Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
MSFS add-ons: FSLTL, GSX Pro, REX AccuSeason (which may misrepresent some colours in certain light conditions)
FS2024 add-ons: none
DETAIL
This is my second airport by Fly X Sims and I find their work to be decent, without being outstanding. EIKN is more of the same, though it does make improvements over their previous scenery, Jersey.
The ground textures and markings are very good, universally. There’s not much clutter on the apron but that’s to be expected for a small, regional airport. The terminal building is the star of the show here and looks fantastic, day and night — a great amount of detail (particularly on the roof), good weathering effects and a complete (if not slightly sterile-looking) interior, including static people. Sadly there are no people outside, which is a developer decision I tend to question in 2025.
The terminal landside is just as well-modelled as its airside, with plenty of custom cars, road markings, lamp-posts, bollards, shrubs and two particularly detailed advertisement hoardings. The only omissions, aside from the aforementioned people, are roadsigns, which again seems an odd decision given the attention paid to everything else.
There’s no detail around the airport’s perimeter but, looking at satellite images, there appears to be very little in reality. Fly X have modelled the fire training area, which is located inside the perimeter fence but at the very western extremity of the field. The wingless hulk of an old Trident resides here and has been nicely recreated.
The entire airport is encompassed by custom fencing, with some of it being of a type seldom seen at airports these days (the only potential issue is that the barbed top section of the primary fence is angled INTO the airfield but, despite my doubts, perhaps this is the case in real life). There are also some well done tiled walls around the main apron, and a very detailed wooden fence near where departing passengers walk out to their aircraft (although it’s suspiciously similar to one seen in their Jersey scenery, so I assume some of their custom assets get reused).
One YouTube review I saw asserted that the night-lighting was too brash but it actually looks pretty authentic to me. Yes, it’s quite bright but the terminal is light-coloured, fairly new and features a lot of glass, so it’s entirely possible the LED lighting inside and out is on the garish side. Irrespective of how it looks in reality, it looks good in the scenery. EIKN has actually been updated since release so perhaps they toned down the night-lighting a bit?
PERFORMANCE
Predictably, no issues. A small, quiet airport in the middle of nowhere shouldn’t be troubling even a modest system.
VERDICT
EIKN is Fly X’s best work yet. It won’t be for everyone, being stuck in a pretty remote part of western Ireland, but for UK domestic pilots there’s a good choice of short routes between Ryanair and Aer Lingus.
While it does no one thing absolutely spectacularly (except perhaps the night-lighting, which I do like), it ticks the majority of boxes for what a scenery should offer in 2025: convincing texturing, fully modelled terminal interior and landside, a plethora of custom assets (even if a couple have been recycled from previous sceneries) and custom fencing encompassing the entire airfield. The lack of people outside the terminal and roadsigns on airport roads are annoyances but certainly shouldn’t put anyone off buying.
On a final note, for GSX users there’s a profile available from IniBuilds and it functions remarkably well.
IMAGES
To follow…