not expecting to see it this year… for that, check the soon-to-be-released PMDG 737, Fenix A320, DC Designs Concorde, or the Just Flight BAe 146.