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

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

August 24, 2026 - New BETA release: 0.7.4.
Beta 0.7.4 is released!. To download, create an account on the portal page and find the link in your portal page!

  • Fixed an issue where some airports were spawning less planes than intended.
  • Fixed audio issue causing some cracks and pops.

August 23, 2026 - New BETA release: 0.7.3.
Beta 0.7.3 is released!

  • Made improvements to the taxi routing logic to prevent planes from getting stuck. This is work in progress and will be further refined in future versions (when needed).
  • Added the ability to manually choose runway use for specific airports in the settings (airport tab).
  • VAT will now make better use of airport specific gate assignments for operators.
  • Better handling of automatic runway assignments and adherance to runway usage restrictions on airports.
  • Fixed an issue with planes failing to land on distant airports(relative to the camera) due to XP groundprobes not being available.
  • Fixed an issue preventing planes from getting takeoff clearance when another plane was parked in line with the runway. (for example KMIA: N24 and N26)
  • Fixed an issue where planes taking off did not align correctly with the runway.
  • Fixed a rare crash bug in the airport maintenance routine.
  • Fixed a (small) memory leak in the custom scenery APT parser.

August 21, 2026 - New BETA release: 0.7.2.
Beta 0.7.2 is released!.

  • Performance optimizations.
  • Fix for some clipping planes at gates and/or parking positions.
  • X-CSL path is now configurable from settings. We now also show if they are beeing used.
  • Fixed some edgecases where planes would pushback into a less-then-obvious direction.
  • Added a filter to future block X-CSL models of airlines who no longer fly particular types.
  • Added support for custom airports and their specific WED (APT) files. For now, routing will still be done on X-Plane's default APT, as custom scenery not always fill in taxi routes correctly. Gatepositions will be used from the custom WED.
  • Fix: Planes would automatically stop and never continue taxiing when you got too close from behind, blocking your way.
  • Decreased the waiting time before lineup after a previous departure, speeding things up a bit on busy airports.

August 19, 2026 - New BETA release: 0.7.0.
Beta 0.7.0 is released!.

  • Preliminary support for X-CSL models! VAT will autodetect when present in /Resources/plugins/IVAO_CSL/CSL/ and use them for all traffic. X-CSL models are preferred and will fallback to Bluebell models if both are present. You can set the X-CSL dir in the .ini file manually.
  • Fixes for planes with a landing clearance while the runway is occupied.
  • Fixes in taxi logic to prevent planes from getting stuck on the runway.
  • Added a delete button in the 'nearby' tab to remove a plane from the sim. This is useful in cases planes are stuck or otherwise misbehaving.
  • Warning popup when another plugin claims traffic (and tcas override control) causing a potential conflict.
  • Various stability and performance fixes.

August 16, 2026 - New BETA release: 0.6.6.
Beta 0.6.6 is out.

  • Fix compatability error 'The specified procedure could not be found.' This prevented the plugin from loading correctly on some systems.
  • Notification popup added when a new plugin version is available.
  • Notification popup added reminding new users to set up their portal account in the plugin UI.
  • Tweaked taxiing speed for better realism.
  • Fixes for incorrect interface scaling on non-default xplane UI scale settings.
  • Added bindable keycommands to toggle the plugin UI and plane labels on/off (find them in the X-Plane keyboard/joystick settings as 'Virtual Air Traffic

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 only. 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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