Airport usage isn't as diverse as it used to be

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this topic is about airports in terms of being used and ATC coverage

to be honest, ATC coverage and airport usage isn’t as diverse as it used to be, before 21.1 we had airports such as Papeete bustling with people, Eastern Africa hsoting huge events, and even remote airports in the middle of nowhere being popular, I just don’t see that anymore.

now the airports we get 90% of the time are just Los Angeles, New York, and London.
dont get me wrong, other airports DO get coverage, but what im saying is its just not as common

its to the point where im straight up bored of those regions, I want to fly where its busy, but not to the same 3 airports everyday

yes, there is the FNF or flash flights, but on any other day, its the bland, boring-ness of KLAX, KJFK or EGLL.

I find this a shame especially with the implementation of 3D buildings in IF, we see cool airports such as Papeete, lukla, Gibraltar etc coming with 3D buildings and then they get pushed to the corner as if they dont exist.

thank you for reading my rant, its just I miss flying to unique airports whilst busy

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I agree. It is nice that we have 3D airports but now everybody flies to those due to the non-3d ones just not being up to “standard” I guess you could say. However, they will be continuing to add 3d airports, so just wait and then more airports will become more popular.

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It’s because the ATC schedule method has changed

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I agree with you. As the IF is including 3D airports, it is normal for this to happen. In the future when IF is almost 100% it will be more interesting.

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I was going to say, I want to encourage IFATC to control airports that aren’t huge and popular ones, and even if it has changed doesn’t mean that they can’t control them

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I think the solution here is similar to when the ATC schedule was being used…

If you see something other than LHR, LAX and SFO open… fly there!

Our members staff a ton of really cool airports every single day and are met with light traffic. After a while they simply open the airports with the consistent inbounds. We saw this exact same issue with the ATC schedule and I think a lot of change begins with pilots too. Let’s change the meta together!

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yes they do! but I dont count on flying to them most of the time because I know they’ll give up and leave,
I do remember how busy each region during the 10 year anniversary event got

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I 100% agree. Hopefully this will change after all 3D airports are added

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Another thing is, with the ATC schedule having airports basically everywhere, that made me more excited to fly to these large hubs!

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totally understand the point - pretty sure things will change as soon as we have more 3d airports

this is by the way quite important as the major airports getting really (too) busy

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My 2 cents here: we could limit every airport ATC time per 24h, so that no matter how many aircrafts head to kjfk, atc players would have to open another one.
I must admit I feel bored by KLAX EGLL KJFK being open all day!
VHHH or YSSY used to have loads of traffic, they now look like local airfields.

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Yes, New ATC method is no fun anymore. Good old times with weekly ATC schedule and Friday Night Flight…

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At first i liked it, now I’m really bored

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I think it is right to say that we pilots should also fly at smaller airports that are not part of the big hubs if they have active ATC. However, this usually means that I only take off from these interesting airports. And that’s exactly where I see the problem. If I want to arrive at an interesting airport with active ATC and land there, the ATC usually already went offline. It is simply not possible, or really difficult, to plan in advance when and where to land with active ATC. And I think that is why a lot of people just fly to the big hubs because there is a very high chance that active ATC will be present there when they arrive after a few hours of flight time.

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This is the aspect I’m looking forward to solving with the ATC Booking System (in development) that allows ATC to indicate where they’ll be which gives pilots a chance to plan their flight with a guarantee of service on the other end. 🙂

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If I’m honest, this is one of my favorite topics I’ve seen on the IFC in a while. It’s so true. I know Tyler said we can change the Meta together, but it’s not that easy. I think it would be quite a lot better to go to the ATC schedule. It’s so much better to fly in different parts of the world each day guaranteed with ATC. Rather than the usual KLAX, KJFK, EGLL, KSFO, etc. It can get kind of boring when doing that. Thanks for this topic, and I 100% agree with you.

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I understand where you are coming from. However, the different regions which used to be really fun and crowded with aircraft and ATC can have a max of 5 planes when ATC is online. I miss when it used to be 20+ planes at an airport like Singapore, where before when it would be on the ATC schedule it would be fully staffed and many aircraft.

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I definitely hear you and I think a lot of those moments still exist, though not at the airports some people want them at.

A schedule may bring a brief bit of satisfaction but I’m not sure it’s the long-term solution. Given we have an entire globe at our fingertips and huge waves of 3D airports being added regularly, an overly restrictive schedule doesn’t really take advantage of the unlimited options we offer.

For example, with the ATC Schedule you’d commonly see airports featured once every 1-3 months whereas now you have the freedom to make an event, put an underserved airport on the radar simply by flying there often, or coordinating services anytime with a quick PM. With a schedule the pilots and controllers are bound by where the schedule goes that week, which often times is based on what performs well.

As a side note, the lack of gauranteed service, short ATC sessions, and aircraft flocking to the same few airports existed with the schedule too. People fly where they want to fly… and often have no desire to change that. We aim to develop this current system to provide more predictability and engagement between our pilots and controllers to better distribute traffic! 🙂

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I disagree in my opinion I think it’s cool having different airports open everyday and it’s nice not having delays when flying in as it’s more manageable and airports a lot less glitchy with how many people at the one airport before which I used to lag out a lot not due to my device but with the shear amount of traffic.

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Patience I think is key in this instance.

I believe that Tyler nailed this issue on the head by developing this booking system. I think this system when it is fully developed and released, will be a game changer because right now, there is no way to 100% guarantee you will get coverage as a pilot, or in terms of ATC sufficient traffic coming in and going out. That guarantee was the ATC schedule prior to 21.1. However, the time has come to move on and find a new (and in my opinion) more realistic way for ATC to operate. As of this minute when I look into the sim, I agree with all of you that ATC is struggling at the minute. LAX, EGLL, KJFK, and several other major hubs are always open 24/7 with no “exotic” or unique destinations open. However, this “booking schedule” Tyler is developing will be the replacement of the ATC schedule. No it is not the same thing, nor will it be as restrictive on the ATC side. However, this will solve the “communication barrier” between pilots and ATC. This will allow people to fly to exotic destinations with 100% confidence that ATC will be online when they arrive.

In the end this communication barrier of sorts is the reason why some only fly to JFK and LAX, simply because they know that they will have ATC online (same goes for ATC guaranteed traffic!), and I think this booking system will be the solution! Sorry for my long-windedness but I have hope.

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