Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
Reviewed for: FS2024
Add-ons: FS Traffic, GSX Pro
DETAIL
I own all MXI’s Greek airports, with the exception of the early ones (Zakynthos, Thessaloniki). They’re solid performers but typically contain little in the way of fancy detail or modelling outside the perimeter fence.
The first thing I noticed on arrival at this new LTFJ is how… ‘un-MXI’ this airport feels. The modelling and general detail is about on a par with IniBuilds (perhaps slightly superior in some respects), whose work it is very reminiscent of.
The terminal building is beautifully done, featuring weathered textures, custom airbridges (jetways if you’re American), an almost complete interior and a fully-loaded landside. You even get very convincing internal audio! The building is populated with static people, and there are a variety of custom vehicles kerbside, by the entry/exit doors. The only mild let-down is the extensive use of flat 2D textures or parallaxing for internal shops, bars and restaurants (though a select few are properly modelled).
Ground textures across the airfield are good, without being outstanding. They meet but probably don’t exceed 2025’s expectations. The ramps, however, are a joy to behold — filled with custom clutter (some of it animated) and ramp employees going about their business. These guys are only default assets but far too many developers nowadays don’t include them, depriving us of that extra kick of immersion. The simple things, and all that…
The airfield’s peripheries haven’t been ignored, although the modelling is generally slightly more generic and sterile-looking (but still reasonable). The maintenance area looks good, particularly the bits visible from airside areas (the THY hangars’ doors look fantastic). The main thing is that it’s all been faithfully recreated and, despite the modelling/texturing being inferior to that of the terminal, there remains an abundance of finer detail. MXI have included a few static airliner models (Pegasus Airbuses and Turkish/A-Jet Boeings), which are of reasonable quality. Most buildings on the airfield have been given parallax interiors — not the best I’ve ever seen but it gets the job done.
The ATC tower is located close to the maintenance area and is a work of art. It boasts a complex interior and stunning dynamic night-lighting. I’m also rather elated about the fully-encompassing custom perimeter fence — I love a good fence, me!
There’s some decent modelling outside the airport’s boundary, however the large industrial complex on the approach to the 06 runways is disappointingly low-res. Not a great problem — it was clearly designed just to add a bit of eye-candy while on finals — but it would’ve been nice had it matched the quality of other, less prominent off-airport structures.
Finally, the airport has been extensively terraformed and the job MXI have done is, in the main, very good. It looks like they’ve also either added custom ortho or touched up the default satellite imagery. The airport fits nicely into its environment, and the custom buildings in the vicinity blend well with Asobo’s (surprisingly convincing) autogen.
PERFORMANCE
Admittedly, a bit of a snag here, especially for those with less capable hardware. On my first arrival (at night) I experienced a few stutters, while flaring and again when approaching stand. I had a better experience in daylight but the stutters persisted when close to the terminal. Having a pretty powerful PC, these stutters weren’t severe enough to give me any real headaches but there wasn’t much air traffic around and it’s not really that big an airport. I have larger hubs in FS2024 than run better.
In summary, it’s not the worst performer I’ve seen in FS2024 but there are little signs that should probably concern anyone who doesn’t own a higher-end machine.
VERDICT
Turkey doesn’t get a lot of developer love in the sim so when someone releases a quality airport in the country, the community tends to notice. M’M Sims, ST Sims and SceneryTR are the only devs currently churning out Turkish airports but they aren’t what I’d describe as top quality (SceneryTR in particular as ST’s Alanya and M’M’s Izmir v2 are, I believe, pretty good).
MXI’s new Sabiha is almost certainly the highest-quality Turkish airport to date and it’s great that they chose to model Turkey’s second-busiest. If you’ve experience with MXI’s previous airports, it will be of no consequence here because LTFJ is has not been made in accordance with their typical set of criteria. This is a completely different animal but performance has undoubtedly suffered as a result of the atypical level of detail (hopefully they can learn from this project and better optimise future products — it’s not exactly a bad performer, so long as you have a decent PC).
If you have a PC capable of running demanding airports, MXI’s LTFJ is a worthy addition to your collection — particularly if you enjoy flying in this region. It does no one thing absolutely outstandingly but it’s a jack-of-all-trades, with very few flaws in any particular area. It features plenty of airside/landside clutter (mechanical and biological!), a very good terminal interior, abundant peripheral detail, a complete custom perimeter fence, and it fits into its surroundings convincingly. If I had to be critical, I’d single out parts of the maintenance area I feel could have been given a bit more love (mostly texture-wise), the default runway approach lights that stick out of the custom-modelled examples, and maybe the small number of relatively insignificant inconsistencies one notices around the airfield. But it’s otherwise an excellent airport that, alongside the plentiful European schedules, offers some very unusual routes to less accessible parts of the Middle East.
With the release of LTFJ, MXI have proved they can competently compete in 2025. This has set an interesting precedent for them (and us) and they can build on any lessons they learn to continue increasing the quality and refinement of their products. LTFJ features far, far more detail than any of the many smaller airports they’re mostly known for, so it’d be great to see a proportionate level of detail go into their next small project.
Worth noting that LTFJ is currently available with a 30% discount, from Contrail, IniBuilds and Orbx (makes it about £14.80). For those looking for an accompanying city pack, AC Scenery offer one but the quality looks questionable. I’m not sure how much coverage it has around LTFJ.
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