MFSG has recently released their rendition of Townsville International Airport (YBTL) for Microsoft Flight Simulator, serving the city of Townsville in Northern Australia with a yearly average of 1 million passengers.

The airport was inaugurated in 1939, featuring two grass runways. Not long after that, it was chosen by the Department of Defence to become a military air base for World War 2. The initial plan was to house three squadrons, but they eventually settled with just one, and the base was built alongside the airport in early 1940.

After the war, commercial services flourished, with a steady increase in passenger numbers and aircraft movements as time went on, especially in the mid-60s. The 1970s saw its consolidation as a regional hub for Ansett and TAA.

A decade later, the airport benefitted from a petition started by the new owners of Ansett for international flights to begin in some regional airports, with the inaugural flight departing in April 1980 to Singapore. Later that year, they were granted 13 million dollars to build a state-of-the-art international terminal. 

Townsville became the first regional airport in Australia to offer direct long-distance international flights. The list of direct service airlines was Qantas, Ansett, Air Niugini, Continental Micronesia, Garuda Indonesia, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, and Japan Airlines.

The international terminal was expanded in 1987 to comport domestic traffic, followed by a huge crisis (1989-1991) that ceased most domestic operations in the country for nearly two years.

With Ansett’s liquidation in 2001, 40% of the airport’s traffic vanished into thin air, starting an era of uncertainty followed by a happy surprise: Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia) began flying to Townsville, increasing the traffic by a respectable 25%, followed by Qantas expanding their service to make up for the gap left by Ansett’s bankruptcy.

Airnorth, Alliance Airlines, Bonza, Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Virgin Australia, and West Wing Aviation currently serve it. 

The scenery features an accurate rendition of the airport, with an updated ground layout, custom ground textures, custom jetways, AI traffic compatibility, and more.

It’s available on SimMarket for roughly $14.71, requiring at least 61.38 MB of free hard disk space to install.

Stay tuned to Threshold for more flight simulation news!

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