Santa Barbara Airport is coming to MSFS 2024! Gaya Simulations has done a lot of work for Microsoft over the last few years but recently they’ve started doing their own projects again. Their most recent announcement? Santa Barbara Airport (KSBA) for MSFS 2024. Let’s have a look!

A bit of everything

Back in the early days of MSFS 2020, I picked up KSBA Santa Barbara from the Orbx store. I flew out of there a whole bunch of times thanks to the scenic location located on the west coast and not too far of a flight from the Los Angeles area. That scenery pack, developed by Misha Cajic, has yet to be updated for MSFS 2024 and at this point it looks like it might never be. Enter Gaya Simulations who has been on a bit of a streak recently doing their own projects again (after doing a lot of heavy lifting for MSFS 2024).

I’m very thankful to see this airport get tackled by an experienced scenery developer. It has previously been a fun destination for me to fly into and out of with its west coast southern California vibes and a size that makes it well suited to both general aviation traffic as well as business jets and commuter jets alike. You can kind of do it all with an airport like this which is great!

This one is all about the California experience. Pacific coastline, mountains right behind the airport, beautiful approaches, airline traffic, biz-jets and GA, all wrapped in an incredibly immersive environment with excellent surrounding TIN coverage.

KSBA is exactly the kind of airport we love: compact enough to make every corner feel handcrafted, but busy and varied enough to keep coming back to.

That sounds good to me.

The developer has also revealed that they are doing Madrid-Barajas (LEMD), and are rebooting their Vienna Airport (LOWW) scenery as well. They’ve also just released Corfu International Airport (LGKR) on Orbx, Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, Contrail, Aerosoft and on the iniBuilds Store.


13 responses to “Gaya Simulations reimagines a classic: Santa Barbara Airport (KSBA) is coming to MSFS 2024”

  1. I got the old one from Orbx as well. It’s a pretty airport and and I’m glad we’re getting an update. (Though TBH I’m still satisfied with the old one just because I don’t use it often.)

    Liked by 2 people

    1. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
      ShamrockOneFive

      Can you even get the old one to work? On my setup it doesn’t want to display even when its in the 2024 Community folder.

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      1. Honestly I tthink I’ve only been there once, and I thought it was in 2024, but it might have been 2020. I think I switched over when SU5 came out.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
        ShamrockOneFive

        Maybe it was 2020. I loved flying out of there. It’s a “right sized” airport for simulator flying. I’ll definitely be wishlisting this new one.

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      3. Hey, I tried both KSBA and KBUR from Orbx out tonight (both v2020 software), and had no issues with them showing up.

        They do look like they’re aged releases, but they’re still so much better than default! 🙂

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      4. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
        ShamrockOneFive

        That’s interesting. I put them in the 2024 community folder and they flat out refuse to load.

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      5. one uses the Orbx installer and aliases into the standard Community folder (not “…2024”).

        the other is from SimMarket and auto installed directly to std Community and showed up fine. I’ve since moved it to my AddonLinker folder with all my others, and I’ve never had any probs there, either.

        In fact, I think only one of my addons ever even went to the 2024 Community folder…?

        Liked by 1 person

      6. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
        ShamrockOneFive

        I’ll have to try again.

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  2. this is one of my all-time favorite SoCal airfields! So much better than the behemoth KLAX, and not lost in the noise like KSMO.

    It’s physical placement right between the mountains and the sea make for beautiful sights, esp on runways 15/33 (15 being a bit exciting with a tight turn to final, too!).
    And you can even squeak a lightly loaded 737 in there. A bit challenging, but that’s what makes it fun. 😎

    I mainly fly there in XP since True Earth covers it, so I can’t remember if I have the same issue as you with FS24. Worth a test!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. There’s a really good freeware KLGB out there too. The airport has a more industrial feel which isn’t as charming as KSBA, but I love flying around the Long Beach shore and out to Catalina, especially with the latest Asobo updates to California.

      There’s a good payware KVNY on Orbx which also has its own great-but-different vibe.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
        ShamrockOneFive

        I’ll check that freeware out!

        KVNY I also have for 2020 and it’s also not working properly the last time I tried it in 2024. Maybe Gaya will tackle that one too. It is an iconic airport.

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  3. I’ve been hardware testing in KSBA on MSFS 2020 since it came out and it was the airport I used to go to and fly from the most in XP11 (and now XP12).

    Going strong in MSFS2020 I flew a lot there and from there because of its perfect spot and engaging STARs and SIDs, but not even once I knew it was a beloved airport like shown in the comments here XD. I guess there is something special indeed about the place.

    It is a great airport for flight simming. Short taxing routes. Right sized runways for forcing that extra focus on approach. Fine place to practice radio SIDs and STARs.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
      ShamrockOneFive

      It’s that great option for flight simming that makes it work so well. As you say, it’s got a bit of everything combined with some great scenery and that makes it something of a classic!

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