Reviews (by Karl)

To cut a long story short, if you have a powerful PC, this is a great airport. The slightly longer version... EHAM is one of the world's largest airports so it comes as no surprise to learn that FlyTampa have had to cut a few corners. This is mostly around the perimeter, where some of the peripheral buildings have a more simple look. It's an airport that actually looks fairly basic from distance, with the bulk of the fine detail only revealing itself on closer inspection. A few of the buildings in the central terminal area have clearly been scaled back a bit but the detail has generally been preserved where it matters. Despite the simpler modelling the further from the perimeter you get, FlyTampa have included a good selection of the airport's surroundings. There are hotels, offices, custom motorways, warehouses, bridges, and even a McDonald's! One thing they've not gone to town on is terminal interiors, although FT aren't renowned for recreating them in intricate detail. Obviously the bit about requiring a good PC is pertinent to the addition of AI traffic, since EHAM is one of Europe's busiest hubs. It's not unusual to have 40-50 aircraft dotted around, and I can imagine a mid-to-low-end PC really struggling to keep up. But if you're confident you have the power, this airport strikes an excellent balance between detail and performance. It's not the most detailed FT airport but it does have some great features (animated ground service vehicles, for instance, which I've not seen in a FlyTampa scenery before), nice detail where you want it, and all things considered, it runs admirably.

There are so many great airports being released at the moment, that feature extreme detail but manage to stress out our hardware far less than we might have imagined. Jo Erlend Sund is arguably one of the top developers currently on the MSFS circuit. His Brussels is a masterpiece, although it wasn't exactly easy on resources. Oslo manages to better Brussels, in almost every way, while actually performing more favourably on my system. Granted, I'm pretty top-end (Ryzen 7800X3D, Radeon 7900XTX, 48gb RAM) but more detail should in theory mean less performance. It normally takes 3-4 years for developers to get the most of a new software engine, and we're now I think at the pinnacle of what can be achieved in the sim. Having said all that, I probably wouldn't recommend this scenery to anyone with anything less than an upper-mid-range system. So, how good is it? Well, put simply, everything is first-class: the textures, the modelling, the custom ortho, the numerous animations (passengers, apron vehicles, trains, advertising screens, etc.), the ambient interior sounds... it's all rather sublime. However if I had to pick fault, the main landside concourse interior is a touch bland (compared to the rest of the terminal) and I'd like to have seen a little more attention paid to the general landside areas. But since these places are seldom seen by pilots, it really isn't too big an issue. They're far from bad — it's just that everything else is SO comparatively good! I'm often getting well upward of 40fps with moderate AI traffic and heavy weather, but bear in mind that, despite being Norway's busiest airport, it isn't 'busy' in the EHAM/EDDF/LFPG/EGLL sense. It's about on a par with airports such as EBBR, EDDB and LEMG. The asking price is predictably high but this is the sort of airport that can easily command its price, because it's worth it. There's not a lot to dislike, but plenty to like — from the guy in the terminal playing 'Für Elise' on his grand piano, to the myriad of ground service vehicles buzzing around, this is about as life-like as a MSFS airport can feel. Definitely one of the top five airports so far this year... and a worthy contender for the coveted number one spot!

I'm unfamiliar with the real airport but it all feels authentic to me. Good level of detail across the airfield. Performance for me is excellent (better than their OMDB), even with FSLTL traffic (but I do have a high-end PC). The free Yas Marina add-on really enhances the approach from the west.

This is an excellent airport, with the potential to be absolutely sublime with a few simple additions. I'll start with what's currently not so good... SOME (but not all) of the ground textures, particularly on the taxiways and runway. They're a little lower-res than I'd have liked; however the actual ground markings are fine. The western boundary of the airport hasn't received as much love as the eastern (terminal) side — there are a few prominent bits in this area that could have been added to boost immersion. Now I've got the flaws out of the way, I can turn my attention to the more positive aspects... The terminal building is nothing short of fantastic. Among the best I've ever seen, externally and internally. Just Flight have modelled literally everything on the inside: seats, shops, cafes, bars, signs, advertisements, posters, fire alarms... you name it, it's there, mostly in fine detail. There are a lot of custom animations, too, both inside and out on the ramp — people, flags, ground service vehicles, air-con fans... even the palm trees! The overwhelming emphasis has very obviously been put on the terminal building and its airside and landside areas. My only criticism is that the custom-modelled landside fits quite awkwardly into the default photo scenery in places — but this isn't anything major. The landside detail extends a fair way back from the terminal and includes custom parked cars, modelled roads (with full signage), foliage, supermarkets, warehouses and a petrol station. The quality of the eastern side of the airport is so impressive that I cannot bring myself to deduct a star for the poorer western side and the lacklustre taxiway/runway textures. The detail focus is exactly where it should be — on the areas seen most often at close quarters by pilots — so anything less than five stats I think would be a travesty. If Just Flight can improve the texture resolution in a small number of places, and add a bit more detail to the western perimeter, this would be right up there with 2024's top payware airports. As is stands, it isn't too far off already. If you want/need a great representation of GCXO in your sim, this is it!

The 'other' season packs were always aesthetically better but this new REX Advanced has really upped the ante. Very easy to use, in either auto mode (which updates daily) or using custom preset options. Completely transforms the sim and everything now looks way more real! I'm now using this package exclusively.

I'll begin by saying that this isn't a bad scenery; however it's in a rather exclusive club price-wise for an airport of this size. Had it not been for the excellent performance (even with tons of FSLTL traffic), I'd have been inclined to give it only 3 stars. The terminal building is very well done and features some great detail, including convincing weathering. However move only a few yards away and things start to go quickly downhill. There is a modelled terminal landside but it features no cars or people. Same with the vast car-park opposite, yet a much smaller car-park further out is full of vehicles. We do at least get a custom-modelled roadway leading to/from the terminal, complete with elevated sections and signage. But apart from this, there's way too much default photo scenery left in. Thankfully we are treated to a few decent buildings in the terminal's vicinity, such as the Hyatt and Hilton hotels, plus the gas station and its neighbouring 'Whataburger' restaurant. Moving across the airfield's airside, the Signature and South Terminal buildings are the only ones to have received any real attention. Everything else looks like default assets, placed where one should reasonably expect custom models. Remember, this is a $25/£19 scenery. The apron, taxiway and runways textures are pretty decent, without being outstanding. There are parts that are clearly mismatched, though. I think Dominicdesignteam are getting better with each release, however I expected a little more for my money. The terminal and its interior are largely flawless (though the airbridge hoods connect to the aircraft clumsily) but the rest of it looks rushed/unfinished. The lush green grass of the airfield doesn't blend at all well with the more arid Asobo landscape surrounding it, and I think the official viewing area adjacent to the RWY18L threshold would have been a nice addition. There's very little to boost immersion during your approaches, save for a few tent-like structures that presumably shield parked vehicles from the Texan sun. If it's on sale, it's probably just about worth the money. But there are far bigger, much better airports in this price bracket. The most disappointing thing is some of the sloppy work could so easily be fixed by a simple update.

Overall, a very good rendition of LEBL, and certainly an big improvement over the existing versions by LVFR and JustSim. I don't own the Sim-Wings version but I've made some meticulous comparisons (using the online resources available to me) and, perhaps surprisingly, the MK version matches and even exceeds it in a number of key areas. MK's terminal textures look better and the whole area to the east of the old terminal has been done in more detail. The only area that seems better in the SW version is the cargo centre. SW also arguably has better terminal interiors, and I imagine they'll have used custom Spanish airfield lighting/markings as they typically do. SW added the port area in an update — presumably because MK's included it by default — however it looks rushed, with MK's having better detail (MK's port looks great at night). I'd ideally like to give 4.5 stars due to the lack of custom Spanish airfield signage/lighting but I don't think the omission warrants dropping it to 4.