Virtual Air Traffic LogoVirtual Air Traffic
MANUAL
Built for X-Plane 12 • Windows and MAC

Over 600.000 real-world flights!
Virtual Air Traffic.

Transform your sim with thousands of dynamic aircraft, seamlessly integrated into X-Plane for authentic sequencing and real-world vectoring. Vat is completely FREE!

✓ Over 600 supported airports worldwide.✓ Traffic schedules refreshed continuously.✓ Dynamic injection (no fixed positions) .✓ True 3D airspace modelling with sequencing!✓ Support for both X-CSL and Bluebell models.

Latest updates

October 10, 2026 - New BETA release: 0.8.6.
Beta 0.8.6 for Windows and MacOS is here. To download, go here, or login to the portal.

  • ATC messages window has been updated: it now only shows transmissions on your current tuned COM1 frequency (given you powered your avionics!) and has specific CTA's.
  • Active ATC communications are work in progress - sorry, the buttons don't work just yet.
  • Dark/light mode can be persistently set to auto, dark or light. Auto mode will follow the X-Plane clock. Find it in the first/main tab of the plugin interface.
  • Tweaked tolerances for plane clearance a bit, to avoid some ground holds and head-on stalls.
  • Fix in occasional system PC/sim clock sync issue for departing flights.
  • The clock in the arrivals tab now shows sim time instead of local PC time.
  • Fix edge-case with planes clipped on other planes on some airports.
  • Fix for some heavies spawning at smaller gates in certain airports.
  • Fix for offset positioning of planes at gates on higher altitude airports.
  • Corrected the departure altitude calculation of spawned midair flights to refer to AMSL, which caused some planes to be way too low on ascent.
  • Small tweak in plane rotation moment on takeoff, less chance of a tailstrike :)
  • Added planes pitch, roll and gear status to the plane XP dataref JSON.
  • Performance optimizations.

October 3, 2026 - New BETA release: 0.8.5.
Beta 0.8.5 for Windows and MacOS is here. To download, go here.

  • Fixes specificically to mitigate an IMGUI regression for Xplane 12.4.4 beta 3.
  • Source code changes and groundwork done for future LLM integrations.
  • Added support for Skunkcrafts updater.
  • ATC comms now use proper callsigns instead of flightnumbers.
  • Fixed the prop takeoff sound, added some more variety in other sounds.
  • Fixed a potential race condition in multi - thread code.

October 1, 2026 - New BETA release: 0.8.4.
Beta 0.8.4 for Windows and MacOS is here. To download, go here.

  • NEW: Added a ATC messages log window. Open it through the plugin menu or assign a hotkey/button to it through X-Plane key settings.
  • NEW: Heatblur effect on engines.
  • NEW: VAT Interface dark mode (auto toggles when appropriate).
  • ATC: Ground operations optimizations for busy airports.
  • ATC: Will hold departing traffic shortly to allow runway crossing traffic to pass.
  • ATC: Ground will prefer an airline operator gate for arriving traffic.
  • Added setting to disable particle effects (contrails, touchdown smoke and engine heatblur).
  • Moved to double precision plane positioning.
  • Moved from global to per-plane high-precision timers in the VAT engine.
  • Fixed pushback tug jitter during attaching when it came up driving from an angled position.
  • Reworked the plane rotation moment on takeoff.
  • Fixed a small performance drop when the user interface was opened.
  • Fixed visual stuttering of planes when performance mode was set to medium.

Built for realism. Optimized for performance.

Features

"Intelligent, real-world traffic that transforms every X-Plane flight into a living aviation experience."

Fully animated models.

Detailed flaps, gear, spoiler and other model animations fully working on all injected models. VAT currently uses either X-CSL or Bluebell models.

Fully animated models.

Real-world traffic schedules.

Wordwide coverage of true-to-life flight schedules. We use multiple sources, including operator websites to gather current traffic schedules and keep the traffic around you up-to-date.

Real-world traffic schedules.

Full TCAS integration.

We have fully implemented the 'TCAS Override' functionality in VAT. This will allow X-Plane to display your traffic on X-Plane’s default navdisplays, the G1000, the map and IOS console and also disseminate the information via ADS-B output to external EFB apps like FlyQ and ForeFlight.

Full TCAS integration.

Advanced traffic sequencing

Arriving aircraft are sequenced around eachother and around you! Traffic arriving on final will follow a sequencing algorithm to make sure planes are separated by accepted minimums. (this is currently a BETA feature.)

Advanced traffic sequencing

Advanced model matching

Airports have operators on them which you would expect. Multiple iterations of model-matching are implemented to have a fallback in case a livery for the airline and plane combination is not available.

Advanced model matching

Built fully in native C++

All code is written in C++ and contains some parts of optimized X86 assembly where appropriate to maximize performance and minimize stutters.

Built fully in native C++

Full feature list

FAQs

Find out about the product, plans and development. For support questions, please contact us through support.

What is Virtual Air Traffic?
Virtual Air Traffic is a real-world flight injection and airport operations system for X-Plane 12, designed to bring believable airline traffic, sequencing, and TCAS integration to your sim.
I saw plane X flying over Denmark, but in reallife it is already over Finland ?
Other traffic injection plugins project reallife traffic 1-on-1 into the sim. While this makes for ultra realistic ingame traffic (the plane is at the exact same position in-sim as it is in reallife) it makes it difficult for traffic sequencing to take place, especially around the player's position. Virtual Air Traffic knows the exact schedule of virtually all aircraft departing worldwide and simulates aircraft movements in our own 3d-space virtual environment. It's the Matrix all over again! Virtual Air Traffic simulates where the aircraft would be according to reallife departure times and even makes periodic corrections to those positions by tracking real-time flight data. It then injects aircraft close enough to the player in the Sim. When the plane is in the sim the plane becomes 'alive' and is tracked by the plugin's virtual pilot. The flight is then flown by the plugin until it reaches the gate.
Does VAT uses X-plane's AI system?
No, we do not. While that system is great, it does come with some limitations preventing us from doing what we want - and that is to support potentially thousands of ingame flights. VAT comes with it's own AI system flying the planes once in-game.
Is VAT complex to use?
No, it is most certainly not. One of the design principles is that the Plugin must be easy to use, while staying powerfull in its effect. Basically there is no setup required: just install the plugin and start your flight as you normally would. Give it a few seconds and the world will automatically fill with aircraft of all kinds of operators. For the switch-flippers out there we do have an ingame UI where traffic can be viewed through a departure and arrival board and where performance related tweaks can be configured. It is also recommended to setup the Simbrief integration here as it will allow runway usage to sync up with you pre-filed flightplan.
What are the system requirements?
This product is specifically written for Xplane-12 and supports Windows and MacOS. There are plans to make it compatible for both Mac and Linux users, but a specific timeframe has not yet been determined. Rendering loads of models and calculating realtime position movements for potentially thousands of planes can burn some CPU, so we recommend a modern CPU (Intel 12th generation or up or AMD AM5 and upwards sockets) to make full use of the plugin. Memory usage is kept to a minimum, but 32GB+ is still recommended to keep some room left for the sim as well.. ;)
Is VAT free of charge?
Yes! VirtualAirTraffic comes free of charge! You are free to donate through paypal (QR is in the plugin's menu windows) which helps support development and to keep the flight-schedules up-to-date.
Will it impact performance?
Rendering planes comes with a performance hit, but keeping things run smoothly is a core priority to us. VAT is built in native C++ with optimization work focused on minimizing stutters and keeping traffic smooth even in busy areas. You can adjust performance sliders through the plugin menu system.
Is VR supported?
Yes! VAT fully supports VR where planes, contrails and other models are fully visible in VR as well. The menu system is also accessible for VR users. Please note that aircraft labels are not visible in VR currently, due to a limitation in the X-plane windowing subsystem.
virtualairtraffic

Realistic aircraft traffic for X-Plane 12.
Built for performance and realism of airline traffic.

SUPPORT

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