Airline Tycoon is a managerial simulation in which the player is the
manager of an airline company. This game features six missions (plus a
tutorial) in which the player needs to fulfil different goals to win. Of
course it offers all usual options for business games: fire and hire
personnel, taking commissions (while considering the capabilities of the own
fleet) or buying, repairing and upgrading airplanes. Every day has two
recurring activities: receiving feedback for the past work and planning the
routes for every plane. This can be a challenging task because the 48 airports
along with an unlimited number of planes (18 different models) give a lot of
opportunities. The player also has the option to cooperate with one of the
three AI competitors.

Besides the usual office and statistics screen this game also features an
animated airport view in which the player receives optical feedback, e.g.
potential customers which think about the stuff they like and dislike. On this
screen the player has direct control over his character and moves him to the
places where the above mentioned actions are performed.