After a few long nights, we’re back with a brand-new update! Version 0.8.2 comes packed with new features, plenty of bug fixes and even a few things you’ve been asking for. So, let’s jump right in and see what’s new. Enjoy the update!

Sky Empire v0.8 After a long summer break, we’re finally back — and we brought some new stuff with us. Unfortunately, the holiday was so good that we’ve already forgotten half of what we changed. So instead of a detailed changelog, just jump in and enjoy everything new. Have fun discovering it.

Sky Empire v0.8.0 After a long summer break, we’re finally back — and we brought some new stuff with us. Unfortunately, the holiday was so good that we’ve already forgotten half of what we changed. So instead of a detailed changelog, just jump in and enjoy everything new. Have fun discovering it.

SkyEmpire v0.7.1 - Release Notes: - ancillary revenue - performance improvements - Bugfixes: -- Fixed map crash with large route networks -- Regional airlines now offer more realistic business class -- Rebalanced passenger service costs -- Fixed aircraft seat sorting -- Removed random disruptive events

SkyEmpire v0.7.0 adds Operation Centers, Maintenance Halls, route service levels, detailed route finance popups and custom aircraft cabins with First, Business, and Economy seating. AI airlines are smarter too, with the new Leisure strategy, better hub expansion, investment logic, fleet planning and long-term cash management. As well as improvements to maintenance cost, route cost and revenue.

SkyEmpire v0.6.0 is here! This update brings major improvements to realism, gameplay, performance, and presentation: -> More realistic cost structure — higher operating costs make every decision more challenging. -> More realistic demand system — passengers may now choose your competitors. -> Smarter opponents — your rivals are more strategic and harder to beat. -> Massively improved performance — multi-threading now distributes tasks more efficiently. -> Improved visuals — menus and the globe map have been redesigned for a cleaner, better look. -> More airports — expand your network with even more destinations. -> Bug fixes and gameplay improvements — various fixes, balancing changes, and quality-of-life updates. Thank you for playing SkyEmpire and enjoy v0.6.0!

What's new in v0.5.1: - Added option for up to 98 AI Airlines. - Enhanced the World Map. - Improved the Finance screen.

new realistic world map

improvements to cost structure and demand

Sky Empire v0.4 – Release Notes AI & Network Intelligence Hub & Spoke airlines now relocate their primary hub when fewer than 5 active routes remain there and a significantly better-connected airport exists in their network. Previously, airlines could get stuck operating a skeleton network around an uncompetitive hub with no way out. The relocation logic now also promotes secondary hubs to primary when applicable. The 50% score threshold prevents unnecessary churn when a hub is simply quiet for a few turns. Hub & Spoke airlines can now open a second hub once they have reached 100 active routes, in addition to the existing slot-utilisation trigger (≥75%). Mega-hubs like JFK or LHR have so many slots that the utilisation threshold was rarely hit in practice — the route-count trigger makes secondary hub expansion actually reachable. Premium AI airlines now build real networks when starting in 1960. The minimum route distance and business-level threshold both scale gradually from relaxed pioneer-era values (800 km, businessLevel ≥ 20 in 1960) up to the full modern Premium profile (3 000 km, businessLevel ≥ 50) by 1980. Premium carriers no longer sit idle for the first two decades of a campaign. Economy & Financials Investment costs (Advertising, Customer Service, Staff & Training) now use the same progressive growth curve as the Insurance Premium. Both scale linearly from a baseline at $1 B net worth up to a maximum multiplier at $10 B, then cap. This makes the two largest recurring cost lines feel consistent and predictable — growth is meaningful at scale but never exponential. UI Airport demand values are now shown on a 0–1 000 scale across the entire Map screen, including the route-preview panel that appears when two airports are selected. Previously the two-airport view still displayed the old 0–100 averages. Both views now show consistent values with a /1000 suffix. Bug Fixes Fixed Hub & Spoke airlines becoming permanently stranded with zero routes because the hub-relocation check only triggered when a hub had no routes at all, rather than when it had become effectively abandoned.

v0.3.0 - Dynamic Airport Demand Airport demand now scales realistically based on the current year.

Bugfixes and Gameplay improvements

Sky Empire v0.2 – Release Notes Aircraft & Fleet 124 aircraft now carry passenger satisfaction ratings (1–5), factoring into demand share and AI purchasing decisions. New and discontinued aircraft are announced in the monthly turn report. Fleet screen now supports sorting by Comfort. Investment System New Investments tab with three levers — Advertising, Customer Service, and Staff & Training — each rated 0–10. Costs scale progressively with company net worth (larger airlines pay proportionally more). Investment levels are the sole driver of reputation; fleet condition and comfort no longer influence it. Costs are $0 with no active routes. Reputation Stored as a floating-point value internally to accumulate small monthly deltas accurately. Display remains as a rounded integer. Only investment levels affect reputation going forward. AI Overhaul Removed the Long Haul strategy. Four strategies remain with a weighted 80/20 split: Low Cost (~27%), Regional (~27%), Hub & Spoke (~27%), Premium (~9%). Each strategy now strictly follows its identity — distance ranges, airport size filters, pricing logic, and aircraft preferences are all enforced. Hub & Spoke airlines start at the highest-demand mega-hubs and expand to a second hub when slot utilisation reaches 75%. Low Cost carriers always charge maximum fares on uncontested routes and drop to minimum the moment competition appears — and never buy first-class configured aircraft. Regional investment levels are fixed at 5/5/5. AI also tunes investment levels each month, scaling back under financial pressure. Demand & Pricing First-class demand increased by 50%. Passenger demand split accounts for price, aircraft comfort, and airline reputation — with business and first class weighted more heavily toward comfort and brand. Market share is computed once per turn across all competing airlines before individual turns are processed. Save System Up to 5 save slots. Legacy saves automatically migrate to Slot 1. Slot metadata (airline name, date, cash, difficulty) shown in the load screen. UI & QoL Endless-mode banner removed from the game screen. Turn report bottom sheet is fully scrollable with new/discontinued aircraft news appearing above turn messages. Competitor view shows fleet satisfaction alongside reputation. Economy Demand grows from 20% in 1960 to 100% in 2020, then holds constant. Progressive insurance premium applies to airlines worth over $1B. Starting year slider extended back to 1960.

Version 0.1.8 – AI Overhaul, Demand Rework & bug fixes Dashboard Route Performance list is now sorted by profitability (most profitable route always at the top) Finance Fix Finance calculation, so values don't get added multiple times to costs. AI Improvements Idle owned aircraft are now sold immediately instead of waiting for age/condition thresholds; idle leased aircraft are returned right away to stop ongoing lease costs Aircraft that reach 0% condition are unassigned from their route and sold; a replacement is purchased or leased immediately and assigned to the same route, preferring newer and more suitable models AI airlines now receive a $100M emergency cash injection when their balance turns negative and falls below $150M, preventing bankruptcy and keeping competition alive Unprofitable routes are now evaluated using total profit (including fleet costs like maintenance, lease and depreciation) rather than operating profit alone, leading to more accurate closure decisions Route closure probabilities have been raised across all strategies, particularly on competitive routes with heavy losses, so the AI exits bad markets faster and reinvests capital elsewhere Routes with near-breakeven estimates (down to –$50k/month) are now considered as candidates, allowing the AI to operate low-demand routes that still make sense for cargo revenue, brand presence or network connectivity The AI expansion loop now computes route candidates once per turn and consumes them in order, re-ranking only after a new aircraft purchase; this replaces the previous approach of re-running the full search up to 12 times per airline per turn Airport-pair distances are now cached after the first calculation and reused throughout the session, eliminating thousands of redundant great-circle computations per turn Available aircraft types are cached per game year and reused across all route evaluations within the same turn instead of being rebuilt for every airport pair Existing route pairs are now maintained as an incrementally updated set during expansion, avoiding repeated full-fleet scans Hub & Spoke Strategy Hub & Spoke AI airlines now require at least 20 active routes from their primary hub before a secondary hub can be opened (previously 14 aircraft with no route minimum), ensuring a dense home network is established first The fleet size requirement for secondary hub expansion has been raised from 14 to 18 aircraft Airport Demand Scale All airport demand, business and tourism levels have been rescaled from 1–10 to 1–100, giving each airport a more distinct and granular profile; airports that previously shared the same value now differ by up to 4 points, making route selection and profitability more nuanced All demand-driven formulas in route fare calculation, market share computation, cabin mix ratios, cargo load factors and the AI profitability estimator have been updated to match the new scale while preserving identical output magnitudes The Map screen now displays demand values as x/100 instead of x/10 Bug fixes and gameplay improvements.

Version 0.1.7 – AI Overhaul & Demand Rework Dashboard Route Performance list is now sorted by profitability (most profitable route always at the top) AI Improvements Idle owned aircraft are now sold immediately instead of waiting for age/condition thresholds; idle leased aircraft are returned right away to stop ongoing lease costs Aircraft that reach 0% condition are unassigned from their route and sold; a replacement is purchased or leased immediately and assigned to the same route, preferring newer and more suitable models AI airlines now receive a $100M emergency cash injection when their balance turns negative and falls below $150M, preventing bankruptcy and keeping competition alive Unprofitable routes are now evaluated using total profit (including fleet costs like maintenance, lease and depreciation) rather than operating profit alone, leading to more accurate closure decisions Route closure probabilities have been raised across all strategies, particularly on competitive routes with heavy losses, so the AI exits bad markets faster and reinvests capital elsewhere Routes with near-breakeven estimates (down to –$50k/month) are now considered as candidates, allowing the AI to operate low-demand routes that still make sense for cargo revenue, brand presence or network connectivity The AI expansion loop now computes route candidates once per turn and consumes them in order, re-ranking only after a new aircraft purchase; this replaces the previous approach of re-running the full search up to 12 times per airline per turn Airport-pair distances are now cached after the first calculation and reused throughout the session, eliminating thousands of redundant great-circle computations per turn Available aircraft types are cached per game year and reused across all route evaluations within the same turn instead of being rebuilt for every airport pair Existing route pairs are now maintained as an incrementally updated set during expansion, avoiding repeated full-fleet scans Hub & Spoke Strategy Hub & Spoke AI airlines now require at least 20 active routes from their primary hub before a secondary hub can be opened (previously 14 aircraft with no route minimum), ensuring a dense home network is established first The fleet size requirement for secondary hub expansion has been raised from 14 to 18 aircraft Airport Demand Scale All airport demand, business and tourism levels have been rescaled from 1–10 to 1–100, giving each airport a more distinct and granular profile; airports that previously shared the same value now differ by up to 4 points, making route selection and profitability more nuanced All demand-driven formulas in route fare calculation, market share computation, cabin mix ratios, cargo load factors and the AI profitability estimator have been updated to match the new scale while preserving identical output magnitudes The Map screen now displays demand values as x/100 instead of x/10 Bug fixes and gameplay improvements.

Sky Empire v0.1.6 – Release Notes Performance & Responsiveness The "Next Turn" button now shows a loading spinner immediately on tap, before any calculation begins. AI airlines are now processed asynchronously — the UI stays responsive between each airline's turn, eliminating the freeze that grew worse with more competitors. A warning hint below the AI competitor slider now indicates the performance impact of high opponent counts. Economy & Financials Fixed costs (route overhead and per-aircraft fees) are now fully embedded into route operating costs rather than tracked as a separate line item. This means every route bears its true share of fixed overhead, and the impact is visible directly in the Routes screen. Airlines with large fleets of the same aircraft type or manufacturer now benefit from economies of scale — up to 40% reduction in fixed costs for type commonality and up to 20% for manufacturer commonality. The Finance screen now shows Net Worth and Profit trend charts instead of Cash Flow and Revenue. The Route Profitability table has been removed from the sidebar. All monetary values across every screen now scale automatically: values display as k (thousands), M (millions), B (billions), or T (trillions) depending on magnitude. Demand Model Cabin demand is now driven by the correct airport attributes. Economy demand is primarily fuelled by demandLevel and tourismLevel — with tourism fading on ultra-long routes above 6,000 km, reflecting real leisure travel behaviour. Business and First Class demand is driven exclusively by businessLevel, with a distance boost for long-haul routes where corporate travel dominates. This makes airport statistics meaningful and strategically relevant when choosing routes. The route preview panel on the Map screen now shows the average business and tourism levels of both endpoints rather than single-airport values. AI Improvements AI airlines now actively sell or return idle and worn aircraft. Unassigned planes older than 10 years or with condition below 30 are sold off; leased planes that sit idle are returned to stop ongoing lease payments. This keeps AI balance sheets cleaner and reduces unproductive fleet bloat. The buy-vs-lease decision is now driven by aircraft size and price. Wide-body jets and aircraft costing more than $80M are always lease-preferred. If a purchase would consume more than 40% of an airline's cash, leasing is forced regardless of strategy. Long Haul airlines always lease; Low Cost carriers buy whenever affordable; Hub & Spoke carriers lease large jets and buy smaller ones. AI route selection now follows each strategy far more aggressively. Regional carriers strongly favour small airports and apply heavy penalties to mega-hubs and long distances. Low Cost carriers target medium airports and short high-frequency routes. Premium carriers only pursue large airports with high business demand. Long Haul carriers seek intercontinental routes and penalise anything under 6,000 km. Hub & Spoke carriers connect large hubs while also picking up feeder routes. When observing a competitor airline, its strategy (e.g. Low Cost, Long Haul, Premium) is now displayed in the observation banner with a matching icon.