Comparison

On Instruments vs Airline Manager

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

On Instruments

Hone your instrument flying skills with this simulator. Navigate various courses by precisely managing heading, altitude, and airspeed. Features multiple difficulty levels, including courses with instrument failures.

Highlights
  • Instrument scanning practice
  • Multiple course difficulties
  • Heading, altitude, airspeed control
  • Attitude Indicator failure simulation
  • Score maximization
Features
Read full description

Practice and hone your IFR instrument scanning skills while playing a variety of courses “On Instruments”. Each course includes a series of heading, altitude, and airspeed changes that must be flown with precision to maximize your score. Courses are divided into Easy, Intermediate and Expert Levels. Additional courses without course guidance are available, as well as a series with an Attitude Indicator failure.

About

Airline Manager

Build and manage your own global airline network by purchasing realistic aircraft and establishing routes between thousands of real airports. Optimize operations, manage staff, and compete with other players to become the top airline CEO. Choose between easy or realism game modes for a tailored experience.

Highlights
  • Track flights live on interactive map
  • Schedule plane repairs and maintenance
  • Customize aircraft seat configuration
  • Buy fuel and CO2 quotas
  • Manage staff
  • Make investments and grow stock values
  • Create marketing campaigns
  • Build or join alliances
Features
Read full description

Connect the world and build your own logistic airline network. Buy realistic airplanes and create connections between 4000 real airports. Prove yourself in one of the best free airline manager games in the world, and beat your friends and other real life managers to top the leaderboards. Game Features: - Track your flights live on the interactive map - Schedule plane repairs and maintenance - Customize your aircraft seat configuration - Buy fuel and CO2 quotas at the right time to optimize profits - Manage your staff to keep them happy - Make investments and grow stock values - Create marketing campaigns to gain popularity - Build or join alliances Create & Manage Your Own Airline Strategy In this airline management game you have the possibility to become bigger than real businesses such as United Airlines, Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, American Airlines and Ryanair. Optimize your flight routes to transport cargo and passengers in the most efficient way. Select Your Play Style Choose between 2 game modes: EASY or REALISM. Go the easy way to lower prices and increase profits or challenge yourself with realism where you have to consider the smaller details such as the length of airport landing strips. In Airline Manager you get in-depth tactical features like being able to buy more than 360 different real plane types and fly to over 4000 real airports all over the world. Become the CEO of an airborne cargo and passenger empire today! — This mobile game is ad-free, unless you enable ads to earn rewards. Note: An online internet-connection is required to play this game. Please see the Trophy Games Privacy Statement to know more about your data protection at: https://trophy-games.com/legal/privacy-statement

Screenshots

On Instruments4 screens
Airline Manager4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Airline Manager at Free against On Instruments's $2.99. Airline Manager also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (5.6K vs 9). On Instruments's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 14) and ads (none vs shown). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Airline Manager is free to download; On Instruments costs $2.99 up front. Airline Manager sells 13 one-off in-app purchases. On Instruments asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Airline Manager holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Airline Manager has 5.6K ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of On Instruments's written reviews are positive against 52% of Airline Manager's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

On Instruments ships an update every 8 months, Airline Manager every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 1 level
On Instruments versus Airline Manager: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOn InstrumentsAirline Manager
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.4 (9 ratings)4.8 (5.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews — better51.9% of reviews
Number of ratings95.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB79 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperAircraft Training Aids, LLCXombat ApS

Customer experience

On Instruments

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%

Airline Manager

All ratings4,890 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral1.8%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews931 reviews
Positive51.9%
Neutral12.0%
Negative36.1%

Bugs and requests

On Instruments

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Airline Manager

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • White screen on launch
  • Maintenance issues not resolving
  • In-app purchases not delivering content
  • Account resets causing data loss
  • Routing and airport selection problems
Show 1 more
  • Inconsistent fuel and CO2 pricing

Requested features

10 requests
  • Add more game modes
  • Implement a sandbox mode
  • Improve tutorial and onboarding
  • Allow changing difficulty settings
  • Add more aircraft models
Show 5 more
  • Introduce a used aircraft market
  • Enable custom airline liveries
  • Improve alliance features and functionality
  • Add more financial management tools
  • Implement automatic flight scheduling

In-app purchases

None

On Instruments

No in-app purchases

13 purchases

Airline Manager

One-time13
  • Special Deal$0.99
  • $ 10,000,000$1.99
  • Small Cash & Points Pack$3.99
Show 10 more
  • $ 80,000,000$5.99
  • $ 40,000,000$5.99
  • Small Cash & Points Pack$5.99
  • Special Deal$7.99
  • $ 100,000,000$10.99
  • $ 200,000,000$11.99
  • Minor Cash & Points Pack$11.99
  • 6,000 Points$20.99
  • Special Deal$20.99
  • Medium Cash & Points Pack$24.99

Questions

Is On Instruments free?
On Instruments costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Airline Manager free?
Airline Manager is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, On Instruments or Airline Manager?
Airline Manager is rated higher. On Instruments averages 4.4 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Airline Manager averages 4.8 from 5.6K ratings.
Do On Instruments or Airline Manager have ads?
Airline Manager shows ads; On Instruments does not.
Which is updated more often, On Instruments or Airline Manager?
On Instruments ships an update every 8 months, and Airline Manager every 3 weeks. Most recently, On Instruments was updated on October 24, 2026 and Airline Manager on October 31, 2026.

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