My sim PC has been out of action for a couple of weeks now while I wait for defective RAM to be RMA’ed and replaced. It was, for a time, stuck in a shipping nightmare so while I wait to get my sim PC back online I’m looking for other ways to satisfy my aviation enthusiasm. Enter Mini Airways from developer CCC Games and publisher Erabit.

ATC simplified

Mini Airways is a ATC management game that has you managing departing and arriving airplanes at airports around the world. This is a casual experienced aimed at providing a simple and quick game that you can learn to play quickly. It’s not like some of the more authentic and realistic titles out there, this one is meant to be far simpler.

It works across multiple platforms and works well on my MacBook that I use for non-simming stuff. It also works on Windows, MacOS and Steam OS on Linux so you can run it on a bunch of different hardware.

The interface is relatively straight forward with simple vector graphics portraying a runway (or multiple) that you need to manage. You have a queue of aircraft that need to take off before the queue gets full. You also get an increasing number of landing aircraft coming into your airspace that you need to take care of as well.

The demo version gives you London City airport while the full priced version adds a few dozen airports to the mix with different runway configurations.

Aircraft taking off are colour coded and need to head to specific waypoints before they disappear (or in my head I like to assume they’ve done their SID and are climbing out and away from my airspace). You click, drag and tell them where to go and off they go.

Landing aircraft just need to land! Of course, you can let them cross paths with the landing or departing aircraft or they will get too close and “collide.”

The game provides TCAS style warnings when two aircraft appear to be heading towards each other so you often have ample time to steer them clear of each other.

As you play a scenario, the game gives you options to expand the queue of aircraft, add specific waypoints with pointed directions and add hold points which can hold up to 3 aircraft that won’t crash into the others while they wait. They can’t wait forever but it can help when things get busy.

The challenge

What this game really does is force you to be present and thinking a few moves ahead on what needs to be done. Is your aircraft queue filling up? Are two aircraft about to crash into each other? Did you really tell that departing aircraft to go to the appropriate waypoint?

At first you feel like its pretty easy. You’ve got it under control and everyone is flying where they need to be going. But then it starts to get hectic with managing the needs of arriving and departing airplanes with increasing numbers ramping up the pressure. Before long its just a little too much and the game is over. I’ve hit 92 aircraft managed before succumbing.

Available on Steam

Mini Airways released in July of 2024 and is published on Steam with a free demo version giving you the basic experience above and a full priced version available for $9.99 USD. If you need a simple and quick distraction from your regular sim flying and want to challenge your multi-tasking abilities, you may want to check this out.

I might need to check into some of the more sophisticated ATC games out there sometime!