Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
Reviewed for: FS2024
Add-ons: FS Traffic, GSX Pro
This is basically a Flight Sim 2024-only (i.e. native) reboot of the earlier Chania, which was marketed under the Aerosoft banner (for this release, 29Palms seem to have gone independent). I must say, the promo images didn’t particularly wow me but Greece is one of my favourite places to fly in the sim — and the asking price isn’t exactly unreasonable — so I bought it.
DETAIL
As always with a new addition, my first flight into LSGA was from elsewhere; in this case, FlyTampa’s excellent Athens. I was vectored (by BATC) for a RWY29 approach, which is aesthetically rather pleasing. After an uneventful landing in the Fenix A320, I tootled to stand and swapped the cockpit for the drone cam…
What I found pleasantly surprised me — the airport is actually nicer than the marketing screenshots suggest.
The ground textures and markings are very good, without being outstanding. What I do like is the inclusion of weeds growing from the tarmac at the sides of the runway — it adds to the impression of the airport being old and well-used. The tyre marks on the runway are reflective, which is par for the course now for a 2024-native scenery. All airfield lighting is custom, which is great to see. 29Palms have modelled various drainage ditches across the airfield, which is another touch that pleases me.
The terminal is nicely modelled and I get the impression that the real-life building is rather boring. It’s a typical Greek island affair: functional, with nothing fancy. A partial interior is included, which isn’t actually missing much but IS quite rudimentary, by 2026 standards. Despite my love of a good terminal interior, the relatively basic offering here is in no way problematic since the building doesn’t feature too much glass — in other words, it looks decent enough when peering in from the outside. There’s not a lot of fine detail to be found inside and most of the texturing is quite low-res, but we do get both animated and static passengers, plus check-in counter staff.
The terminal’s immediate landside is very well done and features plenty of custom parked vehicles (many with genuine Greek registration plates). We find more animated/static people but honestly, they’re not really enough in number to make the area feel truly alive. A shame since everything else in here is pretty much spot on. There are signs, barriers, streetlights, wooden electricity pylons, trolley bays, car hire huts… all the stuff you’d expect (and want) to see outside a terminal’s entrances/exits. This detail actually extends some distance from the terminal.
The ramp contains a good smattering of quality custom GSE clutter and its arrangement adds to the somewhat chaotic feel of a small Greek airport. Not too far from the apron’s edge there are the remnants of a number of disused sound deflector barriers, that someone clearly felt were best left to rot away within the airport’s confines.
The airside’s peripheral areas haven’t received as much love as the main facility and the USAF ramp feels particularly neglected, most notably in the quality of the texturing/modelling. Since I’m an airliner guy, this is not an issue for me, but it’s worth bearing in mind if you plan to use this airport for military ops. There are, however, a number of superbly-modelled KC-135s and KC-767s, as well as various custom army vehicles in their vicinity.
Outside the perimeter fence there are a few structures included but the real airport isn’t exactly located in a vibrant, built-up area. 29Palms have gone to the effort of modelling a large antenna atop a nearby hill but it sadly has no night-lighting. Speaking of night-lighting, that featured in this scenery is generally excellent but a few rogue Asobo globes do take some of the shine away.
PERFORMANCE
Despite looking pretty good in the sim, Greece has no PG and the area around LSGA is mostly water, with very little in the way of autogen. Unsurprisingly, therefore, performance is excellent.
VERDICT
I didn’t own the original — which really did look quite poor — but I definitely like this FS2024-only reboot. It’s a solid airport in a country that has pretty good representation in the sim, albeit a lot of it of average or even poor quality. So as a Greek island airport, 29Palms’ Chania does actually stand out, and the overall quality I think betters that of their previous two releases (Mykonos and Santorini, which were far from bad).
It’s quite a large airport when you consider its military facilities and despite these areas not having been given as much attention as those more familiar to use commercial aviators, it doesn’t really detract from the experience (unless you’re specifically using this scenery for military ops, of course — and even then, you’re likely not going to be terribly disappointed).
There’s a lot of detail here, all of it in places you’d want to see it the most. The question I always ask myself when making an airport review is, how many boxes does it tick? Chania ticks most of them: decent ground textures/markings, custom airfield lighting, plenty of quality apron clutter, good terminal building (with a solid, if not quite perfect landside — needs more people and fewer Asobo globes!) static military assets, and an all-encompassing custom perimeter fence (even if it is a very simple 2D model.
While this airport might not be as busy as its more well-known neighbour, Heraklion, it is important enough to receive regular jet service from Athens (Aegean and Sky Express A320s), and obviously come the summer, there is a major increase in flights from (mostly Northern) Europe.
The price for what you get is good and the package generally feels well-rounded, in spite of the buildings across the USAF area being noticeably less detailed than they are elsewhere. The amount of custom clutter across the airfield is way above average and 29Palms have modelled some of the airport’s more quirky attributes, such as the emergency stop devices located at the runway ends (which have been modelled in far greater detail than I’ve seen previously).
If you like to fly in Greece, it’s almost certainly a no-brainer. I’d say it’s easily among the top four or five airports available for the country, and the selection of real-world routes available in the summer offers good variety, from extremely short local hops (with jets!) to medium-haul leisure routes from/to Scandinavia.
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