Building Your Airport5 min read
Buildable area & levels
The buildable area is the blue circle everything must fit inside - runways, taxiways, aprons, objects, all of it. Its size is your airport's level, and growing it is how a dirt strip becomes a regional field.
The blue circle
To position it, click Move airport area and then click the map to drop the circle. It can sit anywhere in your claim, including right up against the edge - if you later grow the area, the circle automatically pushes toward the middle of the claim so the larger size always fits.
The five levels
| Level | Radius | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 Airstrip | 750 m | Free | 1 runway up to 800 m; grass, dirt & gravel surfaces; 10 object slots |
| L2 Airfield | 950 m | Ⓐ15,000 | 2 runways up to 1,200 m; paved surfaces become available to unlock; 25 slots |
| L3 Regional | 1,250 m | Ⓐ40,000 | 2 runways up to 1,800 m; wider runways, more aprons & taxiways; 50 slots |
| L4 International | 1,600 m | Ⓐ70,000 | Coming soon (locked); 120 slots |
| L5 Sprawling | 2,000 m | Ⓐ100,000 | Coming soon (locked); 200 slots |
Prices are cumulative totals - upgrading pays only the difference.
Upgrading & permanence
The level card shows a green check on every level you own and a +costlabel on the ones above it - that's the difference you'd pay, since prices are cumulative. Owning L2 and moving to L3 costs Ⓐ25,000, not the full L3 price.
The rules, plainly
Purchased area is permanent- once bought, a level is yours for that airport. Shrinking the circle is free but never refunded, and you can't select a level below your paid size: those options show as already outgrown. Buy the room you need when you need it; there's no penalty for starting small.
Field elevation
The field elevation card shows the height your airport is flattened to. It's sampled automatically from terrain data - labelled from terrain data- and that's correct for almost every field. If you want it exact, the companion app can refine it in-sim (labelled measured in MSFS), or you can set it manually. If sampling ever fails, the elevation resolves automatically at build time, so a missing number never blocks a build.