How to develop airports in SimCity 3000

Contributor/author(s): Wren Weburg, Matt Chambers

Building an airport is as easy as zoning some airport tiles and letting them grow like any other zone. But the SimFAA seems to have some rules. Read on.

An airport zone must be at least 3x5 tiles in size, all tiles being on flat, contiguous land, and having power and water. The 3x5 zone allows a runway to build; each runway has a taxiway parallel to it, one tile away, along with two tiles that connect the runway and taxiway at each end. In addition, terminal buildings will line the taxiway if there is room. The runway will range from about 5 tiles long to 10 tiles long depending on the configuration and building room. It seems that the shorter runways can only accommodate the smaller airplanes, while the longer runways will accommodate larger airplanes. Auxiliary buildings will only build in a certain radius (about 4 squares away) around the runway squares. Also, as in SimCity 2000, it helps not to have any tall buildings in front of the runways.

The full checklist for airports is as follows:

• Must be zoned at least 3x5.
• Must have power and water.
• Must be within 3 tiles of a road.
• Tip: if your airport won't grow, try zoning the 3x5 so that it faces the other direction (rotate the zone 90 degrees). Also ensure no tall buildings are in the flight path.

Here are some other helpful notes about airports:

• Airport traffic depends on the number of runways. The more airport you zone, the more runways you will get.
• Airports generate large amounts of pollution. Keep them far away from commercial and residential zones. Sims hate loud airplane noise, jet fuel, etc.
• In the release version, runways only build within 9 tiles of each other. This means that a 10x5 airport can only have one runway.
• Airport auxiliary buildings seem to generate the most pollution of any airport tile. Zoning a 9x10 airport zone lessens pollution due to fewer auxiliary buildings.

See also
Efficient airports and/or eliminating them entirely
The lost airports of SimCity
Crossed airport runways