One of the more welcome habits Microsoft has developed with Microsoft Flight Simulator is the Aircraft and Avionics Update series, which takes existing payware aircraft and brings them up to the current simulator standard, free of charge for existing owners.
Aircraft & Avionics Update 4, announced today at FSWeekend, continues that tradition with five aircraft receiving significant upgrades, alongside two new avionics units from Working Title. Everything arrives as part of Sim Update 5, due in the coming weeks.
Jörg Neumann confirmed during the keynote that there are over 30 payware aircraft originally developed for MSFS 2020 still in the upgrade queue. AAU5 and AAU6 are already planned, and the intention is to work through the full catalogue over time.
ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600
The ATR is arguably the headliner of AAU4. When it launched back in 2023 as the first entry in Microsoft’s Expert Series, developed by Hans Hartmann, it received a somewhat mixed reception, with some experienced simmers feeling it didn’t fully live up to the Expert Series billing. Since then it has received several updates, and this one looks to be the most substantial yet.
The MSFS 2024 conversion brings full native support, career integration across passenger, cargo, and VIP modes, a new CFD model, and a new Air Tahiti Highline variant. Additional liveries including Logan Air and IndiGo have been added, along with flight plan importation from the MSFS flight planner and EFB, Lido charts integration, enhanced flight plan display on navigation displays, navigation and autopilot improvements, and TCAS resolution advisories. According to Jörg, the team has been working on this for a long time.
Antonov AN-2
AT Simulations’ AN-2 is also getting a huge update with AAU4, which will include a full fuel and electrical systems overhaul to MSFS 2024 standards, new windshield wiper functionality, an EFB, exterior checklists, a new night lighting system, adjustable panel lamps, and updated Working Title GPS units.
Career modes have also been expanded significantly, with passenger, cargo, crop dusting, firefighting, and skydiving all supported. The AN-2’s versatility makes it one of the more naturally career-friendly aircraft in the sim, and that potential is now properly tapped into.
Fokker F.VII
The Fokker F.VII has been taken over by iniBuilds following its original development by the Orbx team, and the AAU4 update reflects that handover with some structural changes to how the aircraft integrates with the simulator. Extended career support now covers dedicated passenger, private, and cargo configurations, and modular conversion allows switching between roles without needing separate aircraft variants. The flight model has been refined to better reflect the F7’s handling characteristics, and the exterior art has been converted with improved rendering and material behaviour.
Latécoère 631
Blue Mesh’s Latécoère 631 is one of the more visually striking aircraft in the MSFS catalogue, a six-engine flying boat with a genuinely unusual silhouette. The MSFS 2024 conversion addresses more than 40 bugs, realigns the fuselage geometry, adds new water effects and propeller animations, and introduces visible passengers in each seat. Jörg called it one of his personal favourites in MSFS 2020, which is perhaps not surprising given how distinctive the aircraft is.
Savoia Marchetti S55 and S55X
Mike Johnson’s S55 and S55X round out the five aircraft in AAU4. The aircraft has an interesting backstory in the sim, having required what Jörg described as a trip to a closed museum in Brazil to carry out aviation archaeology in order to gather authentic reference material for the original MSFS 2020 release. The MSFS 2024 update, according to Microsoft, takes an already solid product and refines it further, though specific details on the changes weren’t covered in depth during the keynote.
Two new avionics units: Avidyne IFD 540 and IFD 550
Alongside the aircraft updates, Working Title also presented two new avionics units coming as sim attachments in SU5: the Avidyne IFD 540 and IFD 550. These GPS navigators are described as drop-in replacements in the real world, allowing aircraft to upgrade to more modern GNSS systems, and Working Title has carried that concept into the simulator. Both units support full flight planning, autopilot coupling, terrain awareness with visual and audio alerts, and FAA and Lido chart integration. The IFD 550 adds a synthetic vision option. The modelling was handled by FlightFX.
At launch, the units will come as a new variant of the Cessna 172, with any aircraft developer able to integrate them into their own planes as sim attachments going forward.
All of the above is playable on the show floor at FSWeekend this weekend. The official release alongside Sim Update 5 is expected in the coming weeks.
