Airliners Update

As promised we're going to talk some more about airliners and their new features for TAP NG in this blogpost. First off, I want to introduce you to our newest devteam member: Chris (aka EagleTM). He joined the team about 3 months ago. His main purpose: to bring our airliner database to the next level. Without further ado, let's dive into the changes!

Performance

TAP NG will bring more variation and complexity to the airliners. Airliner models will evolve with time. This means we now have subtypes for most airliner types. Your Airbus A330-200 purchased in the late '90s will not match the performance of a newly built in the early '10s. Throughout time manufacturers will release new versions with improved MTOW, payload and/or fuel capacity as well as other improvements.  Of course as mostly anything in this game, you will be able to customize this behaviour with settings.

The airliner's structure is not the only thing that improves over time. You will also be able to purchase new engines. Or engines with different purposes like Hot and High operations. Engines will differ in weight, thrust, fuel consumption at cruise level or during take off/landing and how much noise they generate. Furthermore, engines will receive different ETOPS ratings at different times.

Payload, Fuel and Range

How you fill in your airliner in TAP NG will have more implications than just a different capacity. After you have chosen your engine you have some payload to play with. You will decide how many and what kind of seats you put in your airliner. Different seats have a different weight.  Most passenger airliners will give you the option to carry some cargo in the belly. You will be given the option to restrict the amount of space dedicated to cargo and finally fill up the airliner with the necessary fuel. With all these settings you now have a total weight of the airliner. Based on this weight we will calculate a custom range for your airliner and a custom required take off/landing distance.

Improvements

In addition, manufacturers will develop minor improvements for your existing fleet. Over time they will offer you modifications like additional fuel tanks, winglets, certifications for higher capacity or MTOW, ...

Other News

As many of you probably noticed, we launched a new site this month. Most replies were positive and we're very happy about that, thank you! We will take note of the tips provided to further improve the site in the next couple of days.

Many of you asked whether it is possible to subscribe to a mailing list for The Airline Project. We now can happily announce you can subscribe to our newsletter here.

We also implemented some updated airport icons:

We tried our best to include as much information as possible in the icon so you can easily find what you're looking for.

The size and number in the icon show the demand category to this airport. (pax or cargo based on what you have selected)
The shape of the icon shows what the hardest runway surface is at this airport. Additionally it shows whether water runways are available.
The colour of the icon shows whether the airport has border control available or not.
You will notice some airports have icons inside them. These show that the airports are temporarily out of use due to a military take over, bombed infrastructure or just simply closing in the near future. The image doesn't include this icon, but we also have one for airports currently in construction.

Here you have a screen showing how Europe looks like in 2020:

note: Eastern Europe isn't fully implemented in this picture yet, and smaller airports are hidden as you zoom out.

Stay Tuned

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See you soon!

The Devteam