Ultimate X-Plane 12 Aéroport Marseille-Provence

Introduction

It is not that far from my hometown, Prayssac Lot, and therefore, it is an interesting idea to check out the Aerosoft-released airport from Marseille Provence. It is interesting because SFD (ShortFinalDesign) was one of the developers. SFD, or the freeware developer known as MisterX6, is an outstanding airport/scenery developer.

It is not a massive airport with complex terminals and taxiways. Instead, it has a basic terminal with a few taxiways. However, the buildings, including the terminal with the arrivals and departures, are all modelled with great detail. Besides what’s all modelled within the airport fences, a lot is modelled around the airport. I must say, it will be an interesting review.

The dedicated Aerosoft webpage offers the following information on the modelled airport: “Marseille XP includes a custom replica of the LFML Marseille airport, extensively created to provide an authentic flight experience. In collaboration with ShortFinalDesign, FSS AG has brought another important airport to the X-Plane world.
National and international destinations can be explored from Marseille. As an important hub for air traffic in the south of France, the airport offers numerous connections to destinations in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Marseille XP provides the perfect foundation for an exciting flying experience, whether for short domestic flights or long-haul travel.”

So, let’s check it out!

The Real Marseille Provence

Marseille Provence Airport (LFML) is an international airport located 27 km (17 miles) northwest of Marseille, on the territory of Marignane, both communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône département in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of France.

Formerly known as Marseille–Marignane Airport, it has been managed since 1934 by the Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the 1920s and 1930s, Marignane was one of France’s main operation points for flying boats. In September 2006, the airport opened its new terminal MP2 for budget airlines. 2013, the airport expanded its shopping and dining options with 30 new shops and restaurants. It is the fifth busiest French airport in passenger traffic and the third largest in cargo traffic.

In 2012, the airport achieved the fourth-highest European passenger traffic growth, at 12.7 per cent, with 8,295,479 passengers. Marseille Provence Airport serves as a city of focus for Air France. In the summer of 2013, the airport served 132 regular destinations, the most extensive offer in France after the Parisian airports. (Source Wikipedia)

Installation, Documentation and Comparison

This is not a complicated section. The airport is installed via the Aerosoft One app, and last but not least, the add-on software Stairport SAM Suite 3.1.1.0 is installed, too. That’s it.

The package seems to be a corporation between Aerosoft, FSS AG, and ShortFinalDesign. I had hoped that a manual was included, but I couldn’t find anything. A manual for an airport isn’t usually needed, but some background information, charts, or other papers are welcome.

Default X-Plane 12 LFML versus the Aerosoft add-on
There is a considerable difference between the default X-Plane 12 airport and the Aerosoft add-on. But saying is not enough. Proofing is what matters. Therefore, I compared some screenshots from the default LFML with the one from Aerosoft. I could say “wow”, “amazing”, or “stunning”, but that’s usually always the case with these comparisons. Besides that, the modelled airport is, behind the fences, of quality design and modelling; it is also the case outside the fences and all the included photo-real tiles. Overall, it is worth your investment. Let us check it out, right?

The Aerosoft add-on is on the left, and the default X-Plane 12 LFML is on the right. The default LFML is not bad since many things are included, but it’s far from what it is. That said, when you are a fan of flying or hopping from one European city to another, it seems like a lovely replica of LFML.

Arriving at the Airport

General Impression
This title could mean “arriving by/with an airliner or car.” No, not this time. I am driving on highway A7 in a southern direction. Then, I take the D9 and the D20 while arriving at the terminals. After I parked my car, it was time to look at what was all modelled outside the airport fence. And I can tell you, there’s a lot to see.

Good, LFML has a lot of car parking facilities. As far as I can see, they are well-modelled and full of cars. It is also a green airport, meaning there are many trees, logically, the 3D trees from X-Plane 12. Besides this, the area offers lots of buildings and offices from known companies like Airbus Helicopters. I noticed the presence of a couple of “regular” houses, which I think isn’t correct, but no, it is accurate. When you look via Google Maps to LFML, you will be surprised that there are regular houses with red roofs at several places.

Ok, the houses are probably in X-Plane, different from the real ones. Still, it turns out that the industrial area is a mix of essential buildings, dedicated realistic offices and, thus, old-fashioned houses.

The used photo-real ground tiles are not all sharp and are a bit blurry. You can see what it is or supposed to be, but not more than that. A clear difference is, for example, the modelled 3D car parking with own objects and lines and those based on photo-real tiles.

Some ground tiles near the terminal are blurry, but OK, I can live with that. I must admit that when we look at an airport, we are primarily interested in the overall quality of the apron, gates, runway, taxiways, and the ground tiles in between. And that is also true for this replica of LFML.

I was amazed when I walked from the car park to the terminal. A small note regarding some benches in front of the terminal: they are floating. Aerosoft has been informed about this, as well as some floating buildings. Action will be taken soon and implemented in a new update.

Before moving to the terminals and apron, one last item is the mix between X-Plane default roads and the place where a photo-real tile begins. There’s no traffic at the tiles, so traffic suddenly disappears when following a car. That is normal behaviour since we see this often, but a bit weird too.

I already mentioned the houses in the middle of the industrial area but also spotted a solar panel park. Great news, however, it is no more than just a ground texture tile. Perhaps it was an idea to model real solar object panels?

Then, there are car parking areas at Hertz, AVIS, and Europcar. All are perfectly modelled with identical buildings. However, the car areas are covered with photo-real tiles with photo cars on them. Ok, never mind. That some areas are pure photo-real tiles also has to do with reducing the amount of polygons and, thus, using useless eye-catching objects.

These screenshots are just an extract of what can be found at LFML. Our fellow simmers are most likely more interested in the other side of the airport—the side with the aprons, gates, hangars, taxiways, and runways. That said, let us move on to that part.

Passenger Terminals and Gates

I tried to get the best airport overview: the control tower. It gives a beautiful overview of the terminals, aprons, taxiways, and runways and a magnificent look at how their roofs are modelled precisely. As a side note, the ground textures around the large control tower are weird. It looks like the modelled apron has been forgotten or something like that. Hopefully, the Aerosoft development team will know a solution to this.

Although terminal 2 is much smaller and has no movable jetways, it is still impressive. And that’s not all. In the first instance, it looks all new with no weathering, but that’s not true. The front sides of terminal 1 are weathered. There are a lot of spots to make it realistic. It is incredible when you look more closely at how all the objects on the roofs are made—razor-sharp and as realistic as possible. A small note regarding the interior of terminal 1; the inside is not modelled.

Terminal 1 is divided into A and B and stretches out to the far end of the apron. This results in many gates with many jetways, all controlled via SAM. The gates extend from the terminal, and most are split into two jetways. Some have only one jetway. But then, the way it looks compared to real photos is fantastic. Comparing the control tower gives excellent results. You can discuss the lighting quality of the actual image, but it is done very well.

In case you missed that, the small insert is the real photo.

Looking a bit closer to terminal 2, which is a lower building with no gates but with parking positions marked on the apron, but neither less, it is too nicely modelled with an eye for details. And let us not forget all the ground equipment spread over the apron. A lot has been added, but it is more or less organised positions. I say “more or less” on purpose since I have never seen an apron with organised ground equipment.

Further on, cars, fuel trucks, and baggage loaders drive around the airport. Add to this World Traffic, and you’re looking for a fully operational airport. One note: don’t expect to see many aircraft arriving or departing. LFML is not a small airport, but it can happen that you hardly see any other AI WT3 aircraft.

Apron and Markings

There are many markings, not only at the aprons but also on the taxiway crossings. The only way to determine if that is all according to the actual airport is to check it with official ground charts from LFML. The result is impressive. See for yourself in the following screenshot, which shows a screenshot of the Aerosoft LFML versus a ground map of LFML.

Besides these markings, there is much more, like taxi signs, takeoff signs, lights, and what else can be expected in an airport like LFML. These signs and lights are there but are more challenging to check. However, looking at all the other candy-eye details, I think these signs are actual.

I am satisfied with a slightly weathered look for the concrete or tarmac on the aprons and taxiways. The large aprons along terminals 1 and 2 have many dirty spots where the aircraft are parked, so that’s realistic. The taxiways seem new, with a few messy spots from the tyres, but I am OK with that.

And then you have got the area between the taxiways and runways. These are filled with ortho-texture tiles, thus ground simulation “flat grass”. But does it change with the season, and is there any season on the LFML? The “flat grass” texture tiles at the airport won’t change of course, with the season since it is a photo image. And since there’s no 3D grass, we don’t see any change at the airport “behind the fences” except for the area outside. You will see many trees in the car parking areas, which will change with the season.

Taking off from runway 13L, the longest of the two, it’s for such a small airport, a long trip to the beginning, which lies in the Etang de Berre, an internal lake. This is nicely modelled with an eye for the many details visible along the taxiway. Just before approaching the shoreline, passengers will see the cargo area with offices from DHL and UPS and the Aeroclub Marseille on the right-hand side. The apron is filled with private jets, GA, or DHL aircraft. If the other parking locations are full, this apron area offers additional spaces for long-parking aircraft or overnight, whenever needed.

Once your aircraft has turned on runway 13L and is ready for takeoff, you will see on the right-hand side the shorter 13R runway and several hangers, which are from a distance well modelled. When I could jump out of the aircraft and check quickly the look and feel of the hangars, I would do it. He, what the heck. Let us have a quick look at this hangar area.

Hangars and Helicopters

Along runway 13R-31L
According to Google Maps, the hangars belonging to Electronique Maintenance Aviation and Sabena Technics MRS are situated along runway 13R-31L. When close by, I can confirm what I saw from a distance. They are as accurate as I had hoped for. All tiny details are modelled, all equipment you expect in the vicinity of hangars is there, and the aprons in front of them are well done, too.

The technical area, besides the hangars, is clean. Clean means there’s not much more to see: a couple of trees, aprons, and ground equipment. That’s it, and that’s also the border of the LFML airport scenery. Next, we have a look at the other side of runway 13L-31R.

Along runway 31L-13R
We have already seen part of this area, the cargo area with its additional parking locations, terminals, and aprons. Now, it is time to check out the General Aviation and helicopter areas. The areas are both clean with hardly any ground equipment, and since I use World Traffic 3, there is currently no GA aircraft, which is the same for the helicopters. The buildings, offices, and hangars are modelled in a way related to the real ones, but the buildings and hangars in the helicopter area are really good.

You can clearly see that it belongs partly to the Eurocopter and Airbus Helicopter divisions. Because there’s nothing on the aprons, it is a bit too clean. As we have seen at the passenger terminals 1 and 2, these aprons are provided with the necessary ground markings.

Summary

It is always good to have such airports along the route—oops, along your flight. They are not too big, and it is easy to fly in and out. They don’t have a huge taxiway system or complicated terminals, although ShortFinalDesign did a great job modelling all these dedicated Marseille Provence airport buildings, hangars, offices, and so on.

According to the dedicated Aerosoft store page, FSS AG also contributed to the development of LFML; however, after I consulted them, they informed me that they didn’t do anything. That leads me to the conclusion that the Aerosoft development team did the rest of the development.

The overall airport design is well done, although a few small issues will hopefully be solved soon. This has already been confirmed by the Aerosoft development team so an update for this airport will follow in time.

The airport where you arrive and depart is well-made and almost perfectly crafted to give the feeling that you have landed in the Mediterranean.

More information about Aerosoft’s Marseille-Provence LFML can be found at the dedicated Aerosoft store page or via the simMarket website.

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,
Angelique van Campen

 

 

Add-on:	Payware Aerosoft Marseille Provence Airport for X-Plane 12
Publisher | Developer:	Aerosoft / simMarket | Aerosoft
Description:	Highly realistic representation of Marseille Provence Airport
Software Source / Size:	Download / Approximately 2,92 Gb (unzipped)
Reviewed by:	Angelique van Campen
Published:	April 10th 2025
Hardware:	- iMac Pro - Intel 3GHz Intel Xeon W / 4.5Ghz - Radeon Pro Vega 64 16368 MB - 64 GB 2666 MHz DDR4 - 1 internal 1TB SSD (Bootcamp Windows 11) - 1 external 2TB LaCie Rugged Pro SSD (Sonoma 14.x) - Thrustmaster TCA Captain Pack Airbus Edition - Honeycomb Alpha Flight Controls - Honeycomb Bravo Throttle Quadrant
Software:	- macOS Sequoia (15.3.2) - X-Plane 12.1.4r3