Airport vs Hello Tower
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Airport
Take on the role of an airport manager and control air traffic by drawing paths for planes. Successfully land and depart aircraft to earn money, upgrade your airport, and unlock new stations. This game tests your multitasking skills and offers various levels and modes.
- Control airport traffic by drawing paths
- Guide airplanes for landing and departure
- Earn money to upgrade and open new stations
- Multiple levels with increasing difficulty
- Endless mode with leaderboards and achievements
- Day-night cycle with weather effects
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Play the role of airport manager and control the airport traffic. Be an airport control tower and guide airplanes simply by drawing paths and manage the chaos of the airport. Best way to Kill Free Time. This game also tests your brain's multitasking ability. Gameplay and features: Guide the airplanes towards the runway to land and serve them as required. Earn money by successfully departing airplanes on time and use the money to upgrade and open new stations. Lots of Levels with increasing difficulty and six endless mode levels with global leaderboards and many achievements to unlock. Rainy days and cloudy days with the day-night cycle.
Hello Tower
Experience realistic airport ground control with this simulation app. Manage aircraft movements, issue clearances, and handle emergencies across over 40 diverse airports. Progress from simple single-runway operations to complex hub airports.
- Airport ground maneuvering simulation
- Over 40 different airports
- Simplified and real-size airport versions
- Pushback, taxi, and take-off clearances
- Emergency handling
- Level-based progression
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Airport ground maneuvering simulation of more than 40 different airports including London Heathrow LHR, Philadelphia PHL, Miami Intl. MIA, Singapore, New York JFK, Las Vegas LAS, São Paulo GRU, Montreal YUL, Boston BOS, and many more. Different versions of airports included: - Play the simplified version, where the airport is scaled down to an easy playable experience. - Play the real thing. Here the whole airport is in real size displayed, where all your skills are required. Features - Give pushback, taxi, holding and take-off clearances. - Handle emergencies and try to release all flights on time in order to release the next level. From an easy single-runway operation at the beginning to demanding hub airports with multiple active runways where all your skills are required.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Airport at Free against Hello Tower's $2.99. Airport also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (438 vs 66). Hello Tower's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 5 months). On in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Airport is free to download; Hello Tower costs $2.99 up front. Airport sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Hello Tower sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Airport holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Airport has 438 ratings behind it against 66, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of Airport's written reviews are positive against 71% of Hello Tower's.
Airport ships an update every 5 months, Hello Tower every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Airport | Hello Tower |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (438 ratings) — better | 4.4 (66 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better | 70.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 438 — better | 66 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 412 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | mukesh patel | Sascha Trachsel |
Customer experience
Airport
Hello Tower
User reviews
Airport
From 438 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 😊 Highly addictive and fun gameplay
- ⏱️ Excellent time management mechanics
- 🧠 Great for stress relief and mental stimulation
- 📱 Works offline without internet required
- 🎮 Simple yet engaging mechanics
Room to improve
- 🐛 Level 32 is broken/endless
- 📢 Forced ads after every level
- 🔇 Mutes background music automatically
- 💰 Limited content without paying
- 🎮 Unclear level objectives/instructions
Hello Tower
From 66 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Realistic simulation
- 👍 Challenging gameplay
- 👍 Good graphics
- 👍 No ads
- 👍 Addictive and fun
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bugs and glitches
- 🐛 Unintuitive UI
- 🐛 Steep learning curve
- 🐛 Frequent game over on small mistakes
- 🐛 Lack of tutorial
Bugs and requests
Airport
Reported bugs
10 issues- Level 32 never ends - planes keep spawning infinitely
- Level 11 doesn't award stars despite meeting criteria
- Ghost plane appears and crashes into boarding bays
- Game crashes immediately on app startup
- Planes can land/takeoff from locked runways
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- Planes explode randomly causing money loss
- Level 36 has ghost plane issues
- Progress data disappears without explanation
- Unclear level completion targets
- Star rating not properly awarded
Requested features
10 requests- More levels and content
- Different airport variations
- Boat/port management version
- Additional terminal features (plane washing, etc.)
- Customizable terminal layout
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- Plane priority/classification guide
- More endless mode variations
- First class passengers and food services
- Better grammar in instructions
- Skip level option
Hello Tower
Reported bugs
37 issues- Flight freezing on runway holding and turns
- Aircraft getting stuck and blocking routes
- 30-second departure timer disappearing
- Aircraft crashing with held aircraft on taxiway
- Levels not unlocking
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- Game freezes/crashes, especially at Heathrow
- Separation logic errors
- Aircraft not selectable
- Game hangs/freezes after updates
- New UI is confusing and unreadable
- Sounds missing after update
- Focus on aircraft and readability worsened
- Aircraft symbols obscured by labels
- Tapping messages only selects aircraft once
- Parking spots shown as available when occupied
- Planes crossing paths and getting stuck
- Aircraft becoming 'ghosts' blocking routes
- Runway timer resets to zero before 30 seconds
- Departure separation timer sometimes fails to appear
- Recent updates have made the game fiddly and difficult
- UI is worse after recent updates
- Levels changed after recent updates
- Game becomes unplayable after updates
- Aircraft roll with extreme speed
- UI for iPhones is terrible
- Previous version was better
- Custom game mode is buggy
- Some airport orientations are off
- Ground radars not oriented to true north
- Cannot make aircraft move
- Cannot park landed aircraft
- Game ends with blocked runway when it's not
- Impossible timings leading to penalties
- Aircraft launching in both directions on the same runway simultaneously
- Departure slot timer bug
- Aircraft on final approach not being able to be directed away
- Aircraft on runway preventing others from crossing
Requested features
23 requests- Add more airports (US, European, Asian, Indian cities)
- Add an endless/sandbox mode
- Add AI voice recognition and ATC dialogues
- Implement a tutorial or walk-through
- Add a 'continue game' or save progress option
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- Add more realistic separation rules and traffic patterns
- Improve UI and controls (smaller buttons, better organization)
- Add option to designate departure/arrival runways
- Add rejected takeoffs, emergency vehicles, emergency inbounds
- Add ability to call a go-around
- Allow custom stop points
- Add more sounds for aircraft
- Add a smaller tutorial airport
- Add day/night environment switching
- Add towing/pushback option for stuck aircraft
- Add Chinese language support
- Add more content/levels, possibly a sequel
- Improve graphics and aircraft dynamics
- Add music and better menu
- Add indication when flights actually depart
- Add beacon lights to taxiway hotspots
- Add more realistic taxi speeds and turnaround times
- Add runway vacation instructions
In-app purchases
Airport
- Airport Control adFree$1.99
Hello Tower
- Hello Tower Test$0.99
- Airport Pack$0.99
- Sandbox test2 variants$0.99
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- Airport Pack$1.99
