Multiple jetways at a single stand have been one of the more talked-about ground features in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 this year. Back in September, we reported that GSX Pro had been updated to correctly identify the iniBuilds multi-jetway feature, while FSDreamTeam’s own native multi-jetway work was still underway. Now MK Studios is taking its own route, and it’s doing it through the in-sim tablet.
The Polish developer has released MK Airport, a free EFB app for MSFS 2024 that puts the ground side of its airports on one screen: jetways, docking guidance and gate boards. It arrives together with update 1.0.2 for Miami International (KMIA), the scenery that landed on October 15 and completed MK Studios’ South Florida trilogy after Key West and Fort Lauderdale.
And it’s a quick turnaround. Miami has only been out for nine days, and it already has both a performance patch and a companion app.
One tap, every door
According to MK Studios, its airports run their own jetways next to the default MSFS ones, including gates with two or three bridges and upper-deck jetways. MK Airport lists all of them for your stand, with per-door control or a single Connect all button.
The developer says the logic behind that button is where most of the work went. The default MSFS jetway connects first, then the MK Studios jetways move to the remaining free doors in the right order, so they don’t get in each other’s way. Doors behind the wing and doors already in use are skipped, and upper-deck bridges only go to upper-deck doors. The aircraft door also opens automatically when a jetway attaches, and closes before it pulls away.
What’s interesting is that you don’t strictly need the tablet for any of this. MK Studios says its jetways follow the default MSFS jetway, whoever calls it, whether that’s the sim menu, ATC, GSX or the aircraft’s own controls. In the developer’s words, if your aircraft can call a jetway, it already works with theirs.
Your flight, on the airport’s screens
The second half of the app is about bringing your flight into the terminal. You can import your latest SimBrief plan using only your SimBrief username (no login needed), or type the details in manually.
That data then shows up in two places. The Safedock-style VDGS displays your callsign and TOBT (target off-block time), counting down the minutes to departure once you’re parked at the gate. Inside the terminal, the gate board above the boarding door shows the airline logo, flight number, destination and departure time, cycling through ON TIME, BOARDING and LAST CALL before switching to DEPARTED after TOBT.
It’s a small touch, but seeing your own American flight to Tampa on the gate board, as one of the press shots shows, is actually very cool.
The VDGS can also be switched off entirely if you’d rather use the GSX docking guidance, and there’s a fun extra: you can type your own message to appear on all displays while they’re in standby.
A settings page rounds things out, with airport effects such as steam and smoke (off by default, for performance reasons), module status, and the log file location for support requests.
Miami first, more to follow
There’s one thing to keep in mind before diving in. For now, KMIA is the only supported airport, and the full MK Studios multi-jetway experience is limited to gate J17. At every other gate in Miami, the app controls the default MSFS jetway. MK Studios says more gates with its own jetways, and more of its airports, will support the app over time.
So, at least for the moment, think of MK Airport as a foundation. If the developer follows through on bringing it to its wider catalog, which includes Fort Lauderdale, Key West and the recently rebuilt Vágar, it could become a pretty useful common thread across its airports. That’s our hope, not a promise from MK Studios.
What’s new in KMIA 1.0.2
For those who already own Miami, the 1.0.2 update focuses mostly on performance. MK Studios says LOD transitions are better, and the terminal buildings, interiors, apron and lighting have all been optimized.
On the visual side, the update adds some terminal windows and a logo that were missing, closes holes in the geometry and improves the asphalt tones. The jetways at J17 and J17A, the same stand MK Airport is built around, have also been improved and extended.
If you’ve been following this one since MK Studios first confirmed KMIA back in June, or since the “Vice City” preview in September, it’s good to see the developer following up quickly after release.
Availability
MK Airport is free and requires MSFS 2024 plus an MK Studios airport with the MK Airport module, which currently means KMIA. It’s available on the MK Studios Discord, Orbx, SimMarket and Contrail.
The KMIA 1.0.2 update is available now in every store where the scenery is sold.
