XPL

Developer Origami Studios, the team behind the Scottish Aviation Bulldog, has today announced they will be bringing Gatwick Airport (EGKK) to X-Plane 11. As the second busiest airport in the UK, Gatwick serves a wide range of short-haul and long haul routes around the world. Gatwick is unique due to the fact it has two runways but mostly uses a single runway for normal operations. Gatwick Airport is home for airlines such as easyJet, TUI, British Airways and others.

This will be Origami Studio’s first venture into scenery development, but the team has promised to spare no details in the release. The airport will come with full 4K PBR ground textures, SAM compatibility, moving ground traffic and realistic lighting. The airport has been designed based on the 2019/20 confirmation and ground layout of the airport and the current architecture of both North and South terminals.

The team said that the airport is “coming soon,” but no further details have been released. We’ll keep a close eye and inform you of any new information related to Origami Studios’ Gatwick Airport for X-Plane 11.

Update 16JAN21: UK2000 Scenery has since updated their original Facebook post to remove FSX as a development platform. We have updated the article to reflect this.

An announcement made on Facebook has confirmed that UK2000 Scenery has ended development on future X-Plane airport products. The new information will be effective immediately due to ongoing issues developing for the platform. Current X-Plane 11 airport scenery products will continue to be made available to buy through UK2000 Scenery’s website, but there is no indication if any of them would be further updated with bug fixes or changes when they occur in real life (e.g. Luton Airport runway number changes).

On Facebook, the spokesperson for the company said that “there is simply not enough time in the day to develop for 4 simulators” and as such felt that time was better spent on Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Prepar3D. It was also stated that UK2000 Scenery feels that Microsoft Flight Simulator will be the “next major simulator” and whilst it isn’t there quite yet, it will be in the “near future.” The post also reminded people that UK2000 Scenery products are created by a single developer who has other commitments to focus on outside of the flight simulation space.

UK2000 Scenery is apologetic about the news, but once again reassured customers that X-Plane 11 products will continue to be made available to those wishing to buy a copy through their website.