Airport
“The air above us is not empty space. It is a highway.”
The Airport is a modern military and logistical facility featuring runways, hangars, control towers, and maintenance bays capable of supporting fixed-wing aircraft. With an Airport, a city gains the ability to base air units – fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance aircraft – projecting military power across vast distances. The Airport also enables the rebasing of air units between cities, creating a flexible aerial network across your empire.
Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | 80 Production |
| Maintenance | 2 gold/turn |
| Required Tech | Flight |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Special Requirements | None |
Effects
- Allows air unit basing in the city (maximum 3 air units per city).
- Enables rebasing of air units to and from this city.
Strategy
The Airport is essential infrastructure for any player entering the air age. Without Airports, you simply cannot deploy air units, making this building a hard prerequisite for aerial warfare. Build Airports in cities near the front lines to maximise the operational range of your fighters and bombers, and in rear cities to serve as staging bases for rebasing operations. The 3-unit cap per city means you will need multiple Airports to field a large air force – plan your Airport network accordingly, ensuring coverage across likely theatres of conflict. The 80 production cost and 2 gold maintenance make Airports expensive, so prioritise them in strategically located cities rather than building them everywhere.
Historical Background
Military aviation developed with remarkable speed in the early twentieth century. The Wright brothers’ first powered flight in 1903 was followed just eleven years later by the widespread use of aircraft in World War I for reconnaissance, bombing, and aerial combat. By World War II, air power had become decisive – the Battle of Britain in 1940 demonstrated that control of the skies could determine the outcome of an entire campaign. Purpose-built military airfields proliferated across every theatre of war, from the Pacific island strips carved out of jungle to the massive bomber bases of eastern England. The post-war era saw the development of jet-capable airports with longer runways, hardened shelters, and integrated radar networks that form the basis of modern air power projection.