Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
Version reviewed: FS2024 (non-native)
Add-ons: Taburet Northern Hemisphere Summer Mask, BATC, GSX Pro, GFX, Global Shipping '24
M’M have been putting Greece in the spotlight lately, with Sitia being their penultimate destination in the country (only the brand new Kalymnos is more recent). I have their Samos — which I find fairly mediocre — and I didn’t even bother buying Kavala since it just looks completely lifeless. But Sitia and Kalymnos do look much better — at least that’s what I was hoping — so when the former was discounted by 30% overnight, I pounced.
DETAIL
Those of us who’ve been following M’M’s journey over the past couple of years will know what to expect: good scenery that excels in some areas but falls apart a bit in others. Sitia doesn’t buck the trend entirely but it does improve on previous M’M sceneries in a couple of key departments.
My first arrival was a short hop from Rhodes, in the new Just Flight F70 (a plane I’ve been flying non-stop since acquiring it yesterday!). As I planted my tyres on the runway, I was aware of some reasonable ground textures, but as usual with this dev, nothing to really shout about. The apron textures perhaps reflect reality a little better but the general colouring across the airfield seems faithful. This isn’t a particularly new airport (opened 1984, received a new terminal in 1993, and a new runway in 2003) but satellite imagery reveals its surfaces are surprisingly clean. The thing with M’M is they have a habit of producing overly clean ground textures so I’m really not sure if the accuracy was intentional! Airfield lighting is entirely default, expectedly.
The ramp features a respectable amount of clutter but a lot of it is default, with only the SkyServe airstairs being bespoke. Even the fire tenders outside the fire station are Asobo assets, which is disappointing when you consider M’M have made their own in the past. Thankfully, all other vehicles featured in the scenery are custom, with the exception of two buses parked at the terminal’s landside.
The terminal building looks very good but, while there are some convincing areas of weathering, M’M can never seem to completely escape the sterility for which they’re known. Overall, though, it’s a big step up from what we’re used to, even if many of the peripheral airfield buildings actually look better with regard to weathering. I guess if you’re making Greek airports, getting the ‘abandoned’ look right is essential!
The terminal interior is beautifully done, featuring a level of detail seldom seen with M’M. There are probably just the right number of people for an airport that only sees a couple of ATR flights per day. Just don’t expect any of the fancy interior animations we so often see in 2026. The building’s landside is also atypically impressive, boasting a fair bit of fixed clutter in the form of signs, advertisements, lightpoles and fences. It could, however, do with a few more people models, just to inject more life.
As for surroundings, there doesn’t appear to be a lot in real life. There are a few remote buildings included but most of them are contained within the perimeter fence (the airport has an almost complete (and rather rusty) fence, by the way, with just two small gaps). What I do like is that they modelled significant sections of road around the airfield, particularly in the vicinity of the terminal. They’ve also given the nearby port some attention — it’s just a shame they went and buried a default building in one of their custom piers! The saving grace is that you’re not likely to notice this anomaly from the flickdeck of a passing airliner…
The second area in which big strides seem to have been made by M’M lately is night-lighting, which really took me aback. The terminal’s internal illumination feels spot on; while outside there’s a tangible difference between the bold, white apron lighting and the more traditional sodium lighting used landside and on surrounding roads. The one annoyance is there are a handful of Asobo globes floating around, but far enough from the terminal not to be a major problem. Do M’M not do any quality control? Someone really should’ve spotted and subsequently removed them, in my opinion.
On a final note, it’s very hard to test BATC compatibility at a facility that handles so few flights. Furthermore, the real-life airport isn’t towered, so there’s no ground to tune to to request or receive parking instructions. I did notice a full complement of procedures in the FMS, though, despite my approach being vectored.
PERFORMANCE
In a word, excellent. No issues whatsoever.
VERDICT
Sitia is another solid (if not overly impressive) airport by M’M, that hopefully leaves the likes of Samos and Kavala in the rear-view mirror. It’s aesthetically pleasing throughout, apart from small areas of texture sterility (thankfully decreasing with each new release), one taxiway edge light a bit too close to a centreline, a few irritating Asobo globes and two relatively untroubling gaps in the perimeter fence. Everything else is either acceptable or in fact very good. That said, I’m still left feeling like this scenery could have offered a touch more to really liven it up. I’d like to see more variety in the GSE clutter on the ramp, and greater use of custom landside assets (including more people models). It really wouldn’t take much to elevate M’M’s airports and I’m honestly surprised they always seem to willingly stop short of brilliance. Sitia’s terminal interior is no doubt impressive but I’m sure most simmers would rather see a modest airside improvement, with less emphasis on the bits that don’t really matter (especially since the terminal windows here are mostly quite small).
I cannot summarise without mentioning another couple of scenery highlights, though, which are the excellent night-lighting (Asobo globes excepted) and an abundant (if not selective) application of weathered textures.
Incidentally, the airport is currently discounted by 30%, making it around £9 at Contrail. I am willing to fully recommend it at that price, particularly if you like tootling around Greece in the ATRs.
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