LXGB – Gibraltar International Airport

A Little Background

Commercial, Military, and maybe not “Extreme”

Gibraltar airport is a single runway airport that would likely not exist if it were not for the military, landfill technologies, rock blasting, and the need for a strategic location to fly war planes to and from.

A survey of the internet provides us some background from Gibraltar Terminal, Andalucia Gibraltar History and, of course, Wikipedia. One of the most notable features that goes beyond the scope of this review is that the development of the airport has been severely impacted by political disagreements between the governments of the UK, Spain, and Gibraltar itself that, at one time, resulted in Spain prohibiting flights over Spanish soil airspace and trying to keep Gibraltar from being included in EU aviation measures.

Thus, the military airstrip known as RAF North Front that was built by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy in 1939 did not become a fully operational international airport until the signing of the Córdoba Accord on 18 September 2006. Prior to that, flights from Gibraltar were limited to destinations in England.

The airport was built on the Gibraltar in the early days of World War Two on the site of a horse racing track. It was initially an emergency airfield for southern Europe and north Africa at a time when Gibraltar was a major British naval base. A landing strip was constructed in 1940 then, between 1942 and 1943, the runway was extended by reclaiming land from the Bay of Gibraltar using material furnished by tunnel digging activity in the Rock. The first passenger terminal was constructed in 1958 or 1959.

There are a variety of different reports about terminal construction/modifications. Some indicate work done in the 1970’s and 1980’s while others mention only refurbishments completed in the 1990’s. The reports do agree that the current terminal was opened in 2011/2012 with the old being demolished in 2014. Plans to build a terminal on the Spanish side of the border were scuttled in a political dispute.

The current terminal is designed to accommodate one million passengers per year and allows passengers to depart from both the Spanish and Gibraltar sides of the border. Wikipedia lists the following statistics for 2024: 424,386 passengers and 3,628 movements.

The airport is owned by the UK Ministry of Defence and operated as RAF Gibraltar. The civilian operations at LXGB the terminal is owned and operated by Gibraltar Airport Terminal Ltd. Which is a Gibraltar Government owned company, and NATS Holdings Ltd., provides the air traffic control services. Major airline operators include EasyJet and British Airways.

Conflicting Reports

Another interesting feature of an internet search for information is the disparity of that information with different dates being reported for the airport’s origination, the construction of the terminal, and reports that the tunnel under the runway remains a stalled project in spite of the official report that it opened in 2023. There are also conflicting reports about how dangerous it is to land at Gibraltar.

While there are some unique aspects to the layout and configuration of Gibraltar airport, the claims of it being one of the most dangerous airports in the world appear to be highly inaccurate. You can review these two links for additional information on this subject if you choose. The first is s statement from Gibraltar Air Terminal, the owner/operator of the terminal at the airport. The second is from a well informed individual responding to an inquiry on TripAdvisor that will give you an idea of from where the misinformation originates.

One of the reasons for citing the airport as dangerous is a roadway crossing the runway. That roadway is now open only for pedestrians, bicycles, and scooters. This link, will give you information about the Kingsway, a tunnel that routes vehicle traffic under the runway and opened on 31 March 2023. The other cited issues for the airport are low visibility, frequent turbulent air coming off the Rock during winter months, and shorter runway length although it is long enough to accommodate a 747.

An additional oft repeated claim that pilots require special training to fly into Gibraltar airport are not consistent.

While there are no specific qualifications or certifications exclusively required for landing in Gibraltar, pilots must meet the standard licensing and training requirements mandated by international aviation authorities. However, it is worth noting that many airlines and aviation organizations impose additional internal requirements for their pilots to operate at Gibraltar’s airport. These may include certain minimum flight hours, extensive training on challenging approaches, or even simulator sessions dedicated to Gibraltar landings.

Another report from the same website, states only captains are permitted to land because Gibraltar is a category C airport. From this website, we get the following information about category C airports:

Category C airports require specific crew and pilot training as they have unusual and often stunning approaches. Pilots may have to consider weather conditions and aircraft performance and are required to have passed specific and specialised training courses which can include ground training, simulator and airborne. And this about Gibraltar specifically:

Performance-limited landing and take-off weights due to short runway. Abnormal wind effects, turbulence and wind shear due to “rock”. Critical, non-standard visual approaches due to proximity of terrain.

As sorting these confusing reports about both the history of the airport and pilot operations is well beyond the scope of this review, we will curtail the introductory material here and move on to the model review.

Published Features

Here is the list of features that you will find on Aerosoft’s website for Skyline Simulations rendition of LXGB, Gibraltar International Airport:
– UHD custom textures using the latest painting techniques
– XPLCity with custom 3D houses around the city
– Super-detailed 3D modelling
– PBR materials on every building
– Stop traffic with Landing Lights on Script
– Detailed HD ground with PBR and decals
– Custom 3D vegetation blends with orthophotos
– FSEco-subsystem
– XPEco-subsystem
– Ultra-high-resolution custom orthoimagery for the airport
– Thousands of 3D custom static objects
– Accurate Island and Cities using original OSM data
– Amazing and detailed island night textures
– Ground traffic
– Animated Radar and Boats
– Animated road traffic crossing the runway for takeoff and landing

The Rock

It is nearly impossible to focus on other aspects of this scenery package without first noticing the scenery dominating Rock of Gibraltar itself. The rock is one of the two Pillars of Hercules, a name applied by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History. The rock’s highest point at it’s southern end is 1398 feet above sea level. It contains about 34 miles of man-made tunnels, and is responsible for the air and wind currents that create the biggest challenge for pilots using the airport.

The history of the tunnels is quite interesting. Of particular note is the Stay Behind Cave that was so secret that it was a mere post WW2 rumor that generated a search to prove its existence. That proof did not come until the 1990s. You can read more about it here if you’d like.

Features that you will find represented on the rock include the Moorish Castle, the Europa Point Lighthouse, the Caleta Hotel that was demolished in 2022 after fifty-seven years of operation, Willis’s Plateau with Princess Royal’s Princess Caroline’s, Princess Anne’s, and Princess Amelia’s Batteries, the Rock Gun Battery represented by a single dome radar at the north summit overlooking the airport, and an operating chair lift that rises to the summit around the mid-point of the Rock.

The developers have also made a major effort at adding some life to the rock by covering most of it with a custom texture simulating the rough limestone surface. Orthoimagery and custom foliage are utilized to represent those areas of the Rock not covered in the custom texture.

Unfortunately, the method in which X-Plane drapes imagery over objects creates a less than desirable effect especially around the lighthouse and along the southwest side of the Rock. It would be a plus for the scenery had the developers extended their autogen coverage to the populated base of the Rock on the west facing segment.

The Airport

Introduction
While information about Gibraltar’s history and how much of an extreme airport it is can be difficult to find and do not always agree, pilot information for the airport is pretty complete and readily obtained at no cost from this link. Select the “LXGB Gibraltar Combined.pdf” from this page. This file includes all the procedures and airport charts for LXGB. Pilots also need to be familiar with the RAF Gibraltar Defence Aerodrome Manual found here.

Some of the facility information obtained from these charts includes radio frequencies for Operations at 327.9, Radar at 122.80, Talkdown at 130.4, and Tower at 131.20. Chart information regarding the runway indicates a single runway designated 09/27 that is 5833 feet in length and 148 feet in width. The current course heading for the runway is 088° for runway 09 and 268° for runway 27. The runway elevation is noted as 11 feet ASL for both directions. The threshold for 09 is 300 ft. from the red extremity lights and, for 27, is 200 ft. from the lights.

The airport, aside from the runway, has the Civil apron which is the main apron near the terminal where the gates are found, the North apron, and the South apron which is pretty much the military apron used by the Royal Air Force. Each apron is rendered in our model and we shall be examining each one separately.

The Tarmac
Regardless of which runway you approach, you are greeted with the same lighting scheme including threshold lights, center line lights, edge lighting and PAPI implementations on both the left and right sides of the runway. The one difference is that runway 09 has runway end strobe lights to either side.

The runway and the tarmac to either side are visually satisfying due, in part, to textures that are of a high enough resolution to hold up to ground level and low angle views. The appearances changes appropriately with the angle of direct lighting. The apron textures are also constructed with a detailed texture and maintain a believable visual representation. The one drawback is that none of the textures are responsive to the wetness conditions set in the weather dialog of the simulator and some are always dry while others seem to be always wet.

Painted markings are detailed, thorough, and accurately presented although, at times, some of the lines can be difficult to see. Gate markings include the stop guides correctly labeled for various aircraft sizes. The presence of the alternate color concrete barriers around the airport is a nice detail and the amount and type of apron clutter seems appropriate for this airport. The North Apron has not been equipped with any type of aircraft stand so X-Plane and third party AI aircraft add-ons will not populate this area with aircraft which reduces the active aura of the airport.

Lastly, before moving on to the modeled airport structures, is a consideration of the animated traffic that is included in the package description. That description tells us we can expect animated ground traffic, boats, and traffic crossing the runway. I did not see any animated ground traffic at the airport and there is no pushback service available at the airport which is a major inconvenience for commercial airliner pilots.

Although not exactly a feature found within the confines of the tarmac, animated boats were observed operating near the docks. There is vehicular traffic crossing the runway, which, as we have seen above, is no longer occurring at the airport. The traffic will stop for takeoffs and landings when your aircraft has its landing lights on. While a rotating beacon was observed atop a high tower, animated radar was not seen.

Facilities
As mentioned earlier, Gibraltar has three apron areas. Two of those three possess facility buildings with a few ancillary buildings constructed to the east of the North Apron. The Civil Apron is surrounded by the airport terminal, the fire station, and ATC. The terminal building is a masterful construction with detailed modeling inside and out. This modern style building is dominated by the floor to roof glass walls surrounding the passenger entrance, concourse, departure lounge, and the second floor lounge.

The glass material possesses a nice combination of transparency and reflectivity from both the exterior and interior views. Outdoor ambient light effects the interior which is nicely lit in the absence of outdoor lighting and spills out onto the surrounding ground as would be expected. There are many modeled airports where a detailed interior of the terminal makes little difference to the pilot’s experience of the airport from the tarmac.

Gibraltar, with its abundance of glass, benefits greatly from the developers taking the time to accurately render the glass and provide the interior that is very visible from the tarmac. The model does not overlook the myriad number of roof lights utilized by the building.

Around the terminal in the Civil Apron vicinity are the general aviation terminal utilized by business, charter, and recreational flights, the ATC building and control tower, and the fire station. Several other support buildings and border crossing points are also presented by the developers. Details are not overlooked and the control tower has a partially modeled interior. All of the ancillary structures have textures that respond to the changing light conditions and create shading in a way that provides visual depth to their appearances. The only odd thing in this area is that some of the buildings or sections of buildings seem to possess a very reflective surface.

The area to the north and east of the North Apron features a number of smaller support structures that might be storage areas or dedicated to freight operations at the airport. The fuel dump is found adjacent to the runway to the west of the ATC building across Winston Churchill Avenue. The inclusion of these smaller facilities along with the multiple antenna structures in the area adds a sense of completeness to the airport model and enhances the flight experience approaching the airport.

The North Apron is home to the Royal Airforce and its facilities are represented here with a model of the main building a hangar and two ancillary warehouse style structures. As with other buildings modeled at the airport, the textures are very good and visual accuracy is maintained. Each building is nicely detailed with the only problem being that the connection between the main building and the building to its left is absent.

Surrounding Area

The airport and the surrounding area are built upon high resolution satellite imagery textures or orthoimagery which is present in almost all payware airport projects for X-Plane. The application of this terrain in this airport highlights the benefits and drawbacks of satellite imagery that has been corrected for terrain and camera angles to provide a uniform scale. The use of high resolution imagery is applauded since it holds the realistic impact of photography at higher and lower altitudes.

It still does not bear up for low and slow flying, it introduces bizarre anomalies on sloped terrain, and it is comical when placed custom objects do not line up properly with the underlying photography. These issues are not specific to the Gibraltar Airport package. Some developers have addressed this by allowing the orthoimagery to be turned on or off according to user preference. It would be a plus for this package if that were done here.

The developers have replaced X-Plane’s animated 3D foliage with their custom 2D foliage. While the foliage is pleasant enough, it cannot compare to the default with its lack of animation and inability to reflect seasonal changes.

Skyline Simulations has included many custom modeled objects throughout the region and have also implemented some custom autogen models. Here, once again, the texturing and details of the buildings and the autogen material are very well done with the material interaction with the environment being handled adroitly. These models add a lot to the environment even from higher altitudes.

There are places where the developers should have made better use of exclusion areas since their autogen intersects with the default autogen in a very awkward manner and some of their custom models are ruined by autogen encroachment. This is a very minor issue, however, since it is significantly off airport where this happens and is likely to be noticed only by the rotary craft pilots searching streets for fugitives.

Summary

Skyline Simulations has modeled a well thought out and detailed rendition of Gibraltar International Airport. While no scenery package is ever perfect, Gibraltar has far more going for it than working against it with only one major problem in the whole package. That problem, as mentioned, is the absence of ground service vehicles most noticeably the pushback tractor.

This will leave commercial airliners needing to reverse engines to back out of gate slots. Gibraltar could also benefit from a better integration with the weather effects and 3D foliage that Laminar incorporated into X-Plane 12.

Those mentions aside, Gibraltar is a very nice piece of eye candy that makes a challenging airport accessible to X-Plane virtual pilots. It will be interesting, over time, to see how well “The Rock” interacts with the X-Plane weather model to create the challenging types of approaches LXGB is noted for.

While practising those approaches, the virtual pilot can enjoy the detailed and well constructed airport facility and perhaps even take a ride up the active gondola between flights.

Overall, Gibraltar falls into the recommended category of X-Plane add-ons. When you are interested in this airport add-on, just check out the dedicated Aerosoft, SimMarket or X-Plane.Org store pages.

Until next time, cheers and blue skies!

Feel free to contact me if you’ve got additional questions related to this impression. You can reach me via email Angelique.van.Campen@gmail.com or to Angelique@X-Plained.com.

With Greetings,
Paul Beckwith

 

 

Add-on:	Payware Aerosoft X-Plane 12 Gibraltar Airport (LXGB)
Publisher | Developer:	Aerosoft / SimMarket / X-Plane.Org | Skyline Simulations
Description:	Highly realistic representation of Gibraltar Airport LXGB
Software Source / Size:	Download / Approximately 7.88GB (download)
Reviewed by:	Paul Beckwith
Published:	May 26th 2025
Hardware specifications:	- i9-13980HX - 32 GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM - Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB GDDR6X - X-56 Flight System - Logitech G Rudder Pedals
Software specifications:	- Windows 11 Pro - X-Plane 12.1.3 r2 (64 Bit)