Suggested airports

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Here you will find Airports that are well developed and/or have an outstanding scenery. Thus they are "suggested" especially to be visited and/or used for Multi-player events like FlyIns, TGA, ATC, etc..

If you are searching for the development-status of Airports see the wiki Developed Airports.
For further suggestions see Suggested Scenery and Suggested Flights

Developed airports situated in developed regions

The old table has not been updated. A lot has changed, including OSM2City 3d roads, buildings, and objects being automatically downloaded as you fly - see OSM2City 1st Worldbuild.

This is a quick update for March 2020. It's currently based on Flightgear's featured Airports from the last few years. The surrounding regions all have developed scenery and developed regional definitions that are updated to use recent engine features.

The following table is currently a good starting point for newcomers. There are a few hints for the Environment menu. See the Project3000 install instructions for a scenery package with buildings at 4000+ airports, as well as extra clutter. To download OSM2City scenery manually see the OSM2City manual for instructions on installing scenery (it's simply a case of extracting folders from archives and pointing FlightGear to the correct folder using the launcher or command-line).

Airport (ICAO code)

ICAO code can simply be entered into launcher location search

City, Country OSM2City buildings & roads & pylons download Screenshots of airport, city, & regional environment

Click screenshots to enlarge

Notes (Year written)
Honolulu International (PHNL) Honolulu, Island of O'ahu, Hawaii, USA Yes , Fewer buildings on automatic download. SOTM-Sept17.jpg Hawaii environment: Hawaii and surrounding islands have some of the most developed terrain & environment, as well as great natural beauty. Kiluea volcanic activity and the "Weeping Wall" waterfalls near Lihue (PHLI) are modeled. Regional definitions use latest features such as overlays and have multiple layers of vegetation (2020). A detailed carrier, Truman, is positioned off PHNL.

Environment menu suggestions: Experiment with storms and winds at noon. Tropics and wind blowing up rugged mountain ranges can create spectacular storms. (2020)

Bergen (ENBR) Bergen, Norway Automatic download. screens Norway environment: very well developed scenery showcasing fjords. Regional definitions using recent features like overlays.

Environment menu suggestions: Try autumn. Try tweaking wetness & moss (high rainfall often makes ground in Bergen wet). (2020)

Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat (LEBL) Barcelona, Spain Automatic download.

BK 117 over Barcelona near LEBL, Spain (Flightgear 2018.x).jpg Barcelona, Spain with LEBL visible towards top right quadrant (Flightgear 2017.x).jpg

Spain environment: Detailed terrain. Well developed Mediterranean regional definitions using recent features like overlays. Buildings in Barcelona are particularly developed.

Performance: High density OSM2City scenery in Barcelona when not using 2020.1+ OSM2City buildings can be demanding on older systems, try reducing LoD range: rough. (2020)

Keflavik (BIVK) Reykjavik, Iceland, south Yes , Fewer buildings on automatic download. Bell 412 in Iceland (Flightgear 2019.x).jpg Iceland environment: Detailed terrain. Many volcanoes are modeled including Eyjafjallajökull which caused severe disruption to aviation in 2010. Regional definitions are very well developed using recent features with detailed overlays. Iceland's striking natural beauty is showcased well.

Environment menu suggestions: See the Iceland Tour. Remember to switch on Auroras. Try mosses, ground haze, & wetness (high rainfall), & seasons. Try overlays - even on older GPUs there may be enough spare performance for overlays as the volcanic terrain lacks lots of trees & shrubs. (2020)

Innsbruck (LOWI) Innsbruck, Austria Automatic download.

Eurocopter EC135 at Innsbruck, Austria (FlightGear 2018.x).jpg Austria in Autumn in FlightGear 2019 02.jpg BK 117 over Austrian Alps in Autumn (Flightgear 2018.x).jpg

Flying: Non-standard approach involving a steep decent. Note: FG actually simulates mountain windfields based on terrain if terrain effects are turned on in Advanced weather. Trouble NoE flying or manually landing? Try turning down turbulence & convection sliders in Advanced Weather, choosing gentler weather, turning off damage in craft that support it like the C172p, or use ctrl+U to gain altitude in most craft : ).

Austrian Alps environment: Detailed terrain with a lot of natural beauty. Well developed regional definitions. Mountains and forest floor have overlay detail. Performance: A lot of space on mountain slopes can mean a lot of things to load at a shorter distance from your craft. On old systems try reducing LoD range: rough, or turn down tree density.

Environment suggestions: Try autumn. Try winter: In environment menu unselect the nominal snow level and vary snowline (presence of snow depends on weather history). Try tweaking snow thickness. Experiment with advanced weather with terrain sampling & effects. Weather and haze in rugged mountain regions can be spectacular. (2020)

Zurich (LSZH) Zurich, Switzerland Yes

BK 117 on the shore of lake Zurich, Switzerland (Flightgear 2018.x-19.x).jpg Eurocopter EC135 over Zurich, Switzerland (FlightGear 2019.x).jpg

Zurich environment: Nice area well detailed by OSM2City scenery on the shore of lake Zurich. Forest regional definitions are well detailed.

Environment menu suggestions: Try autumn. (2020)

Aircraft Carrier "Harry S. Truman" O'hau, Hawaii, USA Yes (Hawaii OSM2City)

SOTM 2018-07 Grim reapers take off by massima.jpg Truman10.jpg

A well developed Aircraft carrier with wake using a lot of ALS renderer effects. Positioned off the Island of O'hau which has the featured airport for 2018, Honolulu (PHNL). Try the F-14 for carrier ops. Helicopters are also suitable for landing on carriers. See the page on Carriers (2020)
Hilo International (PHTO) Hawai'i (Big Island), Hawaii, USA Yes MD 500 in Hilo, Hawaii (FlightGear 2018.x).jpg This is the airport for C172p tutorials (2020). It's included in the base download. Kilauea volcano is modeled. Same comments apply as for Hawaii scenery. Video of helicopter aerobatics showing surrounding terrain on an old version of the airport without OSM2City. (2020)
  • If your GPU supports shaders you should use the ALS renderer to see recent scenery features (including overlays). On older systems try ALS with shader quality settings turned down first. ALS can be faster and look better on some older systems than the default (legacy) renderer which supports rendering without shaders. Rembrandt is an old, unmaintained, less physically correct, less perceptually correct renderer that is slower than it should be. Rembrandt is set to not be maintained in the upcoming Compositor framework when remaining distinguishing features are folded into ALS. You should be using the latest LTS release of FlightGear.
  • Flightgear usually starts with settings turned off, basic weather, and the non-shader renderer. This is to make sure the sim starts up on all hardware in all combinations of GPU drivers and OS versions. The exception is if there is a settings profile already submitted for your GPU. As of March 2020 only a limited number of profiles have been submitted. If there is a profile Flightgear will start with some settings turned on, but you likely still need to tweak to your taste, system, and flights. Depending your hardware performance, remember to: change the renderer, use advanced weather with terrain effects & presampling, and turn settings up in menu->view->rendering including switching buildings to OSM2City. For a discussion of tweaking settings for performance see the discussion in the old 2018.3 section in the article on Hardware requirements.
  • The article on screenshots also covers turning on various settings. There are advanced options in the weather menu under detailed weather. With high enough settings, and with the same use of the environment menu, your views should match the screenshots in the table.



Airport quality table (not updated recently)

NoteMarch 2020 update: The suggested airport table below has not been updated in quite a while (History shows not much updating since 2012/2011).

A lot has changed. A lot of airport work has been done. There has been several years of featured airports with a lot of work put in for each one (2020 airport is Keflavik). The terrain and landclasses surrounding airports have been updated with the world scenery 2.0 in 2013 which included high resolution Corine terrain in Europe. The cities surrounding airports have had a lot of modelling done and OSM2City scenery releases. Improved rendering, effects, and regional definitions means scenery surrounding airports in well developed areas are very high quality.

The airports that are well developed in the table below are likely to have received lots of further work, especially in areas that have a lot of well developed airports (e.g. parts of Europe) or have a lot of busy airports. There has been more work in Europe which also has higher resolution terrain, than USA.

The overall Airport-Rating (column "R") is based on the TerraSync-Status of the following characteristics:

*     superior surrounding landscape - although the airport itself is not (yet) developed accordingly
**     complex modeling of buildings
***     complex modeling of buildings, taxiways, and aprons
****     extensive modeling of airport and landscape and/or city


Further columns to watch for are:

  • S = Size: L= all aircraft, M= medium size aircraft, S= for small aircraft
  • FGCOM: If available one FGCOM frequency is given, followed by the amount of the total available FGCOM frequencies
  • Parking: amount of pre-defined Parking-Lots (otherwise see: Initial Starting Positions)
  • R/I: amount of runways and ILS (e.g. KROC has 3 runway: 04/22 has each 1 ILS, 10/28 has only one ILS on 28, 07/25 has no ILS)


ICAO Name Country Continent R S FGCOM Parking R/I Comment
LKKB Praha-Kbely Czech republic Europe *** M 120.87 -- 1/1 request for develop it - Military Airport
BKPR Pristina Kosovo Europe * M -- -- 1/1 very nice scenery
CYVR Vancouver Canada America * L 125.650 (6) many 5/5 nice area
EDDC Dresden Airport Germany Europe ** L -- - 2/4 Terminal, Tower, GA Hangars and many more
EDDF Frankfurt am Main Germany Europe **** L 127.320 (6) many 4/6 Fully modeled with Signs and AI Traffic and unique skyscrapers downtown
EDDH Hamburg Germany Europe *** L 126.850 (7) -- 2/4 -
EDDI Berlin Tempelhof Germany Europe **** L 118.100 (10) 1 2/0 Fully modeled, especially also the City
EDDK Köln/Bonn Germany Europe **** L 124.97 (5) -- 3/3 Fully modeled airport and surroundings
EDDL Düsseldorf Germany Europe *** L 118.300 (4) -- 2/4 Tower and terminal modeled
EDDP Leipzig/Halle Germany Europe *** L 121.100 (5) 2 2/4 Tower, terminals B and C, large DHL-area modeled, inclusive Signs
EDDS Stuttgart Germany Europe *** L 118.800 (8) -- 1/2 Tower, terminal and Signs are fully modeled
EDDT Berlin Tegel Germany Europe *** L 118.700 (11) 4 2/4 Tower and terminal modeled, inclusive Signs
EDDV Hannover Germany Europe * L 120.170 (3)) 4 2/4 Tower and terminal modeled
EDDW Bremen Germany Europe ** L 118.500 (7) -- 2/2 very nicely modeled
EDFH Frankfurt Hahn Germany Europe ** L 119.65 (7) -- 1/2 very nicely modeled (use Terrasync)
EDLN Mönchengladbach Germany Europe *** L - -- - very nicely modeled
EDVE Braunschweig Germany Europe ** S 119.350 (2) -- 2/1
EDXW Westerland Sylt Germany Europe *** M 119.75 (2) -- 2/1 very nicely modeled famous sea-resort (use Terrasync)
EEKE Kuressaare Estonia Europe ** S 119.700 (4) -- 2/0
EFHF Helsinki-Malmi Finland Europe ** S 119.700 (4) -- 2/0
EFHK Helsinki Finland Europe ** L 119.700 (5) -- 3/5 Nice terminal and city landmarks
EEPU Parnu Estonia Europe ** M -- -- 1/0 Nice triangle EETN-EETU-EEPU
EETN Tallinn Estonia Europe ** M -- -- 1/2 Nice triangle EETN-EETU-EEPU
EETU Tartu Estonia Europe ** S -- -- 1/0 Nice triangle EETN-EETU-EEPU
EGFF Cardiff UK Europe ** M 125.00 (3) -- 1/2
EGGP Liverpool UK Europe *** M 126.350 (4) -- 1/2
EGGW Luton UK Europe *** M 126.720 (6) -- 1/2
EGKA Shoreham UK Europe *** S 125.400 (3) -- 3/0
EGKK London-Gatwick UK Europe **** M 124.220 (8) 6 1/2
EGLL London-Heathrow UK Europe *** L 118.500 (14) 3 2/4
EGPH Edinburgh UK Europe ** M 118.700 (4) -- 2/2
EGSH Norwich UK Europe ** M 124.250 (3) -- 2/1
EGUL RAF Lakenheath UK Europe *** L 122.100 -- 1/2 USAF base for fighter jets near other military air bases like EGUN, EGYM, EGXH,...
EGUN RAF Mildenhall UK Europe *** L 122.550 (5) -- 1/2 USAF base for tankers and cargo planes near other military air bases like EGUL, EGYM, EGXH,...
EHAM Amsterdam Netherlands Europe **** L 119.220 (1) many 6/6 One of the best modeled airports in the FlightGear world; most dense AI traffic.
EHEH Eindhoven Netherlands Europe ** M 131.000 (6) -- 1/2
EHLE Lelystad Netherlands Europe *** S -- 1 2/1 Basic scenery models, home of FSweekend.
EHVK Volkel Netherlands Europe ** L 123.170 (1) many 2/2
EIDW Dublin Ireland Europe *** M 118.600 (7) -- 3/3
ELLX Luxembourg Luxembourg Europe ** L 118.100 (2) -- 1/2 very nicely modeled (use Terrasync)
ENAL Alesund Norway Europe ** M 118.100 (4) -- 1/1
ENSD Alesund Norway Europe ** S -- -- 1/0
ENVA Trondheim Norway Europe *** L 122.100 (6) -- 2/2
ESGP Göteborg Sweden Europe ** M 129.100 (3) -- 2/1
FACT Cape Town South Africa Africa * L 118.100 (4) many 2/2 nice area
FAJS Johannisburg South Africa Africa * L 121.900 (3) many 2/3 high (5000), in mountains
FHAW RAF Ascension Island AUX AF Ascension Island Africa * L 126.200 (2) -- 1/0 RAF and USAF auxiliary base. Developed layout, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, great place for military flights.
GCFV Fuerteventura Gran Canaria Africa * L 119.200 (4) 9 1/1 nice island area
GE99 Clayton USA GA America * S -- -- 1/1 spectacular views and extremely challenging to land
KABQ Albuquerque USA NM America * L 120.300 (10) -- 4/2
HECA Cairo Egypt Africa * L 120.300 (10) -- 4/2 near pyramids
KATL Atlanta USA GA America * L 119.550 (4) many 3/4
KAUS Austin USA TX America *** L 121.00 (10) -- 2/4
KBWI Baltimore USA MD America *** L 119.400 (10) -- 4/6
KCGS College Park USA MD America ** S 119.850 (3) -- 2/0
KDCA Reagan National USA VA America *** M 120.750 (7) -- 3/2
KDEN Denver USA CO America ** L 133.300 (16) -- 6/12
KDTW Detroit USA MI America ** L 118.400 (15) -- 6/8
KFHR Friday Harbor USA WA America * S -- -- 1/0
KHAF Half Moon Bay USA CA America * M 122.800 (2) 4 1/0 nice area - near KSFO
KHWD Hayward USA CA America ** S 122.500 (10) 9 2/1 nice area - near KSFO
KIAD Washington-Dulles USA VA America * L 120.100 (14) many 4/3
KIND Indianapolis USA IN America *** L 127.820 (7) -- 3/6
KJAN Jackson-Evers USA MS America *** L -- -- 2/2
KJFK John F. Kennedy USA NY America *** L 119.100 (18) many 4/5
KLAS Las Vegas USA NV America **** L 119.900 (9) -- 4/3 terminal and some casinos modeled
KLAX Los Angeles USA CA America *** L 133.900 (7) many 4/8
KLSV Nellis Air Force USA NV America *** L 132.550 (6) -- 2/1
KLWD Lewistown USA MT America ** M -- -- 3/0
KMTN Martin State USA MD America ** M 121.300 (4) -- 2/2 airport and terrain modeled
KNID China Lake Naval USA CA America ** M 120.150 (2) -- 3/0
KNUQ Moffett Federal AFLD USA CA America ** M 119.550 (6) -- 2/2
KOAK Oakland USA CA America ** L 127.200 (7) many 4/3
KORD Chicago O'Hare USA IL America ** L -- many 7/14
KOSH Wittman Rgl. USA WI America ** M 118.500 (4) -- 4/1
KOXB Ocean City Muni. USA MD America ** S -- -- 2/0
KPDX Portland USA OR America ** L -- -- 3/5
KPHX Phoenix USA AZ America ** L 120.900 (6) -- 3/5 most skyscrapers modeled
KRDU Raleigh USA NC America ** L 119.300 (12) many 3/4 nice for flying east-coast
KRNO Reno/Tahoe USA NZ America ** M 118.700 (7) -- 3/2 High in clouds
KSAN San Diego USA AZ America * M 118.300 (7) many 1/2 Interesting area at border to Mexico
KSEA Seattle Tacoma USA WA America ** L 119.900 (9) -- 3/5 basic terminal model, some skyscrapers modeled
KSFO San Francisco USA CA America **** L 120.500 (7) many 4/3 FGFS Default -- overcrowded
KSLC Salt Lake City USA UT America * L 118.300 (13) -- 4/6 very high in clouds (4227 ft, 1290 m)
KSJC San Jose USA CA America * M 124.00 (7) 14 3/2 Bay-area near KSFO
LDSP Split Croatia Europe ** M unknown -- 1/1 Small civil airport with awesome scenery neighboring.
LDZU Udbina Croatia Europe * M -- -- 1/0 interesting airport high in Mountains - no ILS
LFFE Enghien Moisselles France Europa *** S --- -- 2/0 nice little Green-Field just north of Paris
LFML Marseille France Europa * M 118.370 (4) many 2/2 Mediterranean coast
LFPG Paris Charles de Gaulle France Europa **** L 123.600 (23) -- 4/8 very detailed city of Paris near by
LFPH Chelles Le Pin France Europa *** S -- -- 2/0 nice little Green-Field just south of Paris
LFPL Lognes Emerainville France Europa *** S -- -- 3/0 nice little airport just south of Paris
LFPO Paris Orly France Europa **** M 120.500 (13) -- 3/5 the older airport at Paris
LFPZ St-Cyr l'Ecole France Europa *** S -- -- 2/0 nice little airport just west of Paris, near Versailles Castle
LFRJ Landivisiau France Europa ** M 119.700 (2) -- 1/1 Naval Base
LFSB Basel-Mulhouse Swiss Europa *** L 118.300 (7) 5 2/1 Nice modeling of Terminal.
LHBP Budapest Hungaria Europa * L 118.100 (4) many 2/4 in-midst the typical Puszta-area
LILN Venegono Italy Europa ** S 128.550 (1) -- 1/0
LILV Valbrembo Italy Europa ** S -- -- 1/0 recreation area: Mountains, tennis, pool, etc.
LIMC Milano Malpensa Italy Europa *** L 119.000 (11) -- 2/3
LIME Bergamo-Orio al Serio Italy Europa ** M 120.500 (5) -- 2/1 nice mountain area
LIML Milano Limate Italy Europa *** M 119.250 (5) -- 2/1
LIMW Aosta Italy Europa * M 119.950 (1) -- 1/0 in a valley in high mountain area, fully modeled
LIPA Aviano Air Base Italy Europe ** L 122.100 -- 1/1 USAF airport home of 2 F-16 squadrons with stunning scenery surroundings
LJCE Cerklje Slovenia Europe * L - -- 1/1 Military airport with civilian part near Croatia
LJLJ Ljubljana Brnik Slovenia Europe * L - -- 1/1 capital of Slovenia
LJPZ Portorož Slovenia Europe * L - -- 1/1 at the adriatic sea
LPLA Lajes Field Azores, Portugal Europe * L 122.100 -- 1/1 Military-Civil airport with various small islands neighboring.
LQSA Sarajewo Bosnia Europe * S 118.250 (3) -- 1/1 very nice mountain region: LQSA, LYTV, LYPG
LOWI Innsbruck Austria Europe **** S 120.100 (3) -- 1/1 very nice and difficult approach, wonderful scenery
LROP Bucharest Romania Europe ** M 121.850 (3) -- 2/4
LSGS Sion Swiss Europe * S 118.217 (5) -- 1/1 Wonderful surrounded by high mountains
LSZH Zürich-Kloten Swiss Europe ** L 121.800 many 3/4 very nice mountain/lake area
LSZB Bern-Belp Swiss Europe ** M 121.020 (3) -- 2/1
LSZS Samedan Swiss Europe *** M 135,320 (3) -- 1/0 Very nice high mountain region, AP at 5600 ft (1700 m)
PANC Anchorage USA Alaska America *** L 118.300 (9) -- 3/3 interesting area
LYBE Belgrad Serbia Europe *** M 118.100 (2) -- 1/2
LYPG Podgorica Montenegro Europe * M 118.200 (2) -- 2/1 very nice mountain region: LQSA, LYTV, LYPG
LYTV Tivat Montenegro Europe * M 118.000 (1) -- 1/1 very nice mountain region: LQSA, LYTV, LYPG
MUHA Havana Cuba America * L 118.100 (4) many 1/1 nice for island-hopping
NZAA Auckland New Zealand Oceania * M 118.700 many 2/2 nice for island-hopping
OMAA Abu Dahbi United AE Asia * L 119.200 many 1/2 interesting area
OOMS Seeb United AE Asia * M 118.400 (5) many 2/2 nice sea/mountain area
PHNL Honolulu USA Hawaii America * M 123.900 (5) many 4/2 wonderful island scenery
PHOG Kahului USA Hawaii America * M 2/1 wonderful island scenery
RJTT Tokyo Japan Asia *** L 126.200 (6) -- 3/3 interesting area
RKSI Seoul South Korea Asia *** L 118.800 (6) -- 2/4
RPLL Manila Philipines Asia *** L 118.100 (5) -- 2/2
TDPD Melville Hall Dominica America ** L 118.100 (5) -- 2/2 nice area
TFFF Le Lamentin Martinique America *** M 118.500 (5) -- 1/1 nice area
TFFG Grand Case Anguilla America ** S 128.940 (3) -- 1/0 nice area
TIST Cyril E King Virgin Islands America ** S -- -- 1/1 nice area
TJSJ San Juan Puerto Rico America *** M 132.050 (6) -- 2/2 nice area
TKPK Saint Kitts Guadeloupe America ** M 118.300 (3) -- 1/0 nice area
TNCM Princess Juliana ST Maarten America *** M 118.700 (2) -- 1/0 very nice area
TQPF Wallblake Anquilla America ** S 18.500 (3) -- 1/0 nice area
VIDP New Dehli India Asia ** L 119.300 (5) many 2/3 nice area
VHHH Hong Kong China Asia * L 118.400 (16) many 2/4 very nice mountain/sea area
WSSS Singapore Changi Singapore Asia **** L 118.600 (8) many 2/3 Very nice modeled from TheOmegaHangar one. Best in FlightGear
YBAS Alice Springs Australia NT Oceania * M 118.300 (2) 26 3/1 Australian Back-Country
YBBN Brisbane Australia NSW Oceania *** L 120.500 (11) many 3/6
YPDN Darwin Australia NT Oceania * M 133.100 (8) many 2/1
YSCB Canberra Australia NSW Oceania * M 118.700 (5) many 2/1 High Mountain region (1800 ft, 550 m)
YSSY Sydney Australia NSW Oceania * L 120.500 (11) many 3/6