Back in 2022, we covered a small Windows utility from SimSoft that did one job and did it cleanly: type in an ICAO code, get the key facts about an airport, skip the hunt through charts and websites. That first release of AirportInfo was, in the developer’s own words, simple but useful. Four years on, SimSoft is back with a 2.0 that is a good deal more ambitious.
For anyone flying MSFS 2024, the appeal here is convenience. This is not an in-sim scenery pack or an EFB that lives inside the cockpit. It is a separate real-world data app that runs in its own window, which means it sits just as happily next to X-Plane or the older sims as it does beside MSFS. Instead of one browser tab for weather, another for frequencies, and a chart viewer for runways and ILS, AirportInfo 2.0 organises all of it behind a set of tabs in a single desktop app.
The Overview tab is the front door. For a given airport it lists ICAO and IATA codes, coordinates, elevation, time zone, magnetic variation and region, along with quick links out to the official site, Wikipedia and a map. From there you can export a full airport briefing.
On weather, AirportInfo 2.0 shows both the raw METAR and TAF and a decoded, plain-language breakdown of each, so you can read wind, visibility, cloud, temperature and pressure without parsing the code yourself. SimSoft says the weather is pulled live from aviationweather.gov and decoded on your own machine. The runways tab covers lengths, widths, surface type, lighting and headings, with the developer noting that headings are shown as true and that magnetic variation is applied for planning. The ILS tab breaks down each runway end by frequency, identifier, course, glideslope angle and category, and the frequencies tab groups ATC services (ATIS, clearance, ground, tower, approach) with a one-click copy button for each entry.
Two small planning tools round it out. There is a wind component calculator that returns headwind, tailwind and crosswind for a chosen runway, and a best-runway calculator that ranks every runway end by headwind for a given wind direction and speed.
One point worth keeping in mind is that the data is aggregated from public aeronautical datasets. It may not match the current AIRAC cycle, so it is meant for reference and situational awareness rather than as a replacement for the official AIP and current NOTAMs.
A lot of what AirportInfo 2.0 offers overlaps with free tools that many simmers already run. SimSoft’s angle is a lighter, focused alternative with decoded weather and the planning calculators built in, sold as a one-time purchase. Whether that is worth it will come down to how much you value having everything in one tidy window versus stitching free tools together yourself.
AirportInfo 2.0 is available now on simMarket, priced at around €5.95 during a launch sale (roughly $8 / £5.99), with a regular price of €7.
