Call for Ideas: AirlineSim's 25th anniversary in 2027

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It almost feels like yesterday that we celebrated AirlineSim’s 20th anniversary. But here we are: Almost half a decade has passed once again, AirlineSim will have existed for a quarter of a century :smiley:

Naturally, this calls for a celebration!

So I am asking for your ideas and suggestions:

  • Should we finally follow through on that age-old idea of meeting up at SXM?
  • Where are most people willing to take a trip located these days?
  • How far would you be willing to travel?
  • What sort of accompanying program would people be interested in (aviation? beaches? nature? culture? …)
  • Is a physical meet-up not feasible anymore to begin with and should we focus on a digital one?

These and likely many other questions need answering. So please go ahead and share your thoughts.

The earlier we start planning, the better!

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Dev Log Week 2026-20: Trip down memory lane
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Firstly,

Congratulations on 25 years. This game has been a massive help to me over the years, a distraction from real world issues, whilst giving me my aviation fix, so thank you.

I do have some ideas, but at work now so will post later on.

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Congratulations on 25 years!

It’s crazy but true to say that I’ve grown up playing this game. I’ve seen so many new aircraft types and a whole new ORS come to life.

I’d be super interested in an airport or maintenance hangar tour. I wasn’t able to make previous tours, so I have more travel flexibility in 2027!

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SXM would be great, but now with family and a real life, it seems out of reach.

Maybe could Skiathos an alternative.

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25 years of AirlineSim… definitely a worthy occasion.

It would be a great help to me if we could narrow down the target date a bit.

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I figure the date will depend quite a bit on the location. SXM for example would only make sense outside of hurricane season, I guess :wink:

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I will have a residence permit in Denmark (for Masters degree) in 2027. But I don’t know if “Schengen’s overseas colony islands” like St Maarten would be in Schengen area, which, if not, would probably be harder for me to attend in person (as a Chinese passport holder). I don’t know if my free time and money permits, either.

Probably… I will definitely come in person if the place was like, the remains of Berlin Tegel, or similar. But I don’t want to be selfish :slight_smile:

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Congrats on 25 years!!! I’d be down. SXM or another place could work with advance prep.

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First of all, thank you so much for the game and for involving us in the anniversary planning. I have an idea regarding the program.
I know there have already been meetings with airport tours, but since the game is called AirlineSim, I’d be interested in taking a look behind the scenes of an airline—specifically, how they plan which aircraft flies where and when, which crew is scheduled for those flights, and so on. A tour and perhaps some discussions with planners and crews—that would be really interesting to me.
I don’t work in the aviation industry, so this might be boring for insiders.

Of course, this limits our options in terms of location, since we’re restricted to the airlines’ headquarters.

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It may be worth having a separate celebration for your North America-based users. I’d suggest appending it to another event that way we can take advantage of some of the existing programming, such as What You Need to Know to Attend Cranky Dorkfest – Cranky Flier which has been in LAX every year for the past few years.

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What’s about a revival of our 10th anniversary? That happened on the island of Mallorca. The location is still open to business and was a nice vacation ressort.

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Does the hotel still exist, it was already a great meeting back then.
The games in the pool with the participants were really great.

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Yes, it does. The ybuilt a larger indoor pool and wellness area, but it is still like it have been 15 years ago. Fun fact - the hotel was alos part of a movie and geographically “moved” to one of the canary islands.

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Keep it coming :slight_smile:

I’ll try to keep myself out of the discussion for the moment to avoid bias :slight_smile:

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Wow, thats a really long time. Even being out of AS business for quite some time now, and only reading now and then, I still own really precious memories with AS.

So 25th Birthday is worth joining

SXM was always a dream but seams a bit untealistic, but … sounds good.

PMI was from what i heared great, unfortunately I was not able to join back then. So this seems like a very good option. Skiathos btw as well!

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Tough call…lots of trade-offs :sweat_smile:

While the community has likely aged with the game (at least on average), which should translate to somewhat higher budgets, it also means more real-life complications like kids :smiley:

One the one hand, it should be something special. And an aviation angle would be really nice. But on the other, it should be accessible to as many people as possible. The latter being a new challenge in an of itself as the community today is much more international than it was 15 years ago.

In that context, Mallorca would be family-friendly and east to reach for Europeans, but it’s rather hard to reach for anyone else and it has hardly any connection to aviation at all.

SXM would actually be quite easy to reach for North Americans, but because it’s the opposite for everyone else and there’s a travel season that might be tricky to make work for many community members with kids in school. The aviation angle, though…

JSI could be sort of a compromise given it’s location and aviation-theme. But I did a quick check and while it’s technically in Europe, connections to the island actually appear to be sparse.

This would make for a great “anchor” for an event, both in terms of theme and location. But it obviously hinges on an “inside man/woman” willing to open some doors for us.

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I asked Gemini for suggestions, it sticks to Skiathos and suggests Toulouse for more Airline affinity:

As SXM (Sint Maarten) is obviously the holy grail for plane spotters—but getting there from Europe is expensive, time-consuming, and the flight connections are extremely rigid. For an international community like AirlineSim, where logistical efficiency (hub connectivity, flight options, alliances) is practically in your blood, there are some brilliantly located alternatives.

A worthy destination for the 25th anniversary needs to check three boxes: excellent global accessibility, an aviation highlight (spotting, history, or a mega-hub), and an infrastructure that can easily handle a larger community gathering.

Here are four worldwide destinations that easily rival SXM and are fully worthy of the community:

1. Skiathos (JSI), Greece – The “SXM of Europe”

If you are looking for that pure SXM feeling (aircraft on extreme low-altitude final approach directly over spotters’ heads), Skiathos is the logical alternative.

The Aviation Highlight: The runway is short and narrow. Aircraft touch down just a few meters behind the beach fence. The jet blasts during takeoff are legendary.

Accessibility: Extremely easy to reach for the European core community via charter and low-cost flights. International guests can fly in via the Athens mega-hub (ATH) and take the short hop to Skiathos.

2. Los Angeles (LAX), USA – In-N-Out & Imperial Hill

For a truly international gathering, the US West Coast is a prime choice. LAX is basically Mecca for the global aviation community.

The Aviation Highlight: The world-famous parking lot of the In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda Blvd sits right under the approach path for runways 24L/R. You can hang out with like-minded geeks eating burgers while heavy jets (A380, 777, 787) roar low overhead every minute. Alternatively, Imperial Hill offers a perfect view of the entire apron.

Accessibility: As one of the largest mega-hubs in the world, it is highly accessible, affordable, and often reachable nonstop from Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

3. Toulouse (TLS), France – The Cradle of Modern Aviation

If you want the meeting to focus less on the beach and more on the “airline management & industry” vibe of AirlineSim, Toulouse is unbeatable.

The Aviation Highlight: The heart of Airbus. Right next to the factory grounds, the Aeroscopia museum (featuring an accessible Concorde and A380) provides the perfect backdrop. You can arrange guided tours through the A350 or A320 final assembly lines—an absolute dream for AirlineSim players who calculate with these exact aircraft models every day.

Accessibility: Excellently connected within Europe, while international players can easily transit through hubs like Paris (CDG/ORY), Frankfurt (FRA), or Munich (MUC).

4. Sint Maarten “Light”: Phuket (HKT), Thailand – Mai Khao Beach

If you don’t want to miss out on the tropical beach and the exact SXM aesthetic, Southeast Asia offers a perfect—and often more budget-friendly—alternative.

The Aviation Highlight: At Mai Khao Beach (right by Runway 09), you get the exact same phenomenon as Maho Beach when the wind blows from the east: wide-body aircraft on low final approach over turquoise water and white sand.

Accessibility: Phuket is perfectly developed for tourism and offers tons of hotel capacities for every budget. The airport is served directly by almost all major Gulf carriers (Emirates, Qatar, Etihad) as well as European and Asian airlines, or via Bangkok (BKK).

My Travel Planner Tip for the Anniversary:

If Martin and the community want to keep the SXM feeling affordable and accessible for everyone, Skiathos is the best choice for 2027. If it’s meant to be a truly international event with an “industry flair,” cooperating with the Aeroscopia museum in Toulouse would make the milestone birthday unforgettable.

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Reading through martin’s trade-off list; international accessibility, an aviation highlight, and infrastructure that can handle a crowd, I think Houston TX actually checks all three boxes surprisingly well, so let me make the case.

Accessibility: IAH is United’s largest hub, which means nonstop connectivity that’s genuinely global; Europe (LH, BA, KLM, AF, Turkish), the Middle East (Emirates A380, Qatar), Asia (ANA, EVA), and all of Latin America. For North American members it’s trivially easy, and for Europeans/Asians it’s a single nonstop rather than a connection through a third hub. That’s hard to beat for a community as spread out as ours has become.

The aviation angle: This is where Houston earns its spot.

  • IAH is a serious wide-body hub: daily A380, 777s, 787s, and the full United mainline + regional fleet, so the variety is excellent.

  • There’s an official observation lot on Lee Rd right off the approach to runway 27, with aircraft passing ~100 ft overhead, plus the well-known Rankin Rd hill for departure shots off 15L/15R. (Not quite Maho Beach, but the volume is relentless.)

  • The Lone Star Flight Museum at Ellington (EFD) is right here in town for a warbird/history fix. (https://lonestarflight.org/)

  • We have an AviaSIM location…check it out yourself ( AviaSim Houston - Flight Simulator Experience )

  • As a United fortress hub, there’s at least a theoretical angle on Anakin’s behind-the-scenes ops idea; crew scheduling, hub-banking, the kind of thing we all model in-game. (Would obviously need an inside contact, but the hub is here.) We can try sending a letter?

    • Houston also is HQ for FlightAware, if we fail with United we may be able to do something with these guys.

The accompanying program: Houston isn’t short on things to do, Space Center Houston / NASA Johnson is a genuine bucket-list item and dovetails perfectly with an aviation-nerd crowd, the Museum District is huge, and the food scene (Tex-Mex, Gulf seafood, and some of the best BBQ in the state) is excellent. Hotel capacity and conference space are abundant and, frankly, cheaper than most European or Caribbean resort options.

The honest downsides: Summer here is brutally hot and humid, so timing would matter (spring or fall is ideal), and it lacks the postcard beach aesthetic of SXM or Skiathos. But if the priority is accessibility + real aviation substance + budget, I think Houston deserves a look.

Full disclosure, I’m based here, but I’d also happily help with local legwork if there’s interest

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As convincing as that sounds and as much as I’d love to visit Texas again (spent a year of my life in AMA), I see two problems:

Firstly, travel to the US is generally not something people are too crazy about these days. While the stories about immigration nightmares are likely exaggerated, it still has people worried.

The second one is a very personal take but I could imagine it applies to others as well (at least the second part). I can basically do a trip like this in two ways:

  1. As a business trip, paid by simulogics (and thereby your credits :laughing:): For that, the company simply doesn’t have the budget/margins once the expenses get anywhere near the 4-digit range, which means a long-distance trip and/or a longer stay at a hotel aren’t feasible.
  2. As a private trip, paid out of my own pockets: That’s something I’d only do if I can bring along my family. Which means it either has to be something that qualifies as “annual vacation” in a location that I can afford and that’s compatible with a 5- and an 8-year old (which effectively rules out many long-distance destinations, SXM being absolutely borderline) or it needs to be a “weekend trip”, in which case I can just as well do it as a business trip by myself.

Now that I’ve spelled it out, it actually becomes pretty clear that my own constraints effectively rule out most if not all international options (as in: long-distance from Germany), at least in 2027.

Meh :slight_smile: