Parents' Guide to

Airline Commander

By Chris Morris, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Sharp, detailed flight sim soars into the wild blue yonder.

App iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Chromebook Free Adventure Games
Airline Commander Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

  • Airline Commander Screenshot 1
  • Airline Commander Screenshot 2
  • Airline Commander Screenshot 3

Community Reviews

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age 8+

Based on 4 parent reviews

Mokkie
Mokkie Adult
July 24, 2021
age 3+

Good fun

Basically a flight simulator for commercial aircrafts that focuses on the landing and taking off. It's not a 100% realistic simulator (of course), but good enough. You do not have to watch any Ads unless you want an additional 30% of the payoff after each successful flight. Progress can be really slow with 3 new flights every 30 minutes in order to earn $ to unlock new licenses and planes. Unless you want to pay, of course. Only complaint is the occasional usage of the word "damn" by the flight stewardess when the passengers feel extremely uncomfortable with your barrel rolls.
mamaholliss
mamaholliss Parent of 11-year-old
October 18, 2020
age 10+

Informative, fun -- but definitely addictive

My 11 year old son loves this game. He has a tough time, though, turning it off. There is always another license or another route to finish. That said, there is no violence and the game play is more on the intellectual side, rather than other video games that excite the amygdala with shoot-em-up scenarios. He just asked for $2 or $5 to purchase flight credits which buy "licenses" so that seems like a red flag to me and I will be keeping an eye on things to make sure there is not constant upselling going on. (One of my friends had a 7-year-old run up a $50 debt on candy crush - the child did not understand what she was doing but still...) Anyhow, with reservations, I think the game is among the better choices for video games.

This title has:

Easy to play/use
Too much consumerism
See all 4 parent reviews

What’s It About?

In AIRLINE COMMANDER, players pilot a variety of aircraft from many airports around the world. They'll learn how to taxi on runways, take off and land, and other flight techniques, including the timing to deploy or retract landing gear. As you successfully complete missions, you'll get cash and credits to increase the size of your fleet (and buy more advanced planes) and undergo the proper training to fly them. (More advanced planes have much more complicated takeoff and landing procedures.) Players will also experience in-flight emergencies, such as engine fires.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4):
Kids say (1):

Flight simulators aren't for everyone, but this is about as all-inclusive as these games get. Airline Commander is one of those rare games that appeals to people of all levels of expertise. Want to stick to small-engine planes? You can. Want to advance to jumbo jets (and their complicated controls)? That's possible too. By breaking a flight simulator into a series of challenges (e.g., successfully taxi to your runway and follow the right flight plan for a certain distance), the app makes the gameplay accessible. It's a flight simulator for modern players who might not have long periods to play. The biggest issue that you may run into is that the difficulty ramps up pretty high further in the game, giving you a lot of things to juggle quickly to keep your planes in the air. Toss in some of the in-flight emergencies, and you'll have to try to stay as calm as possible as your flight starts to fall apart. But if you yearn to fly and don't have the time or money to get a pilot's license, Airline Commander might be the next best choice.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about positive life skills like perseverance. Do you know how hard it is to become a pilot? How would you keep yourself motivated through learning how to control these advanced machines?

  • Do you know how challenging it is to run a business? How difficult would it be to make decisions that affect your business and the people that work for you?

App Details

  • Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Chromebook
  • Pricing structure: Free
  • Release date: August 23, 2018
  • Category: Adventure Games
  • Publisher: RORTOS
  • Version: 1.0.5
  • Minimum software requirements: Requires iOS 9.0 or later; Requires Android 4.1 and up
  • Last updated: February 11, 2019

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