A turn based airline game · 1945 to 2045
Airline
Challenge
One hundred years of aviation, one airline at a time. Start with a single aircraft on an island route, or run a global network through the arrival of the jets.
Real aircraft, airports and history. Every fact is labelled by how well it is sourced, so you always know what is established and what is still an estimate.
Status
A playable prototype exists. It covers fourteen packs: thirteen from 1946 to 2044, the last two of them labelled projections, and a small fictional slice from 2045, with eleven illustrated looks, and is the test of whether the economy and the interface work.
1,345 airports
Across the fourteen packs, from Idlewild to a grass strip on the Isles of Scilly, each with runway, capacity and weather.
544 aircraft entries
Piston, turboprop, jet and widebody, plus light aircraft for the smallest operators. Types that fly in several eras are counted in each.
371 airline entries
From a major carrier to an operator with one aircraft, with up to 99 more invented rivals on top. Rivals follow the same rules you do.
65 scenarios
A jet bet, a deregulation start up, a flag carrier rebuilt, a sole island link and more, from 1946 to 2044.
All figures in the prototype are estimates and are being verified. See how the data is handled.
Interface
The interface belongs to its era. In 1958 it is a printed timetable. In 1945 it is paper and a typewriter. Each period of the game gets its own look, sound and feel.
Every size
Most airline games are about the big carriers. This one is also about the smallest. A one aircraft operator on an island lifeline route meets weather, subsidy, a ferry rival and the fragility of having nothing in reserve.
The smallest airline in the prototype is modelled on a real kind of operator. Isles of Scilly Skybus flies from Land's End, Newquay and Exeter to St Mary's, and is owned by the company that runs the ferry from Penzance. See the whole spectrum of airlines.
Eras
The century is mapped in ten year eras. Five are playable drafts today, two have research dossiers, and the rest are mapped.
- 011945 to 1954Postwar piston
Wartime transports flood the market while the rules of international flying are written.Playable draft - 021955 to 1964Jet transition
Long haul jets arrive. Order too early and you carry empty seats and debt. Too late and your rivals take the best passengers. The pack called The jet bet begins starts in January 1955 and plays to the end of 1957, when the 1958 pack takes over. The pack called The widebody decision starts in January 1964 and plays on across the boundary into Era 3, to the end of 1967.Playable draft - 031965 to 1974Mass travel and shocks
Widebody jets, charters at scale, noise rules and an oil shock.Playable draft - 041975 to 1984Deregulation
The United States lets go of routes and fares. New airlines start, old ones fail, and the hub network takes shape.Playable draft - 051985 to 1994Hubs and consolidation
Fortress hubs, reservation systems and frequent flyer schemes decide who wins, and flag carriers are sold.Playable draft - 061995 to 2004Alliances and low cost
Global alliances form while a new kind of cheap airline wins on cost, then September 2001 changes every journey.Playable draft - 072005 to 2014Superjumbo and crisis
A double deck giant and a composite twin promise a new age, then fuel, a financial crisis and a volcano rearrange the field.Playable draft
Honesty
History games tend to blur what is known and what is guessed. Airline Challenge does not.
Labelled facts
Every record carries its source and a confidence level: exact, estimated or placeholder. The in-game encyclopedia shows them.
Tested economy
The simulation is deterministic and covered by automated tests, strategy runs and a calibration report that states where it misses.
Open roadmap
What is built, what is partly built and what is only planned is stated plainly on the systems page.