Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
Add-ons: FS Traffic, GSX Pro
DETAIL
It was misty for my first arrival here and I must say, I was impressed by how… Soviet… the place looked and felt. This is totally different to the Amsim of old, being an almost complete package containing the majority of elements we consider essential for a good airport scenery.
One of the first things I noticed after arrival (on RWY08) were the two gorgeously-modelled Armenian Tu-134s, stored in an area between the cargo and passenger aprons. These aircraft are perhaps the sole reason the place felt so Soviet, although some of the building modelling is just as convincing.
The terminal is very nice, without being exceptional. Exterior weathering is good and we get a partial interior (comprising the main check-in/arrivals concourse and the airside gates) featuring static passenger models. Internal detail is average for 2025, with many of the shops/cafes having simple 2D overlays, but there’s enough finer detail to make it all look rather pleasant. The stained glass windows of the main concourse are pretty impressive. Immediately adjacent to the primary terminal is the original, Soviet-era building, which certainly has character! Presumably now decommissioned, it hasn’t been given the fancier detail of its more modern neighbour but the dev has at least managed to capture some of that Cold War charm in the way it’s been modelled and textured.
Out on the ramp — and elsewhere on the airfield — the ground textures/markings are excellent. There’s some great custom GSE too, and while it’s not animated, there’s a good deal of variety. On a remote stand, not far from the terminal, sits an Armenian government Airbus, surrounded by a few examples of that aforementioned GSE. My only complaint is that the numerous flags aren’t animated, which feels a bit regressive in a 2025 scenery.
Moving to the terminal’s outdoor landside, the quality remains consistent — some superb modelling, from roads and ramps, to signs, barriers, fences, cars and people. Almost every building in the landside area has been recreated and there’s no significant drop in quality the further from the terminal you venture. There are a few areas of default satellite imagery which could have been tidied up a bit but since airports in this region of the world are generally either poor or non-existent, I’m not going to make too big a fuss about it. Besides, Amsim have at least tried to mask some of it with a few carefully-placed custom assets. It hasn’t been a totally successful exercise but every little helps, I guess.
Surrounding the airfield is a custom perimeter fence/wall, which is pretty intricately detailed for a feature many people are less bothered about (frequent readers of my reviews will, however, know how fussy I am about all-encompassing fences!).
Finally, night-lighting, which is typical FS2024 standard. I particularly like how the unique apron floodlights have been modelled.
PERFORMANCE
Zvartnots isn’t the busiest airport in the world and so runs absolutely fine (for me). The scenery seems to strike an unusually even balance between detail and performance.
VERDICT
One perhaps has to lower the bar slightly when buying third-party airports in this neck of the woods but, to be fair to Amsim, this isn’t too far off the quality offered by some of the sim’s best devs. Okay, it doesn’t really stand out among the year’s top releases but it undoubtedly stands out when you consider where in the world Zvartnots is. The only other devs doing comparable work in this area are Digital Design (specifically, Sochi), Azrsim (Baku) and Homasim (Iran), and UDYZ certainly betters the latter two.
This airport isn’t going to win any awards for innovation but it has some great strengths, including the quality of its static aircraft (oh, those Tu-134s…), its ground textures/markings and the excellent consistency of its detail/modelling. It’s a real pity Asobo’s satellite imagery for this part of the world isn’t the best but there’s little the dev can do about that, unless he’s prepared to spend thousands procuring the relevant data.
In summary, Amsim’s Zvartnots is one of the best airports in West Asia (perhaps even THE best?) and we can only hope other devs step up to the plate when it comes to this region. My review flight originated in Baku and some of the mountain scenery (which Asobo has done well) en route is breathtaking. I have a couple of minor complaints but, as I said earlier, they’re pretty insignificant when one considers how few good airports we have in this part of the world.