Cabin cargo space is now drawn and listed when seats are removed (FSC-4219, FSC-4239)
Previously, an aircraft with seats removed showed "Cabin 0 seats" in the 3D view, and the floor left free for cargo wasn't drawn or listed anywhere. The 3D view now draws the cabin cargo space inside the cabin, and the "Aircraft Layout" tab lists it on its own "Cabin Cargo Space" line with its dimensions and volume.
Above: A CRJ700 with some economy seats removed, showing the cabin cargo space at the back of the cabin and its own "Cabin Cargo Space" line (434 × 350 × 175 cm, 26.6 m³).
The Antonov An-225 can now be maintained, slotted and parked (FSC-4222, FSC-4228)
Previously, the An-225 (7,425.6 m²) was larger than every Service Centre, slot and stand, so it could never get a C or D check, fly route-backed jobs or park on a stand. The Large Service Centre, Huge Domestic Slot, Huge International Slot and Huge Stand have been enlarged to 8,000 m². Existing ones have been enlarged too.
Above: A Large Service Centre at KMSP, now 8,000 m², with "Perform C check" supporting aircraft up to 8,000 m².
Above: The "Huge Domestic Slot", which now supports aircraft with a footprint of up to 8,000 m².
Mixed charter routes now count each commodity (FSC-4227)
In "Create Charter", a route carrying several commodities previously showed a single count under one name (e.g. "25 mail bags" for 8 passengers, 11 mail bags and 6 parcel sacks). The route now shows a count for each commodity where there is room, and hovering over it lists every commodity on the route.
Above: A mixed route showing 8 economy passengers, 11 mail bags and 6 parcel sacks as separate counts.
Above: Hovering over a busy mixed route lists every commodity on it, with the weight of each cargo type.
The public API specification is now available (FSC-4223)
The public API's OpenAPI specification at https://v2.fscharter.net/api/v1/openapi.json previously returned a 404. It is now published, so anyone building on the API can read it.
Bug Fixes
Passengers who booked a cabin are now seated before upgrades (FSC-4183)
Previously, on routes with cabin upgrades, a large upgrading group could take a cabin's seats before a smaller group who had booked that cabin, leaving the booked group off the flight. Each cabin now seats the groups who booked it first, then upgrades by booked class (business before economy).
Passengers returned to the pool are no longer priced at an upgraded class (FSC-4218)
Previously, a passenger group that was upgraded on a route job went back to the pool still marked with its upgraded cabin, so the next company could be offered an economy booking priced as first class. Groups now return to the pool priced at the class they booked.
The job revenue breakdown now shows a restriction penalty once (FSC-4221)
Previously, on a charter with a restriction breach, the "Revenue Breakdown" on a job's "Financials" tab showed the restriction loss twice (once as an "Exclusivity" penalty) and inflated the base revenue to match. The penalty now appears once, and the breakdown ends with a "Total" line. The amount paid for the job was always correct.
Above: A charter's "Revenue Breakdown" showing the restriction penalty once, with the "Total" line at the bottom.
New personal access tokens now appear on the "API Access" tab (FSC-4224)
Previously, after creating a personal access token, the "API Access" tab in your profile still showed "No Tokens Issued". New tokens now appear in the list straight away.
Above: A new token, "My flight tracker", listed on the "API Access" tab as soon as it is created.
A saved hire "Limit Location" is now kept (FSC-4220)
Previously, a saved Country or Airport "Limit Location" showed as "No Limit" when the aircraft's "Hire" tab was reopened, and the tab opened with an unsaved changes prompt. The saved limit now shows, and the prompt only appears after a change.
Every aircraft loadout screen now shows the aircraft in 3D, with the cabin and the hold together. You can rotate the view, zoom in and hover over seats or items for more information. You can also switch seats, bags, cargo and freight on and off to see each layer on its own.
Above: An A320 carrying first, business and economy passengers, bags, cargo and a freight container.
Above: Hover over an item or stack for more information.
Cargo can now be transported in the hold (FSC-4172)
Previously, standard cargo was only permitted to travel in the cabin, which meant that many narrowbodies (737, A320, MD-82, CRJ, E190) could not earn from cargo revenue when every seat was occupied. Now cargo (and high value cargo) can travel in the hold (or the cabin cargo space if you have seats removed). Routes now also stop loading cargo at the aircraft's payload limit, so a full route no longer loads more than the aircraft can structurally lift.
Above: A 737 carrying mail and parcels into the hold beside passenger bags (the seat layer is switched off so the hold is visible).
Better understanding of cargo dimensions and restrictions (FSC-4192)
The loadout page has been reworked to give you more information when items aren't loaded onto the aircraft. When accepting a job, there is now a "Not loading" list, grouped by the reason the cargo would be left behind (e.g. too tall, no hold, no room left, over weight limits). By default the list only shows items that must be carried on the route, so you can easily see why a job can't be accepted. You can also toggle "Show left behind" to see all cargo left at the airport (including cargo you don't need to carry).
Above: The "Not loading" list displaying why a non-required pallet can't be loaded onto the aircraft (it is 4 cm too tall for this hold).
An overhauled "Create Charter" mode (FSC-4192)
The "Create Charter" mode in the Operations Cockpit has been overhauled. The aircraft loadout, which used to be squeezed into a narrow side panel, now sits in a dock along the bottom of the map that can be dragged taller or folded away, and includes the new 3D view. A bar along the bottom of the dock always shows the current payload and the next step. Cargo is loaded as soon as demand is selected, so you can see what will be carried before any jobs are created. If something is blocking the charter (e.g. passengers without a seat), the bar turns red and the next step button becomes "Errors", which takes you straight to the problem. Releasing a plan now waits for the load check to finish, so a plan that physically can't be flown can no longer be released.
Above: The new "Create Charter" dock below the map, shown with a Saab 340, with the current payload and next step in the bar along the bottom.
Above: The dock being folded away and dragged taller (shown with an A321neo).
Above: A CRJ900 that can't seat every passenger, with the passengers listed under "Cannot Board", the bar in red and the next step button showing "Errors".
Fokker F27 and 17 more aircraft added (FSC-4201)
18 new aircraft have been added, including 13 dedicated freighters. Freighters have no seats, so they carry freight in the hold only.
Fokker F27 Mk 500
Fokker F28 Mk 2000
Fokker F28 Mk 3000
Cessna CitationJet
Airbus Helicopters H225 Super Puma
Boeing 747-200F
Boeing 747-400F
Boeing 747-8F
Boeing 747 LCF (Dreamlifter)
Boeing 757-200PF
Boeing 767-300F
Boeing 777F
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F
Airbus A300-600F
Airbus A300 Beluga
Airbus Beluga XL
Antonov An-124
Antonov An-225
Improvements
The hold is now shown on the "Aircraft Layout" tab (FSC-4195)
The "Aircraft Layout" tab in the aircraft dialog previously only showed the cabin. It now shows the hold as well, so you can check what an aircraft can carry before buying it or accepting a job.
Above: The "Aircraft Layout" tab for a 787-9, showing the cabin and the hold together with the hold's dimensions.
Fuel estimates are now based on trip distance (FSC-4198)
For aircraft with no flight history, a job's "Financials" tab and the ferry cost estimate previously assumed a full tank of fuel regardless of distance, which made long flights look more profitable than they are. The estimate now calculates the fuel the trip will actually burn, using the aircraft type's published fuel burn until the aircraft has its own history.
Above: The ferry fuel estimate for a 113 nm trip in an aircraft with no flight history (£76.73).
Above: The same aircraft on a 631 nm trip, with the estimate rising to £429.24.
Boeing 757-200 weights updated (FSC-4204)
The 757-200's weights and price have been updated to match its type certificate. It can now carry slightly more payload, and its resale value is around 3% higher. Landing and parking fees increase in line with its heavier weights.
Above: The 757-200's updated weights and price in the aircraft shop.
Clearer reasons when an aircraft has no hold or cabin cargo space (FSC-4193)
Aircraft with no hold, or with every seat fitted, were previously rejected with confusing dimensions (e.g. "the hold is 0 cm high"). The reason now simply states that the aircraft has no hold or no cabin cargo space.
Above: An aircraft with no hold now displays a reason instead of 0 cm dimensions.
Bug Fixes
Correct cargo weights are now sent to the sim and SimBrief on mixed legs (FSC-4173)
When a leg carried more than one type of cargo, the plugin and SimBrief received the wrong payload weight. Each type of cargo is now sent with its own weight.
The in-sim delivery speed gauge now shows the correct speed (FSC-4171)
During a flight, the in-sim delivery speed gauge could show unrealistic speeds (e.g. 1,367 kts on a 137 kt flight). It now shows your actual average speed so far.
Seat layouts with every class removed can now be saved (FSC-4167)
Turning off every cabin class disabled "Apply Reconfiguration", and turning a class back on didn't enable it again. A zero-seat layout can now be saved, and the dialog header shows the new seat layout straight away without refreshing the page.
Above: A 767 with every class turned off, with "Apply Reconfiguration" still available and the whole cabin free for cargo.
"Create Charter" now checks first and business class seat capacity (FSC-4178)
A plan could previously be released with more first or business class passengers than the aircraft could seat in that class or higher, and the job was then rejected on acceptance. "Create Charter" now lists these passengers under "Cannot Board" and won't allow the plan to be released until they fit.
Above: Passengers without a first class seat listed under "Cannot Board", which stops the charter from being released.
Cabin cargo space checks now account for stacking (FSC-4175)
The loader stacks small cabin cargo, but the checks for whether cargo would fit counted each item laid flat. This meant "Create Charter" hid demand that would have fit, and hiring failed with "Selected cargo requires X sqm". These checks now count cargo stacked, the same way it's loaded.
Cargo-only routes are no longer offered to aircraft that can't carry them (FSC-4180, FSC-4188)
A route carrying only cargo could be offered to an aircraft with a full cabin and no hold, and the job was then rejected on acceptance. "Available Aircraft" also checked a route's cargo against the wrong demand. It now only lists aircraft with space for the cargo the route actually loads.
Route baggage weights are now based on the route's distance (FSC-4174)
Every route stored its baggage weight as if the flight was less than 1 nm long, so some aircraft were listed for long routes they were too heavy to fly. Routes now store baggage weights for their actual distance.
Routes no longer exceed the aircraft's payload limit (FSC-4205)
The route loading preview weighed collaborative passengers' bags lighter than would be actually loaded, so a full route could be around 800 kg over its payload limit. Both now use the same weights.
Route cargo and freight minimums are now enforced through the API (FSC-4181)
A route job accepted through the API could carry 1 kg of freight against a 2,000 kg minimum. Accepting a job now always checks the route's cargo and freight minimums.
See which pricing strategies changed a ticket price (FSC-4156)
When a passenger boarded a route at a strange price, such as first class for £0, nothing told you why. Your pricing strategies were doing exactly what they were set up to do, including stacked discounts that added up to more than 100%, but no screen showed you which ones had applied. Passenger rows now show the price they pay, with your pricing strategies applied. You can hover over it for a breakdown of every strategy that changed their ticket price. You can also see which strategies apply when you're creating or editing a route.
Above: The route form's ticket prices with a Passengers Pay box for each cabin, and the economy box opened to list the three pricing strategies that change its fares.
Above: The Pricing Strategies on this Route panel, showing each strategy's percentage and passenger count by cabin and what passengers pay.
Above: A passenger's seat details with the Fare breakdown card open, listing the ticket price, a 20% strategy discount and what the passenger pays.
See cargo and freight that gets left behind (FSC-4152)
On a route job, the loadout could leave cargo or freight out without saying why. A 737 with plenty of spare weight and a mostly empty hold could load nothing at all if the freight wouldn't physically fit. Anything the loadout leaves out now shows up as Left Behind, along with the reason. It's there for information only, and it never stops you accepting the job.
Above: A Boeing 737 loadout with an amber Left Behind line, and the Too tall for hold chip's tooltip explaining the hold is 110 cm while the freight starts at 114 cm.
Improvements
Bags with no room in the hold now ride in the cabin
Bags that don't fit in the hold now ride in the cabin with their passengers, and the loadout shows how many there are and what they weigh. Nothing about your payload has changed. These bags always counted towards your weight, and they never stopped you accepting a job. The screens and the help docs now just say so. The PA-18 also gets a small hold for freight.
Above: A loadout's weight breakdown with the line 3 bags in cabin · 54 kg underneath it.
Job Marketplace and hire lists fit on smaller screens (FSC-4148, FSC-4150, FSC-4159)
On smaller screens, job rows could be wider than the list, which cut off the price and made the list scroll sideways. Busy rows also spilled into their neighbours, and Charter Aircraft For Hire had the same problem. Rows also now rearrange themselves to fit a narrow list.
Above: The Job Marketplace list on a 14-inch laptop window, with each job's payload badges and hourly rate fitting inside its row.
Above: Charter Aircraft For Hire in a 1280 px window, with each aircraft's hourly rate on its own line above the seats and airport.
Above: Hire demand rows on a 1280 px window showing load icons only, with the tooltip 3 passengers waiting on this route.
Weight bar tooltips are back, and the handles follow your mouse (FSC-4157, FSC-4158, FSC-4165)
You can hover over any part of the weight bar, or its key, to see what it is. When you drag the cargo and freight handles with Configure Individual Weights on, they now follow your mouse instead of jumping into place afterwards. The pilot also gets the pilot icon.
Above: The Weight Breakdown bar with the tooltip Economy bags · 2,284 kg shown over the striped bags segment.
Above: With Configure Individual Weights on, the freight handle and segment follow the mouse while it is dragged, then the bar settles on what was loaded.
A tidier fare display on the manifest (FSC-4166)
The passenger price could spill out of the seat popover, and the rows looked uneven. The fare now shows the price and its discount side by side, and you can hover over it for the same breakdown as the passenger rows.
Above: Route preview manifest rows, each with the fare above its discount and a small ring, and the Fare breakdown card open on one row.
The demand map key counts every route (FSC-4145)
The commodities key on the demand map only counted the first page of routes, so at a busy airport it could show 2 cargo groups when the list had dozens. It now counts every route.
Above: The demand map at KMIA with the commodities key counting every route, Standard Cargo ticked and the list filtered to cargo routes.
Clicking a dispatch plan on the map opens it (FSC-4151)
In the Operations Cockpit, clicking a dispatch plan's route on the map used to show an empty map. It now opens that plan.
Above: Clicking a dispatch plan's route on the Operations Cockpit map opens that plan in the Dispatch Plans list.
Bug Fixes
PHP security update (FSC-4160)
Earlier today the PHP team announced two serious security flaws in the version of PHP that FSCharter runs on. We took the site offline as a precaution until the fix was out, and this release runs on the patched version. We've found no sign that anyone used these flaws against FSCharter, and no player data was affected.
Accepting a route job no longer fails with "Something broke" (FSC-4129, FSC-4146)
Accepting a route job could fail right at the end of boarding. One cause was a pricing strategy discount that left a fraction of a penny on the price. The other was a pricing strategy earning so much in one day that its total got too big to save. Both are fixed.
Cargo groups load whole (FSC-4153)
The loadout preview could load part of a cargo group, such as 4 of 7 mail bags, while Accept booked and paid for all of it. Cargo groups now load whole or not at all, so you get exactly what the preview showed.
Ticking one passenger group adds just that group (FSC-4132)
With no draft plan, ticking one passenger group in the Demand panel ticked every group of that class on the route. Now it only adds the one you ticked.
Editing a dispatch plan no longer fails with "deadlock detected" (FSC-4135, FSC-4136)
Adding or removing charter jobs quickly could fail with "deadlock detected", or put the same legs in more than one job. Changes to a plan now wait their turn, so fast clicks are safe.
The Demand panel scrolls again (FSC-4133, FSC-4164)
A long passenger list on a focused route ran off the bottom of the Demand panel and wouldn't scroll. It scrolls now, and clicking a route no longer squashes it into a thin line.
Above: Clicking a route in the Demand panel keeps it full size, and its long First Passengers list scrolls down and back up.
Old cockpit links no longer break demand loading (FSC-4142, FSC-4149)
Bookmarks to the Operations Cockpit that used a sort or filter we removed in v2.5.0 made every demand load fail. The cockpit now ignores them and loads as normal.
Switching aircraft on Charter Aircraft For Hire (FSC-4163)
If you switched aircraft while routes were still loading, you could end up with "No demand instances". You now always see the routes for the aircraft you picked last.
The aircraft for hire list no longer errors (FSC-4144)
The list could fail when it included an aircraft from a company that had closed down. Those aircraft no longer show up.
Aircraft picker checkboxes work (FSC-4134)
Clicking a checkbox in the rank and job aircraft pickers did nothing. Now it ticks the aircraft.
No more permission popup for pilots (FSC-3583)
Pilots without View Job Details got a permission error every time they opened the job dialog. The dialog now only shows them what they're allowed to see.
SimBrief mappings and bag weights (FSC-4138, FSC-4140)
Custom SimBrief airframe mappings now match however you type them. Send to SimBrief from the loadout preview now includes every bag's weight.
Cabin cargo on the Flight Map
On some smaller aircraft, the Flight Map payload card showed an empty cabin even when cargo was on board. It now draws the cargo.
The "No aircraft storage space available" email (FSC-4139)
This notification never arrived by email. Now it does.
Account deletions (FSC-4141)
Accounts that players asked us to delete hadn't been removed since January. They've now been deleted, and new requests work again.
The in-sim speed gauge matches the penalty (FSC-4155)
The in-sim delivery speed gauge and the speed penalty worked out your average speed differently, so the gauge could say you were fine while the website still charged a penalty. They now agree, and both allow an extra 20% for normal routing like SIDs, STARs and vectors, so flying realistically isn't counted as slow.
Rank constraint API
The v1 API's rank constraint endpoints returned an error for every rank with a constraint. They now work.
The job Financials tab now includes a Revenue Breakdown panel that shows exactly how your revenue figure was built up: base revenue, plus any charter bonus, minus any exclusivity penalty. The bonus and penalty used to sit inside the Operational Fees section, which implied they were costs. They aren't; they're adjustments to revenue that were already baked into the Revenue total. Moving them into their own panel, alongside a new Base revenue line, makes the economics transparent at a glance. Help tooltips on each line explain what it represents.
Bug Fixes
Exclusivity penalty was being double-counted on completed jobs
On jobs that exceeded the capacity threshold (enough passengers for a capacity penalty to kick in), the Financials tab was deducting the exclusivity penalty twice: once implicitly (via the reduced revenue that had already been paid to your company) and again explicitly as a cost line. This made profit look considerably lower than it actually was, and in some cases showed a loss for a job that was genuinely profitable. Revenue, costs, and profit on the Financials tab now reconcile correctly. Your ledger and company finance overview were always right; only the per-job summary was misleading.
Two Spanish airports, Teruel (LETL) and Vitoria (LEVT), were classified as medium airports in the system despite both regularly handling heavy and super-sized aircraft in real life. Teruel is one of Europe's largest aircraft storage and maintenance hubs, and Vitoria is a major cargo hub used by DHL for 747 and 777 operations. This classification meant you could only build up to large stands at these airports, which blocked realistic heavy cargo and ferry flight operations. Both airports have now been reclassified as large airports, unlocking the full range of buildings, stands, and slots.
Companies can now transfer aircraft directly to another company without going through the classifieds marketplace. The transfer dialog shows a preview your net worth impact before confirming. Transfers are validated against the receiving company's AOC level (the aircraft's MTOW must be within their certification), aircraft ownership limits for free users, and a net worth floor (the sender's net worth cannot go negative as a result of the transfer). Any active classified listing on the aircraft is automatically cancelled when transferred.
Collaboration dashboard map view (FSC-3886)
The Collaboration Dashboard now includes a Map tab that visualises collaborative passenger flows between airports. You can toggle between inbound and outbound views, hover over airports to see passenger counts and cabin class breakdowns, and click on airports to open the detail dialog.
Return route creation (FSC-3716)
When creating a new route in the Operations Cockpit, you can now tick an "Also create return route" checkbox. After the outbound route is created, the form immediately re-opens with departure and arrival airports swapped and pricing copied over, ready for you to review and adjust.
Broker listing price decay (FSC-3898)
Aircraft listed for sale through a broker now gradually reduce in price over time. Prices drop by 5% of the original listing price for every 30 days the listing remains unsold, down to a floor based on what the broker originally paid. Reduced listings show the original price struck through alongside the current price in the classifieds marketplace. You can also filter and sort by discount to find deals.
Improvements
Routes with insufficient slots now display in red (FSC-3740)
Routes that are disabled due to insufficient airport slots now render as red lines on the Operations Cockpit map, making network problems visible at a glance. Manually disabled routes remain transparent as before. Hovering over a problem route (either on the map or in the routes dock) highlights it in red at full opacity.
Aircraft valuations now use market value
Aircraft are now valued at their current market price (based on aircraft type) rather than their original purchase price. This affects net worth calculations, transfer previews, and classified sale gates. All existing aircraft valuations have been updated accordingly. As a result, your company's net worth may have increased as a result of this.
Broker purchase prices adjusted
The price brokers pay when purchasing your aircraft has been rebalanced. Free users now receive 60% of market value (previously 80%) and premium users receive 70% (previously 85%).
Net worth safety gate on classified sales
Selling an aircraft through the classifieds marketplace is now blocked if the sale would push the selling company's net worth below zero. Listings that would cause this are automatically cancelled, and the seller is notified with an explanation.
Base Operations "Owned" filter
A new filter in the Base Operations lens of the Operations Cockpit lets you show only airports where your company has base operations (buildings, operations centres, or agreements).
Bug Fixes
Collaboration dashboard delivery rate was stuck at 0% (FSC-3906)
The delivery rate metric on the Collaboration Dashboard wasn't updating because it was counting demand records rather than actual passengers. It now sums passenger counts correctly, and a trend indicator shows whether your delivery rate is improving or declining compared to the previous 30-day period.
Stopover legs now show each flight separately(FSC-3582)
When a job includes a stopover, the in-flight map and statistics view now displays a tab for each individual flight segment. You can switch between tabs to see the flight path, landing telemetry, and performance graphs for each leg of the journey independently. The most recent flight is selected by default, and the position arrow and remaining route track whichever flight is active. Previously, stopover jobs showed everything blended together, which also caused an "Infinity" display error in landing stats.
Classifieds marketplace search and filtering(FSC-3715)
Several improvements have landed in the Used Aircraft Marketplace:
Search now works. The search bar was non-functional — it has been fixed and now searches across tail number, aircraft type, manufacturer, model, and seller details.
Filter by company. You can now filter listings by selling company, with company logos shown in the filter dropdown.
Filter by sale type. A new filter lets you narrow results to broker sales (no company, sold through a broker) or direct company-to-company listings.
Bug Fixes
Collaborative demand could permanently vanish from the demand pool(T-869, FSC-3892)
Two related bugs were fixed that could cause passengers to silently disappear from collaborative routes, with no error shown.
The first: when a multi-leg job was reset after another company had already picked up the onward leg, the parent demand record could get stuck in an "assigned" state with no active obligations — making the passengers invisible to all demand queries. This had been patched with data migrations twice before; the root cause is now fixed properly.
The second: when a collaborating company removed a leg from their dispatch plan, the demand was recreated correctly but a stale internal reference caused it to be filtered out of all ready-to-depart checks. Passengers appeared to vanish from the route with no trace.
Both fixes include data migrations to repair affected records already in the database.
Pilots holding ranks above their global rank threshold weren't seeing the right jobs(FSC-3909)
The job marketplace was filtering by whether a user was eligible to apply for a rank, rather than by whether they already hold it. This meant a new user who had been legitimately progressed or assigned to a senior rank by a company owner would see far fewer jobs in the marketplace than expected — in some cases, none at all. Their held ranks now always pass through the filter, regardless of the global rank application threshold.
Free users couldn't remove their aircraft from classifieds after downgrading(FSC-3820)
The "remove listing" action was incorrectly gated behind a premium feature check, meaning users who had downgraded from premium were unable to delist their own aircraft or reclaim the fleet slot. This gate has been removed — delisting your own aircraft is always permitted.
Owner pilots are handled correctly in the Aircraft for Hire marketplace(#1017) When browsing hireable aircraft demand, pilots with an owner rank in the company now see a cleaner, more accurate experience. The hourly rate display is replaced with "Paid via dividends" — since owner pilots aren't paid by the hour — and the option to change rank is hidden, as it doesn't apply. Previously, owner pilots were shown the same rank-switching flow as regular roster pilots, which prevented them from accepting the job.
Net worth tooltip now explains how the figure is calculated(#1019) The help text on the Net Worth figure in the Finance tab has been updated to make clear that liabilities (loans) are subtracted from the combined total of your assets and bank balance. The figure itself hasn't changed — just the explanation.
Bug Fixes
Typing in currency fields no longer mangles the value(#1018) An issue where editing numbers in currency input fields could produce incorrect results (for example, deleting a digit from "300" and typing another could result in "20" instead of "200") has been fixed. The input field now preserves exactly what you type while you're actively editing.
In our Open Beta survey, 75% of you told us it was difficult or very difficult to turn a profit. The economy was the #1 frustration. Charter limitations, demand distribution, and the feeling that the deck was stacked against smaller operators came up again and again. This patch is our answer to those concerns.
Here's what matters most:
The charter aircraft cap is gone. Fly charters in anything, with a new bonus system that makes small charters way more profitable. The demand engine has been rebuilt from the ground up with fairer global distribution, more economy passengers at airports that matter, and higher economy fares to match. A new Create Charter Mode lets you pick an aircraft and find work for it instead of the other way around. And every new and existing aircraft gets one free cabin reconfiguration to adapt to the new demand landscape. Full details below.
What's Changed
1. Charter is Unshackled
The 20-seat charter cap is gone. Completely removed. You can now charter any aircraft in your fleet, from a Cessna 172 to a 777. No permits, no artificial restrictions.
The economy now naturally balances itself. Charter now uses an exclusivity bonus that rewards small, intimate charters and progressively penalises you for trying to run a 200-seat airliner as a taxi service. Passengers expect exclusivity when they book a charter. Cram 100 people in and your revenue per head drops by ~75%. Keep it under 40 passengers and you get the full bonus with no penalty at all.
Charter bonus per person: Up to £967 per person for a solo charter, scaling down as you add passengers. A 10-passenger charter still earns £716 per person on top of the base fare. The bonus tails off around 30-40 passengers, and above 40 a capacity penalty kicks in.
Passengers
Bonus/Person
Capacity Penalty
1
£967
None
10
£716
None
20
£513
None
30
£367
None
40
£270
None
50
£188
~28% total revenue cut
80
£71
~65% total revenue cut
The takeaway: small charters are now genuinely lucrative. A well-planned 4-passenger business jet charter can earn good money. We hope that this is a giant leap in the right direction for the economy that the survey called for. Smaller operators have a real competitive edge in the charter market now.
But it's not just small aircraft that benefit. Combined with the demand changes below (more economy passengers, higher economy fares), chartering economy passengers in larger aircraft is now a genuinely viable strategy. There's a ton of demand out there and the charter bonus still applies up to 40 passengers with no penalty. The cap removal plus the new bonus structure means you have options that simply didn't exist before. For the full breakdown of how charter bonuses and the exclusivity multiplier work, check out the Charter Jobs documentation.
2. Demand Has Been Rebuilt From the Ground Up
We've overhauled how the demand engine generates and distributes passengers across the world. The old system had a massive skew toward the USA and Brazil (where ~60% of all airports are), with places like Spain and China getting disproportionately little traffic. The new system accounts for:
Airport density: Areas with hundreds of tiny airfields in a small radius (New York, Sao Paulo) no longer hog a disproportionate share of global demand
Country airport count: Countries with fewer airports are no longer punished for it
Class-specific geo-scoring: Every airport now has separate economy, business, and first class scores that influence where passengers spawn and where they want to go
What this means in practice:
Economy passengers cluster around larger airports. No more random economy demand spawning at a grass strip in the middle of nowhere. If you're running economy routes, focus on the airports people actually fly through.
First and business class are more spread out. Premium passengers travel to more varied destinations, rewarding diverse route networks.
Economy passengers pay more. With the demand ratio shifting toward economy, we've increased economy fares proportionally so that economy routes remain profitable. Any existing collaborative demand has also had prices scaled up.
Demand fills fast. The demand engine can now generate the full 8 million passenger groups in approximately 3 hours instead of taking over a week. After this patch, demand has been fully reset and will populate quickly.
Behind the Scenes: The Demand-o-Matic
Distributing demand fairly across 36,000+ airports is a serious big data problem, and getting it right required purpose-built tooling. RCTO has developed an internal tool (that we affectionately refer to as the Demand-o-Matic) that powers the new geo-scoring system behind this update.
The tool combines UN travel data, World Bank GDP figures, and a database of over 40,000 real-world entities (think Disneyland Paris, the Bank of England, the Statue of Liberty) to build a model of where passengers actually want to go and why. Each entity contributes a weighted pull on nearby airports, giving demand a grounding in real-world travel motivation rather than random distribution.
Passenger class scoring is split by travel purpose. Economy passengers are weighted more heavily toward tourism entities, while business class passengers lean toward commercial and financial centres. First class demand is deliberately spread thinner and into less obvious locations, making premium passengers harder to gather but more rewarding when you do.
One of the biggest problems the tool solves is clustering. In the old system, every airport effectively acted as a lottery ticket for demand. The more airports a country or region had, the more demand it won. The USA holds roughly 60% of all airports in the game, so areas like New York and Sao Paulo were hoovering up a disproportionate share of global traffic. Meanwhile, countries like Spain, which has relatively few airports for its size, were being unfairly underserved. The Demand-o-Matic runs geospatial calculations to counteract this, so demand distribution is based on where people actually travel rather than where airports happen to be densely packed.
This tool is what makes it possible to keep iterating on demand balance going forward. The scores in this patch are the result of months of testing and adjustment, but the tooling is now in place to make further refinements as we gather feedback.
3. Create Charter Mode (Premium Core)
A massive quality-of-life upgrade for charter companies. Create Charter Mode flips the Dispatch Plan workflow on its head. Instead of browsing demand and hoping something fits your aircraft, you pick your aircraft first and the system shows you what it can fly.
The old way: Browse the demand map, find interesting passengers, then figure out which aircraft can fly them.
The new way: Pick your aircraft first. The system shows you every demand group it can reach, filtered to its range and capacity.
Key features:
Interactive seat map: Watch passengers fill your cabin in real time as you select demand groups. Click any filled seat to remove that group.
Filter Sync: Toggle this on and the demand list automatically updates as you fill seats. Select 12 of 19 seats? The list now only shows groups of 7 or fewer. No more accidentally overfilling.
Map integration: Ctrl/Cmd-click demand lines on the map to add or remove groups directly.
Release & Accept: One-click shortcut that publishes the job and immediately assigns it to you as the pilot. No need to visit the marketplace.
Switch aircraft mid-flow: Realise a different aircraft would be better? Swap it out without losing your selected passengers.
Ferry companion: Each aircraft row has a split button with both Charter and Ferry actions. Reposition to a better airport first, then charter from there.
Create Charter Mode is available from the Operations Cockpit > Aircraft lens. It complements the existing demand-first workflow. Use whichever fits what you're doing.
Every aircraft now gets one free cabin reconfiguration, applied instantly with no downtime. This new feature can be accessed from the Aircraft Layout tab of your Aircraft dialog in the Operations Cockpit.
With the demand model shifting toward more economy passengers, your current cabin layouts may not be optimal. This free reconfiguration lets you adapt without penalty. Use it to match the new demand reality. You'll likely want more economy seats on most aircraft going forward.
Financial Previews
You can now see estimated and actual financials for all jobs and routes, including fuel costs, landing fees, ATC charges, customs fees, and revenue. Available both during charter creation and after the fact.
During charter creation: See revenue estimates and cost breakdowns as you build your dispatch plan, so you know whether a charter is profitable before you commit.
After completion: Review what you actually earned vs. what it cost. Fuel burn is calculated from your real flight history average for that aircraft type.
Ferry jobs too: Fuel and landing fee estimates for repositioning flights, so you can factor ferry costs into your charter planning.
Route financials: View estimated revenue based on demand minimums, with a passenger count parameter to model different load factors.
No more flying blind on whether a job is worth taking.
Other Improvements
Release & Accept for jobs: Jobs and dispatch plans can now be released and accepted in a single action. No more releasing to the marketplace and then racing to accept your own job.
Restyled Aircraft rows: The Aircraft lens in the Operations Cockpit has been redesigned with split action buttons, letting you launch Create Charter Mode or create ferry flights directly from the dock without extra navigation.
Aircraft location flags: Aircraft rows now display the flag of the country where the aircraft is currently located, making it easy to scan your fleet's global positioning at a glance.
Demand date filter: Filter demand by the date it was generated, useful for spotting fresh demand.
Demand badge on jobs: The Job dialog now shows a badge with seat requirements by cabin class (Economy/Business/First), so you can see at a glance what a job needs.
Massively faster route demand loading: Route demand queries have been optimised from ~8 seconds down to ~266ms (a 30x speedup). The demand map and route demand refresh should feel dramatically snappier, especially on servers with full 8M-row demand tables.
Map reliability fixes: Fixed race conditions in the deck.gl map layers that could cause route lines to not update properly when dragging or switching views.
Bug Fixes
Fixed unfair last-leg payment distribution. A significant bug where the final leg of a multi-leg journey was receiving a disproportionately large share of the total payment. All legs now receive their fair proportional share based on distance contribution. Also corrected the calculation that determines how passenger budgets are split across legs, ensuring accurate pricing throughout multi-leg journeys.
Fixed charter job configuration bugs. Resolved multiple issues in dispatch plan and job configuration that could cause incorrect leg assignments, seat allocation errors, and routing problems.
Fixed orphaned jobs after demand removal. Removing demand from a dispatch plan now correctly cleans up orphaned job legs and recalculates seat requirements, preventing ghost jobs from lingering.
A Note on Testing
These changes have been through extensive internal testing over the past few weeks. We've been hammering the new demand engine and the charter economics on staging for a while now. That said, this is a big patch touching a lot of interconnected systems. If anything doesn't look right, feels off, or the numbers seem wrong, please reach out. We'd much rather hear about it than have you quietly frustrated. Your feedback is what got us here, and it's what'll keep us improving.
What's Next
Next up: cargo. It was the #1 most-requested feature in the survey and it's on the roadmap. More to come on that soon.
Charter hire demand no longer shows a misleading per-row payout of £0.00. Instead, you get an estimated pay shown at the top based on your rank and the expected flight time for the route. The estimate is calculated from the route distance (multipled by 1.2) and the aircraft’s cruise speed.
A new help tooltip explains the calculation and the realism factor used to account for climb, descent, and non-perfect routing.
Other improvements
Relocation for hireable aircraft is now based on your rank’s aircraft constraint radius (one consistent rule), instead of separate aircraft-level relocation settings.
Fixed an issue where switching between aircraft could leave old demand filters behind, causing incorrect or missing demand results.
Updated seats on Pilatus PC-12 from 10 to 9 and increased MTOW from 4,500kg to 4,740kg
Updated seats on Airbus A321 neo from 230 to 244 and renamed to A321neo LR
Updated OEW for Airbus A321XLR from 49,000kg to 46,600kg
Persistent Rank Approval
You no longer need to re-apply every time you return to a rank you’ve already been cleared for.
When a company approves you for a rank (whether manually by a manager or automatically through progression or eligibility) that approval is now remembered. If you later switch away and decide to come back, you can move straight into the rank without waiting for approval again.
In the Pilot Portal, ranks you’ve previously been approved for are clearly marked as Pre-Approved. These ranks let you switch instantly, even if they would normally require an application.
Other Improvements
NOTAM messages now show a live character counter, so you always know how close you are to the 255-character limit
Fixed arrow key navigation being intercepted while typing in company description and message fields
Managing the release of collaborative demand across multiple airports is now significantly faster and more controlled.
You can select multiple airports directly in the Collaboration Dashboard and release demand for all of them in one action. A new batch selection bar appears as soon as you start selecting rows, clearly showing how many airports are selected and which actions are available.
Two batch actions are available when you have the appropriate company privileges:
Release All: Releases all collaborative demand for the selected airports.
Release Urgent: Releases only demand that has exceeded the urgent threshold, leaving newer demand untouched.
Company Logos and User Avatars in Selectors
Company and user selection fields are now more visual and easier to scan. Wherever you choose a company or user (such as transferring funds, deleting a company, or selecting a recipient) logos and avatars are displayed alongside names instead of generic icons.
This makes it quicker to identify the right company or person at a glance, especially when working with long lists or similar names.
Aircraft Market Listing Enhancements
Used aircraft listings are now clearer and more informative. Broker sales and third-party sellers are highlighted directly on the aircraft image with new badges, making it obvious who is selling the aircraft.
Smarter Hangar Storage for Company-Owned Buildings
A bug with aircraft storage logic has been fixed to better reflect ownership. Previously, if you owned a hangar but had set it to public use for a fee, your own aircraft would not automatically use it after slot grace periods end.
Now, if you own a hangar, your aircraft will always automatically use it for storage, even if that hangar is set to public access with a price. You never pay storage fees to yourself, and aircraft will no longer be pushed into less suitable public storage because of pricing settings.
Other improvements
Fixed tables scrolling slightly within tables
Minor visual polish across aircraft listings and dashboards
