SimNord has recently released their rendition of Copenhagen Airport (EKCH) for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024, the second largest airport in the Nordic countries, serving Denmark and Southern Sweden with over 30 million passengers yearly.

It was inaugurated in 1925, making it one of the first civil airports in the world and one of the oldest still in operation. The structure consisted of a large wooden terminal, a few hangars, a hydroplane landing stage, and grass meadows used as runways. A horde of sheep feasted on the grass meadows daily, constantly keeping them short.

In the 1930s, passenger numbers grew quite significantly, reaching almost 100,000, prompting the construction of a new terminal, which was built between 1936 and 1939. It was designed by Vilhelm Lauritzen and widely considered one of the finest examples of Nordic functionalism, focusing on passenger comfort and overall efficiency.

During World War 2, the airport was mostly closed for civil operations, aside from a few periodic flights to Sweden and Germany. During that time, they also got the first hard-surface runway, 1400 meters long and 65 meters wide. By the end of the war, Copenhagen was the most modern airport in Europe, primarily because it remained undamaged throughout the conflict, which many other airports in Europe could not say the same about.

By 1948, it was already the third-largest airport in Europe, with 300,000 passengers yearly. This led to continuous expansion work to ensure the utmost comfort for everybody. 

In 1956, Copenhagen hit the million passenger mark for the first time, largely due to its increased popularity among Hollywood stars and producers, giving it newfound glamour.

In the early 1960s, a new terminal was built, able to handle 28 jets at the same time. This quickly became relatively suboptimal, kicking off another expansion program in the final part of the decade. Domestic traffic was relocated to a new terminal, and the international terminal got a new pier and arrivals hall. Furthermore, the airport also got a new control tower and a new 3,600-meter-long runway.

By the 1970s, the airport was already handling 8 million passengers, which was not followed by any expansion work, as there were plans to build a new airport elsewhere, which was eventually ruled out due to the very high costs and work involved. Instead, they figured it would be cheaper to expand the current one to handle 20 to 22 million passengers yearly by 2000. 

The expansion work kicked off in 1982. The aim was to build not Europe’s largest airport but one of the most efficient in terms of reachability. Furthermore, they wanted to create an “oasis” where passengers could relax before their trips. 

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In the late 1990s, the airport expanded again, creating a pier connecting the domestic and international terminals, a new arrivals hall, new baggage handling facilities, an underground railway station, and a new terminal able to handle 17 million passengers per year alone.

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In 2006, Copenhagen finally surpassed their target of 20 million passengers yearly, hitting 20,900,000 passengers.

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Shortly after, the administration announced their plans to build a new low-cost terminal, which was completed in 2010 and opened by easyJet. 

It’s a hub for Danish Air Transport and Scandinavian Airlines, a focus city for Air Greenland and Finnair, and an operating base for Jettime, Norwegian Air Shuttle, and Sunclass Airlines. More than 50 airlines worldwide serve it, including Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Emirates, Finnair, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines.

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The scenery features an accurate rendition of the airport, with custom ground textures, custom jetways, custom ground poly, detailed buildings, custom aerial imagery, and more.

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It’s available on their website for roughly $25.58.

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