After five years and 20 major updates, Microsoft Flight Simulator’s AI aircraft traffic remains disappointingly basic. No third-party add-on can fully compensate for the limitations of the built-in traffic engine.

Core Engine Limitations

• Landing gear pop-in: Gear models disappear or reappear abruptly based on camera distance, breaking immersion in spotting scenarios. Do you remember how nice this was in P3D?
• Runway slope jitter: Aircraft exhibit small but noticeable pitch and bounce when on sloped runways/taxiways.
• Lack of touchdown effects: Tire smoke, runway spray, and dust plumes are virtually absent on landing.
• Taxi and runway anomalies: AI planes sometimes stop mid-roll, veer off centerline, or fail to follow taxi routes accurately. Apparently, these issues often tied to airport layout data. Only PSX/RealTraffic is better in this regard.
• Jetway engagement logic: Only newly arriving aircraft receive gate animations. When the user arrives at the destination airport, aircraft already parked at gates never connect or disconnect jetways, unlike P3D with SODE where multiple bridges could link dynamically.

there might be more ...

After half a decade, these gaps underline a persistent neglect of AI traffic by Microsoft and Asobo. Given the slow pace of improvements so far, it’s hard to believe we’ll see the level of realism once enjoyed in former environments any time soon. Too bad.

 

 

 

 

I do not even use animated AI traffic at the moment because of these issues. The poor animations and dodgy runway usage are unacceptable to me, particularly when stuff like this was done a thousand times better in P3Dv4. I do miss it, but not to that extent.

At certain airports it actually work quite nice.

It all depends on the AFCAD of the airport. There are some really nice ones to be downloaded online. 

This + the amazing work AIG have done with their AI-implementation, I get a nice experience! Only using FS20.

I've disabled the default MS/ASOBO AI aircraft traffic because I find it completely immersion-breaking to see AI planes constantly buzzing around airports. I believe MS/ASOBO are still relying heavily on the outdated and buggy AI traffic code originally developed for FSX. At this point, it seems unlikely that it will ever be properly debugged or made truly functional.

Just wonder how long it takes before a moderator is needed to approave my messages on this board?

1 minute ago, Cap737Delta said:

Just wonder how long it takes before a moderator is needed to approave my messages on this board?

There has to be one online like I am right now!

2 hours ago, Nemo said:

After half a decade, these gaps underline a persistent neglect of AI traffic by Microsoft and Asobo.

If the SDK has not improved in that time it’s unlikely it ever will. They have different priorities. Just one of several reasons I have remained with P3Dv5 with its far superior SDK allowing AIG to work their magic.

This is what Microsoft Copilot is telling me:

AI aircraft traffic in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (MSFS2024) continues to be a major source of frustration for many simmers, and here's why it feels so immersion-breaking:
🧠 Core Issues Behind the Bugs
•     Outdated Traffic Engine: Much of the AI traffic logic still seems rooted in legacy FSX-era code, which was never designed for the scale and complexity of modern airports or real-time traffic simulation.
•     Poor ATC Coordination: The in-game ATC frequently gives unrealistic or contradictory instructions—like assigning aircraft to land on occupied runways or directing multiple planes to opposite ends of the same runway.
•     Lack of Traffic Separation: AI aircraft often ignore the player’s presence, taxi through them, or block final approaches. This breaks the illusion of a living, reactive world.
•     Visual Glitches: AI planes suffer from issues like landing gear pop-in, jittering on sloped runways, and missing touchdown effects like tire smoke or runway spray.
•     Static and Sparse Traffic: Especially at smaller airports or during off-peak hours, AI traffic can be nearly nonexistent. Even when enabled, users report seeing just one or two planes, if any.
•     Broken Jetway Logic: AI aircraft at gates don’t interact with jetways properly, making airports feel lifeless and static compared to older sims like P3D.
🛠 Why It Hasn't Been Fixed
•     Low Development Priority: Despite community feedback, AI traffic hasn’t received the same attention as visuals, weather, or world updates.
•     Complexity of Realistic AI: Simulating believable aircraft behavior—especially with dynamic ATC and multiplayer—is incredibly complex. Many users resort to third-party solutions like VATSIM or Pilot2ATC for realism.
•     Regression from MSFS2020: Some users even feel that AI traffic has worsened in MSFS2024 compared to its predecessor, which is a tough pill to swallow after five years of updates.
If you're chasing immersion, disabling AI traffic or switching to live multiplayer with real ATC services might be your best bet. Want help setting that up or exploring third-party traffic mods? 

 

 Why AI Traffic Is Better in Prepar3D
1. Third-Party Add-On Support
•     AIG (Alpha India Group): Offers high-quality AI aircraft models, realistic flight plans, and liveries. Their OCI installer makes setup relatively easy.
•     Ultimate Traffic Live / Traffic Global: These add-ons inject realistic airline schedules and aircraft behavior, far surpassing default traffic.
•     EditVoicePack: Improves ATC voice realism, making AI interactions more immersive.
2. Realistic Flight Plans
•     AI traffic in Prepar3D can be based on real-world schedules, not random or generic patterns.
•     You can inject custom flight plans using tools like AI Flight Planner, giving you control over routes, aircraft types, and liveries.
3. Better Aircraft Behavior
•     AI aircraft in Prepar3D tend to follow more realistic taxi, takeoff, and landing procedures.
•     Flight dynamics (e.g., approach speed, braking distance) are often fine-tuned for realism.
4. Performance Optimization
•     Despite the realism, many users report better frame rates in Prepar3D when using optimized AI traffic setups.
•     You can fine-tune traffic density and types (airline, GA, ground vehicles) to balance immersion and performance.

I always use FSLTL, seems to work OK for me.

Traffic in MSFS 2024 is much worse than in MSFS2020. I‘ve found in 2024 at most airports traffic can‘t even land, just flies in circles around the area.

That‘s the primary reason that I use BeyondATC. I could live without ATC, but not without traffic.

I guess simmers interested in authentic airport simulation are a minority. Sometimes I relax by setting a camera in a busy airport, ramp up the traffic slider, and watch the world go by.

I bought PMDG's 777 freighter recently, and there is little integration with GSX or default ground services. You can get GSX vehicles to drive up to the aircraft (the fuel tanker parked in the centre of the left engine), but you still have to load cargo and fuel 'instantly' via the CDU. The impression I got from a comment by one of their beta testers was that PMDG develop flight simulation, not ground simulation.

Hopefully, devs will show more love to AI traffic and ground service integration in the future.

4 hours ago, Nemo said:

After five years and 20 major updates, Microsoft Flight Simulator’s AI aircraft traffic remains disappointingly basic. No third-party add-on can fully compensate for the limitations of the built-in traffic engine.

They (MS/Asobo) gave priority to the development of MSFS2024 without finishing implementing the AI Traffic and ATC engines in MSFS2020. This was a huge disappointment for me. When I heard the first MSFS2024 announcement I said oh, oh..., something's wrong here!.

I remember, as a former user of P3D (v4.5), that I usually used to do AI plane spotting at busy aiports (using AIG), being MDPC (Punta Cana) in Dominican Republic one of my favorite plane spotting sites. The realism during approach, taxiing, parking, takeoffs, was excellent. MSFS, both 24 and 20 are far away from that experience.

Edited August 22, 2025Aug 22 by edpatino

4 hours ago, Nemo said:

After half a decade, these gaps underline a persistent neglect of AI traffic by Microsoft and Asobo. Given the slow pace of improvements so far, it’s hard to believe we’ll see the level of realism once enjoyed in former environments any time soon. Too bad.

I distinctly remember an interview in which Asobo (Jorg if I'm not mistaken) said that certain features would not be developed in order not to "steal the job" from other developers. There are different opinions on this approach: I am with you, meaning that I would prefer to have basic functions well developed and rock solid rather than a jumble of half-baked features good only for the cinematic trailers. The whole bug-ridden career mode is a glaring example, and I couldn't but shake my head and laugh when Jorg advertised the intention to implement animal migrations when their AI traffic can't takeoff from the runway in use, can't climb above a few feet, doesn't generate contrails at high altitude, etc. 

Anyway this basic package for me would include AI traffic, because it's very unrealistic (being realism what is supposed to set apart a sim from a game) to fly in empty skies or rather have the current mess that is FS2024 traffic.  

Having said that, FSLTL (liveries and injector) is free and offers a pretty good experience. 

25 minutes ago, edpatino said:

I remember, as a former user of P3D (v4.5), that I usually used to do AI plane spotting at busy aiports (using AIG), being MDPC (Punta Cana) in Dominican Republic one of my favorite plane spotting sites. The realism during approach, taxiing, parking, takeoffs, was excellent. MSFS, both 24 and 20 are far away from that experience.

There’s nothing to stop you going back to P3D if that’s your thing? That’s unless it’s been fossilised.😊

12 minutes ago, jarmstro said:

There’s nothing to stop you going back to P3D if that’s your thing? That’s unless it’s been fossilised.😊

Seeing as it is still in use by many, it has hardly been fossilised.