It is not unreal.
I travel past London Gatwick everyday.
The lights are always on, even in well lit summer days.
Same with Heathrow and all major airports.
Landed in Heathrow in real one year ago. No, the lights were off. Perhaps the weather is often bad in London, so you see lights on.
Perhaps is Gatwick one of the airports with always lights on, but donât know whyâŠ
But in real life I landed worldwide at many airports and the lights are always off during daytime and in good weather conditions.
And it was correct simulated in all previous versions of the Sim. So always have them on isnât correctâŠ
Not sure about the rest of the world but in the US non controlled airports turn the lights off at night. As a pilot they can be turned on by tuning the local frequency and toggling the push to talk button several times to get them to come on or turn off.
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They should replace the bulbs with LEDs. 
There are certain airports where you have to tune in a certain frequency for the lights to turn on. That would be great too.
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I left a similar comment on the wishlist topic around keying your mic to activate it and adjust brightness. It may have to be limited to people with push-to-talk functionality, so I hope there would be a menu option for people who donât have that.
Voting is only enabled within the bug and wishlist sections. A mod could move the thread over there.
I edited the post! Feel free to vote! Seems like an easy fix. Not sure whatâs taking so long? Iâve already submitted a ticket, which MS has acknowledged.
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The 37,000 default airports do not have apron lights, ramp or gate lights at night, let alone during the day.
Canât turn them off because they do not exist (Zendesk aware).
Only runway and taxi lights are on, as they should be.
Are you experiencing the same bug as stated by âOsalvadorOâ? For me I see them everywhere, all of the time. Ha ha! Interesting⊠If you buy an addon airport are they present all of the time?
Great. Give me an example default airport which is as you describe.
Thanks.
Any of them. JFK. Any screenshot you see from the numerous developers releasing airports. I seem to remember in the old days airport lighting issues often had to do with DX drivers. Iâm assuming this has happened all along for you? Sounds frustrating. At least your airports look better / more realistic during the day.
JFK is NOT a default airport. It is handcrafted.
None of the default airports have proper ramp night lighting.
Not just me. Take a look at the forums
KSAN? KNKX? Everywhere⊠I see nothing but lights. Sorry you have the opposite issue. Look at screenshots of any airport being released right now- nothing but lights in the middle of the day.
YesâŠbut not at night on the ramps or parking, exactly where it is needed.
I see it everywhere, all day and all night. Ha ha! Sorry man.
Give me a default airport to visit where there is lighting on the gates or ramps? Your last suggestion was JFKâŠwhich is NOT one of the 37,000 default airports.
Even Asobo have confirmed there isnât any such lighting at night.
Sorry manâŠlol.
Ok man⊠This post was about lighting present on aprons / runways / taxiways during daytime hours and in good weather. Maybe MS has a lot of work to do yet on their lighting as it pertains to airports? Canât remember the last time I really wanted to land at any airport that wasnât an addon with proper details. Anyhow⊠Maybe go look and post on another post that pertains more accurately to your issue. Good luck!
I totally agree âŠPlease, turn off the airport lights during daytime under good visibility.
Whether it is a bug or not, this should be easily resolved and will change quite enough the immersion/experience.
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absolutely agree
add an option for non-controlled airports to have a PCL ATC menu option (PCL Low, PCL Medium, PCL High) that turns on the lighting to the appropriate levelâŠ
for controlled airports, the ATIS and the visibility would determine daytime lighting visibility and at dusk/dawn the lights would turn on/off automatically with the time and in non-IMC conditions, lighting is typically medium. Maybe an option to ask the controller to turn the lights up to high would be a great add.
I almost forgot the airport beacon is usually off during daytime vfr, same as lights, so beacon would need this as well⊠all airports off during day, on during night, controlled airports, on during imc atis conditions.