Operation Payments on CAT 5, 6 & 7 Airports

General
1

Hey everyone,

I wanted to open a discussion that has been coming up quite frequently as a CAT 5 Airport owner, both in private messages and conversations with other pilots on the community.

There’s a concern around operation payouts on CAT 5, 6, and 7 airports.

From what we’ve been observing, these higher-category airports tend to pay less per operation, and as a result, even when owners are sharing 60% with pilots, the actual payout PILOTS receive is noticeably lower compared to CAT 4 airports. I understand sharing revenue with pilots was not originally planned therefore the logic was intended to maintain the economic equilibrium.

⸻

:brain: What’s happening in practice?

Several pilots have reached out to me saying they are not motivated to fly to CAT 5 airports, even when:
• The airport is well located
• The routes are interesting
• The owner is offering a fair 60% share

The issue is simple:
:backhand_index_pointing_right: Lower base payout = lower pilot earnings = lower traffic

⸻

:chart_decreasing: Impact on airport owners

From an ownership perspective, this creates a bit of a dilemma.

I’ve personally been considering:
• Investing in a CAT 6 airport, or
• Expanding into multiple CAT 5 airports

But if pilots are actively avoiding these categories due to lower payouts, then:
• Traffic may underperform
• ROI becomes less attractive
• Growth potential is limited

⸻

:light_bulb: Possible idea

One idea that could help balance things out:

:backhand_index_pointing_right: Introduce a higher bonus multiplier for CAT 5, 6, and 7 airports compared to CAT 4

If higher-category airports offered:
• A stronger first-cycle bonus, or
• A slightly increased base payout scaling

…it could:
• Restore pilot motivation
• Increase traffic flow
• Make high-tier airport investments more attractive

⸻

:bullseye: My personal goal as an owner

At the end of the day, my strategy is simple:

I want to offer higher PAX per operation to pilots → which drives more operations → which benefits everyone.

Right now, CAT 4 seems to hit that sweet spot.
But ideally, higher-tier airports should feel like an upgrade, not a downgrade in pilot earnings.

⸻

:handshake: Opening the floor

Curious to hear your thoughts:
• Are you experiencing the same as a pilot?
• Airport owners: are you seeing lower traffic on CAT 5+?
• Do you think bonuses or payout scaling should be adjusted?

Let’s discuss and see if we can push this into something constructive for the community.

— Capitán Cabal :airplane::hot_beverage:
Coffee Air (KFE)

2 Likes
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May I know what is the difference in earning between a cat4 and a cat5? Compared to an identical flight ( airplane category, license category, score and ecc)

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@CapitanCabal Exactly right ! And honestly, your post put into words what I’ve been feeling for a while.

That’s actually why you haven’t seen me flying into your CAT5 or WADD either. I try to avoid it when I can, precisely because of the payout situation. I know some people will say “fly to fly, don’t think about the economics”. But then why are we playing SimFly at all? lol.

The dilemma you’re describing for airport owners is real. Why would anyone invest heavily in a CAT 5 just to have it perform on par with, or worse than, a CAT 4? It doesn’t add up. And for what it’s worth, I’m one of the few who has never withdrawn anything, so this isn’t about cashing out, it’s about the investment making sense.

Your bonus multiplier idea is spot on. A stronger first-cycle bonus or slightly scaled base payout for CAT 5 would go a long way toward fixing the motivation gap. Right now the incentives are pointing in the wrong direction, and that hurts pilots, owners, and overall traffic. Some kind of adjustment needs to happen.

2 Likes
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image
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In this case. 1.74 PAX (CAT4) compared to 1.26 PAX (CAT5).

That’s almost a 27,5% deduction. And exactly same parameters. (Same aircraft, same score, same landing rate, same license).

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Hi Antonio, this was a flight since Aug 20, 2025.
FYI: At that time WBKK is still level 1 but apparently it appeared as level 2 after the airport upgraded. The old record should not be changed but that’s another topic. I just show you for WADD as DeshMinder replied you with EDDF.

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image652×382 27.3 KB

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I completely agree.

SimFly arguments that Cat 5 Airports will have more traffic is clearly mistaken. Check the real Data, people fly less and less to EDDF and WADD, the earnings are just nonsense. If a CAT 5 pays this less, I can’t even imagine a higher category.

It makes no sense to buy a CAT 5 or higher and this kills my motivation to aim for one of those.

Landing in a higher category should pay more, always more. Current logic makes no sense. More slots does not equal more earnings in our current economy and user base.

If you can manipulate the PAX market economy, consider also modifying meaningful stuff that can motivate players :wink:

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As far as I am concerned, the category of the airport has no influence on my flight choices.

I fly to the airports of pilots who provide the same service in return, with the same split and who are active.

I tend to blacklist airport owners who have a hedgehog in their pocket.

When I didn’t have premium, I had more feedback with non-premium than with premium player.

I have a category 3 airport with a 60% split and well I have less traffic than when I was non-premium. So my premium plan will end on April 12th.

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All this is very important to take it in consideration.. interesting indeed. At least for all those that entered simfly in order to make an investment under ideological terms, or even in terms of making some money.. I don’t judge anyone or anything, if its good or bad, but I sure wonder if this “wall street” attitude was already “inside” some users way before discovering simfly, or this respectable “hunger” of profit kept on growing every month, every year.. how many air simulation simmers had this extraordinary “e-commerce” ability hidden, waiting for a system such as the one “invented “ by simfly, to let it all become true..

I mean we are talking about earning “bucks” simply using a simulation GAME for 10,12 15 hours, mainly conducted by an autopilot, while or we are not really in front of a screen, or we are really in front of a screen, but watching TV series, movies, just because we have plenty of time as we retired from a job, or what, working and playing at the same time? Well that’s awesome.
”We” don’t fly anymore because we want to see a reproduction of the grand Canyon while flying between the rocks, we don’t fly anymore because we want to know how difficult is landing at Chicago int. with all those planes in a cue due to a landing every 15 seconds.. we don’t fly anymore just to see if we are capable of flying a twon engine turbo prop with an engine failure and see if we can make it at destination.. nope, we fly for PAX profit, we fly in order to get the max advantage from XP points, but only because XP makes as grow in order to get more pax…

You know what? I’ll keep on flying less, or just doing the usual 2 flights a week (max 3 hours each) until some interesting mission will finally arrive, until there will be a faithful, worthy objective to complete. A “real” reason, a real simulation reason with a reasonable task, rather than earning pax…

Until then… long life and prosper.. perhaps a space exploration simulation would see me back soon.. :smiling_face:. Too many “pax” worries here..:call_me_hand::waving_hand:

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As metrocat replied to me previoulsy … from the time we still had a weekly news & AMA…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yh50g5YzjQ&t=512s

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You talk about Star Citizen for example. My favorite space simulation.

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Lets stop pretending this is about “losing the spirit of flying”.

It is not.

Real aviation is 100% driven in efficiency and profitability, Airlines do not operate routes because they are scenic. They operate them because they make economic sense.

Instead of blaming a “Wall Street mindset” maybe we should ask:
Why does CAT4 outperform CAT5+ in both traffic and pilot satisfaction?

We have pilots openly saying they avoid CAT5 airports because of payouts. Airport owners questioning why they should invest in higher categories. Data confirming traffic is lower, not higher on these airports.

So this is not a mindset issue…it is a system issue.
This is exactly the kind of real feedback that should drive adjustments.

2 Likes
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Well I have other complaints rather than economics.. where are the schedules flights, or a pilot day mission, or the tours? All missions that should give a reason to fly rather than earning..

And, real life aviation is one thing, that’s why there are simulation games of aviation mainly focused on something else rather than economic. Or let’s say if you concentrate on the very complex universe of economic it’s obvious you will get less of other aspects. Well there’s a reason why the mayor simulator point mainly on graphics aspects rather than economic..Msfs2024 is trying to do both, but don’t know how many users are glad about it..

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Years ago I could only run Elite Dangerous Horizon, not even the new Odyssey due to my graphic card. So I also avoided Star Citizen. Now I have a little bit more efficient Graphic card, we’ll see..:vulcan_salute:

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I’m not motivated to fly to category 5 airports. If the pay were better than for category 4, then yes, but Captain Cabal is absolutely right.

2 Likes
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Hi CapitanCabal,

Yes, this is a topic I had already discussed with the team some time ago, and we will also cover it in today’s or tomorrow’s video.

I have already proposed some changes for CAT 5, 6, and 7 airports, with the goal of increasing the distribution of PAX Tokens. I can confirm that the current setup will be revised.

That said, I’d also like to explain the reasoning behind the original design. At the moment, CAT 5, 6, and 7 airports have a significantly higher number of available rotations compared to lower categories. However, the missions that will truly unlock this advantage have not yet been released—specifically Scheduled Flights and A Pilot Day, where all airports with operational potential will be involved.

The algorithm will generate scheduled flights based on the airport category. For example, a CAT 5 airport within these missions will have more available scheduled flights compared to a CAT 4, CAT 3, CAT 2, or CAT 1 airport.

In other words, the true value of higher-category airports will fully emerge once these missions are live and as the number of active pilots increases.

That being said, I have already instructed the team to increase the redistribution for CAT 5, 6, and 7 airports, and I will update you as soon as the changes are implemented.

Thank you for your feedback and for raising this point in such a constructive way.

4 Likes
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Hi @Karim-CTO-SimFly ,

your explanation is very satisfactory, and always in a constructive spirit i want you ask about rotations.
For now there is a very impressive difference between a cat 5 airport and the others of lower categories. For example, cat 1lv 1 has 7 rotations, a cat 2 level 1 has 8 rotations, a cat 3 same level 19 and a cat 4 lv1 30 rotations and finally a cat 5 same level has 200.

That proportions seems a little bit unfair especially the cat 4 compared to the cat 5.
Even considering what you just explained to us, isn’t that a bit too much?

Thank you for your feedback and have a good day.

1 Like
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Hi Snoopyd86,

I understand what you mean, but it is also important to consider other key factors, such as the airport price and the total number of airports available in each category.

There is in fact a significant difference between CAT 4 and CAT 5 airports. For example, there are 1,048 CAT 4 airports, while there are only 310 CAT 5 airports. This naturally affects both their value and their potential, and it is one of the factors that contributed to the current system logic.

I would also like to add, even if it is not directly related to your question, that we are aware some higher-category airports have very high prices and may seem difficult to reach. For this reason, as I mentioned before, we are already developing a system that I personally like a lot, because it will allow certain airports to be purchased through shares, making it possible for multiple players to co-own them together. This is a feature planned for the future, and not too far away.

I hope this helps, and thank you again for your constructive feedback.

1 Like
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Thank you for the informations. It seems a very interesting feature, i can’t wait to learn more about this.:star_struck:

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Hi Karim,

Thank you for the detailed explanation and for taking the time to share the reasoning behind the current design. It definitely helps to understand the bigger picture, especially regarding the upcoming Scheduled Flights and Pilot Day missions. That said, I think the current concern from many of us remains valid in the present state of the system. While higher-category airports have more rotations available, the immediate pilot motivation is still driven by PAX per operation. That gap is noticeable when compared to CAT 4 airports.

I do appreciate that changes are already being considered and that redistribution is on the way. That’s definitely a step in the right direction.

As a sign of good faith and confidence in the future of these mechanics, I’ve actually just purchased my second CAT 5 airport. I truly believe in the long-term potential here, and I’m committed to helping build activity around these higher-category airports.

Hopefully, with the upcoming adjustments and new mission systems, we’ll start to see that potential translate into stronger pilot engagement and more balanced incentives across categories.

Looking forward to the update.

CapitanCabal :airplane:

6 Likes
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Great post.

I actually question the need to have scaling payments based on airport category at all.

Why not allow the number of weekly rotations to be the sole limiting factor?

This would preserve the higher earnings potential of higher category airports, while no longer penalizing us for flying into a non category 4 airports.

It takes considerable pilot skill to land even at tiny airports and they should reward accordingly.