Building your own airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator has always come with a steep entry fee, and I don’t mean money. Between the SDK, DevMode, projection guides and compile errors, the dream of putting a grass strip in your own backyard has mostly stayed a dream for anyone without scenery development experience. Project Airports, which just opened its doors in open beta, is a direct attempt to remove that barrier entirely.
The project is the work of Justice McCracken, known in the community as McCrackenAir and previously part of the SayIntentions.AI team. McCracken says he kept thinking about the runway he would never be able to build outside his real front door, so he built it in MSFS instead. Sharing that field with a friend turned out to be a pain, his friend wanted to build his own, and two years of development later, that frustration has grown into a full platform that MSFS simmers can now use.
From an empty plot to the Free Flight menu
The pitch is simple to describe. You claim a real-world plot anywhere on the globe using a satellite map, then lay out your airport directly in the browser. Runways, taxiways and aprons are drawn onto the live map, and there’s a catalog of more than 1,300 objects to place, from hangars and terminals to lighting and foliage. Your first land claim is free, with additional claims costing Aeros, the platform’s soft currency (more on that below).
Once you’re happy with the result, one click sends the project to the build servers, which compile it through the official MSFS SDK and upload the finished scenery to the network. A free companion app then installs the airports into MSFS 2024 and keeps them updated, with syncing happening only while the sim is closed. The end result shows up in the Free Flight search like any other airport, and everything is synced, so you and your friends land at exactly the same field, laid out exactly the same way.
Worth noting for anyone worried about conflicts with existing scenery: this is not a tool for modifying or overriding real airports. The idea is to build on a claimed tile, and that land near most existing airports and national parks is blocked from claiming.
If you want to see how the editor feels before committing to an account, there’s a live demo that runs in the browser with no sign-up needed. There’s also a public directory of community airports, each with a 3D preview you can spin around on the page.
Aeros, the currency you earn by simply flying
Alongside the builder sits a passive economy. Aeros accrue while you fly, to and from any airport in the world, and the developer says the per-minute rate increases with the depth of your flight. Using ATC, charts, career add-ons and supported hardware stacks a multiplier. Traffic at your own field generates visit income as well, so a popular airport keeps paying out long after you’ve parked. New accounts start with 10,000 Aeros, and everything earned is spent back on the object catalog.
Freeware, with supporter package to go bigger
Project Airports is free to use and free to build with. There’s an optional supporter package, and a $25+ tier unlocking 25,000 Aeros, double the object slots at every airport size, priority in the build queue, and a few exclusive items like an air-racing pylon set and a live stats sign for your field.
Project Airports is in open beta now for MSFS 2024, and you can create an account, try the demo, or browse the community directory at projectairports.com.
