Launching into the skies of Microsoft Flight Simulator is happening August 18th! An announcement posted to FlightSimulator.com this morning made the news official with three versions on pre-order featuring different levels of content along with an official list of including high detail airports and aircraft including some surprises in the list. Let’s have a look!
Launch trailer
Let’s start with the launch trailer which shows off some new and never before seen aircraft (lower down in the article I cover the full list).
Three versions available to pre-order
On offer for Microsoft Flight Simulator are three versions coming in a Standard, Deluxe and Premium Deluxe Editions. Each version ups the ante with new content in the form of more aircraft and airports at launch:
- Standard Edition is $59.99 USD and includes 20 aircraft and 30 airports.
- Deluxe Edition is $89.99 USD and has everything in Standard plus 5 more aircraft and 5 more airports.
- Premium Deluxe Edition is $119.88 USD and comes with everything in Standard plus 10 more aircraft and 10 more airports.
Standard Edition will be available on day one with the XBox Game Pass for PC (currently in beta itself) and its unclear how Game Pass holders can gain access to the additional Deluxe and Premium Deluxe content – although I suspect it would be sold separately as DLC as well.
Interestingly, a retail disc version will be sold via Aerosoft in European stores. More information is coming to the Aerosoft website soon.
Airports and airplanes
Two lists have been released showcasing the airports and airplanes that will be included in the launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Standard edition includes a lot of the aircraft that we’ve seen showcased in various trailers and promotional screenshots. A mix of aircraft including the Bonanza G36, the Cessna 152 and 172 (G1000), DR400-100, ICON A5, TBM930, XCub, and DA40 NG and DA62 round out the mix for more GA oriented aircraft. For the airliner fans, the A320neo, 787-8 Intercontinental, and business jet Citation CJ4 round out the mix there. It’s a good list that I have copied below.
Deluxe adds some variants of aircraft with different versions of the DA40, C152 and C172 as well as some unique additions such as the Baron G58 and DV20.
It’s Premium Deluxe where the surprises really begin with the 787-10 Dreamliner for tubeliner fans as well as the SR22, Cessna Citation Longitude, and some quirky additions such as the Shock Ultra, and SW 121.
For airports we have mostly international airport hubs along with a few smaller options. From Seattle-Tacoma International and John F. Kennedy to the unique Courchevel Altiport and the classic Innsbruck Airport there’s a fair bit of variety spread across multiple continents and nations.
Other airports have been included in MSFS, according to past developer videos, but these ones have been included with extra detail.
Full lists of aircraft and airports available here:
Find out more
Check out the official announcement for Microsoft Flight Simulator, launching August 18 right here, and check out the added details for the pre-order right here.
Stormbirds 
It’ll be interesting to see what’s special with these airports. I know a guy on the alpha and he said you can land at any airport with an ICAO, so what is the situation with these airports? Also, looks like it will be available on the MS PC Game Pass, so that’s probably a good way to try before you buy.
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The airports thing has definitely caused some discussion. From Feature Discovery 6: Airports, we learned that there are different levels of airport detail. Some have been given special attention with custom terminals and special details while others are likely to use a cookie cutter approach with more generic auto-gen buildings.
From what we’ve seen, even the generic airports will look pretty good. They just won’t look exactly like their real life counterparts like these custom versions will.
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Thanks for the post Shamrock! Seems interesting on how MS has split up the packaging, although I do wish they’d made it more scalable instead. Perhaps splitting aircraft into categories instead (trainers, general av, heavy, aerobatic, etc.) and offering custom airports individually with the more “generic” placeholder type in case you didn’t want to buy one on that list. But, just my two cents there – all considering $120 for all in isn’t a bad price. Seems very competitive with X-Plane considering all of the addons needed to get it to look right and perform well + $50 more/less plane addons. Will definitely consider the sim for a future budget however!
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I’m going in in whole hog. I want every rivet and raindrop this thing has to offer.
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I really, really hope this will be as good as we expect it to be.
Also, considering it will have all the special data sources to provide real life weather, traffic, and so on, is there any word if they’re going to charge some kind of paid subscription for it?
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Great question! I’ve speculated on that previously but so far no announcement of anything like that.
Maybe it’s all just included. Microsoft might be banking that including it will help them sell more and they are getting a ton of attention right now.
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I’m starting to generate such questions because really, so far it looks too good to be true.
When something looks as promising, my experience tells me to start looking for a catch.
Also, is there any benefit for pre-orders? Do I get anything extra if I do? Because I usually like to wait a bit and see what’s going on in the actual final product, and also I’d be more inclined to buy it on Steam, which is just my platform for most games.
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I’d like to have it on Steam as well. But I guess we all have to go through setting up yet another account just to buy something.
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Actually, I’m almost certain that they did state they intend to make it available on more platforms, if possible. So Steam will probably feature it.
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I guess the only problem with that is waiting for it to happen.
I would much rather have it on Steam, but if it means waiting for months, that’s tough.
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Judging by how well paced this whole project has been so far, it may not be that long…
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