After a delay that dragged on for the better part of a month, the rest of Aircraft & Avionics Update 4 has arrived. Microsoft has released AAU4, and with it the four aircraft that kept slipping past their release dates are now native in MSFS 2024. The headline name among them is the ATR 42-600/72-600, the most anticipated part of the package, but it lands alongside the Antonov An-2, the Latécoère 631 and the Savoia-Marchetti S.55/S.55x.
If you have been following along, you’ll know this has been a stop-start affair. There was the original announcement at FSWeekend back in March, where AAU4 was presented as a five-aircraft package due alongside Sim Update 5. Then came the missed deadlines: SU5 shipped on April 30 without it, a May 5 date was set, and when that date passed only the Fokker F.VII had actually made it out, tied to World Update 21: Australia. The MSFS team described the other four as being in the final stages of polish, and that work has now been completed and made available for everyone to see.
Microsoft is also using the moment to launch something new on the commercial side, its first Microsoft Creator Sale, which we’ll get to below.
What native status actually changes
For the aircraft involved, AAU is not a patch in the usual sense. The point of the program now is to take payware aircraft originally built for MSFS 2020 and rebuild them to native MSFS 2024 standards, free of charge for existing owners. In practice that means the new CFD aerodynamic model, Career Mode integration, and the updated systems and rendering that native status brings.
The ATR is where most of the attention sits. Microsoft says the conversion adds full native support, Career Mode across passenger, cargo and VIP operations, a new CFD model, and a new Air Tahiti Highline variant, plus Logan Air and IndiGo liveries. On the systems side, the team listed flight plan import from the MSFS flight planner and EFB, Lido charts integration, an enhanced flight plan display on the navigation displays, navigation and autopilot improvements, and TCAS resolution advisories. We went through the full feature set when it was announced, so it’s worth a look back at our AAU4 breakdown if you want the complete list.
The ATR has had a bit of a complicated history. When it launched in 2023 as the first entry in Microsoft’s Expert Series, developed by Hans Hartmann, the reception was mixed, and some experienced simmers felt it didn’t quite live up to the Expert billing. We made a similar point at the time in our original review. It has had a steady run of updates since, but this native conversion is the most substantial work it has received to date, which is a large part of why it became the most-watched item in the package.
The An-2, developed by AT Simulations, gets a comparably deep overhaul. Microsoft’s feature list included a full fuel and electrical systems rework to 2024 standards, an EFB, exterior checklists, a new night lighting system, adjustable panel lamps, updated Working Title GPS units, and a broad set of Career Mode options that span passenger, cargo, crop dusting, firefighting and skydiving work.
The two flying boats round things out. The Latécoère 631 from Blue Mesh is a magnificent six-engine machine with an unusual silhouette, and the Savoia-Marchetti S.55/S.55x is the twin-hull design that has been one of the more curious entries in the catalogue since launch. The Fokker F.VII, now handled by iniBuilds following its original Orbx development, was the one aircraft that shipped on time, so it has been native for a few weeks already.
One note for PlayStation 5 owners: the press release says the ATR is available on PC and Xbox now, with the PS5 version coming soon.
The first Microsoft Creator Sale
The other piece of news is a first for the Marketplace. Microsoft is running what it calls the Microsoft Creator Sale. Until now, owners of the Deluxe, Premium Deluxe and Aviator editions have had a permanent 35% discount on all Microsoft-published aircraft, while Standard Edition owners paid full price. This sale gives Standard Edition owners 25% off a long list of Microsoft-published aircraft, the first time that group has had a discount of this kind.
Because the higher editions already carry the permanent 35% reduction, the sale does not apply to them. It runs until June 4 at 10am Pacific (1700 UTC).
The discount list is long, north of 30 aircraft, and covers a wide spread of the Microsoft-published catalogue. It includes recent and popular names such as the ATR 42-600/72-600, the An-2, the Cessna 408 SkyCourier, the Pilatus PC-24, the Cirrus SR22 G6, the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner and the C-17 Globemaster III, alongside older staples like the Cessna 172 Skyhawk and the Diamond DA40 TDi. To buy at the sale price, find the Creator Sale banner in the Marketplace.
What comes next
With AAU4 now closed out, attention turns to what follows. Microsoft has confirmed that AAU5 and AAU6 are already planned, part of a program meant to work through the 30-plus MSFS 2020 payware aircraft still waiting for native conversion. We laid out the full year’s plan in our 2026 roadmap coverage.
