Airport size and demand

Every airport in Pilops is small, medium or large. The size decides how many jobs appear there, how big the passenger groups are and how many stands you can rent. Picking the right size of airport for your aircraft is one of the main strategic choices in the game.

How jobs are generated

Pilops does not keep a fixed list of jobs. When you open an airport, it generates cargo and passengers from that airport to a handful of nearby airports, and it also generates jobs arriving when you land somewhere. On top of that, every active route generates its own jobs on a schedule.

A job generated on demand stays available for somewhere between a few hours and about four days. A job generated by a route stays available between three and seven days. Jobs that nobody flies simply expire and are replaced.

How many jobs

For each pair of airports, each end of the leg contributes a number of jobs according to its size, and the leg gets the sum of the two:

Airport size	Jobs contributed by this end
Small	1 to 3
Medium	2 to 6
Large	9 to 14

So a leg between two small airports yields 2 to 6 jobs, and a leg between two large airports 18 to 28.

Passengers and cargo

There are two kinds of jobs. Passengers are generated far more often than cargo (roughly 8 to 3).

	Passengers	Cargo
Per job	1–3 at small airports, 1–5 at medium, 1–40 at large (by destination size)	one item
Weight	120 to 200 lb per passenger	50 to 1,350 lb
What it uses on your aircraft	seats	cargo weight

Executive and tourist passengers are special classes with their own rules. See Passenger classes.

What a job pays

The price is set when the job is generated. It grows with distance (up to 1,500 nm; beyond that, each extra mile counts for less), with weight for cargo, and with the size of the group for passengers. Larger groups pay less per head but more in total.

What you actually receive at the destination depends on the condition of the goods when you deliver them. The job's price is multiplied by its condition percentage, then the Flight streak bonus is added, and then the flight fee is taken out.

Stands by airport size

The size also fixes how many stands exist at the airport:

Airport size	Small stands	Medium stands	Large stands
Small	4	2	0
Medium	2	6	3
Large	2	4	7

See Stands for what each size can hold.

Choosing an airport

Small airports are quiet: few jobs, small groups, but little competition and cheap stands. Good for a Cessna.
Medium airports balance volume and competition and have every stand size.
Large airports generate groups of up to 40 passengers and more than a dozen jobs per destination. They are where airliners make sense, and where other pilots will be competing for the same jobs.