Dark Airport.

[Dragonator 0]

When the Major Landing Strip became obsolete with the Cities population reaching over 200k I decided to build a larger airport. Keeping in mind my plans to make this "little town" into a thriving metropolis I reserved some space on a plateau at the edge of town for a International Airport but since it wasn't yet required I built a Municipal Airport in it's place thinking of building over it when it also became obsolete. Soon enough though I noticed something strange about this airport. A few months after it had been placed it turned a dark grey, like abandoned building do, and the crime level in the airport was almost off the scale, with the police helicopters constantly buzzing around there.

Also every time I begin the game the airport statistics show 0 usage even though when I saved last time it was used normally.

[Sim_BOB 2]

I don't know if airports can be abandoned, but alot of the larger lots like the golf course, university, and airports have alot of crime for some unknown reason

[Rymac91 15]

ok... The reason that your airport looks like that is because it's being overworked...which means it looks stressed and in need of repair. However, you just need to wait until the airport's used capacity is the same as it's max capacity. When that happens, your transportation adviser will ask you if you want to upgrade your airport...tell him yes. When you do so, the airport will look like it's under construction and then it'll become a Medium Municipal Airport...then the capacity will be higher and it'll look fine again.

As for the crime...well...airports seem to be crime magnets..you can't honestly fix it, I'd simply put a large police station next to the airport(which it appears you have done already). It'll deal with the crime a little, but it'll still look like a crime magnet, and those helicopters will stay there.

And as for the statistics...I'm honestly not sure why it does that...but usually when it restarts, after a few game days, it's back to the original numbers...so I wouldn't worry about that.

[football_fever 6]

an evil airport?

[tungston 19]

I think the airports all start with no usage when you first open the city. I have never found anything that lowers the crime level, and I hate working around the airport with the police copter buzzing constantly. The only way to get rid of the copter is to bulldoze all deluxe police stations, but that's extreme.

I agree with Rymac, you are doing OK.

[Filasimo 1]

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[Gahagan 0]

What everyone's said here is basically correct.  If you spike your commercial population you'll get a chance to upgrade the airport, but there's nothing you can do about the crime.  I've surrounded my airports with deluxe stations and they still attract crime.

I do have a question, though.  What's the plugin you're using to shift your demand / mayor rating / budget info?  It looks very nice.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

This will increase the effectiveness of your police.

[joeshmoe 1]

that means you need a higher capicity airport there

[Cob92 360]

Ignore the darkening. It merely means that the airport is approaching capacity. When that happens, the transportation advisor will tell you to upgrade it. Click 'yes' to upgrade.

[Shoreman905 1]

The situation with crime is due to the size of the lot. Any lot larger than 8x8 is hard coded to attract crime. N_O_Body pointed you to the right mod to level crime out. I use it but still notice some crime around large lots, when using the maps, but not to the level prior to the mod introduction. Give that a try, and save your simolians for something other than police stations,  Follow his link.