About Headwinds

Headwinds is a free, browser-based multiplayer airline management game. You found a startup carrier in a persistent world shared with other real people, and grow it into a global airline by making the decisions a real airline makes — what to fly, where to fly it, and how to beat the airline two rows up in the standings.

Every rival is a real person

Headwinds has no AI airlines. Every competitor on the map is another player: their routes are real routes, their fares are real decisions, and when you both fly the same city pair, the simulation splits the passengers between you based on fares, frequency, quality, brand, and loyalty. Alliances are founded and governed by players, and an in-game messaging system means the negotiation — or the trash talk — happens right where the competition does.

Persistent worlds on a server clock

Each world runs on the server around the clock: a game week passes on a fixed clock — anywhere from once a day to every quarter of an hour, depending on the world — whether you're online or not. That changes how the game feels — you're not grinding turns, you're building a network sturdy enough to run without you, then checking back to see what your rivals did about it. Worlds run for years or decades of game time, some starting in a historical year and moving through aviation history, and each ends as a season: a final ranking on average weekly net profit over the last 52 weeks, a champion and awards, and a result that goes on every player's profile.

Built on the Tailwinds engine

Headwinds is the multiplayer companion to Tailwinds, the single-player original, and runs the same full simulation — fleet leasing and purchasing, route economics, connecting hubs, cargo, loyalty programs, and financial management across more than 2,000 real airports. Headwinds adds the parts that only make sense between people: a share market where you can buy into your rivals, gate auctions in worlds where gates are scarce, bilateral codeshares, and player-run alliances. When the engine improves, both games improve. The difference is what's across the table: Tailwinds pits you against computer-controlled carriers at your own pace; Headwinds pits you against people.

Fair by design

In multiplayer, trust matters. Every world's state lives on the server and every decision is validated there — the game you see in your browser is a window onto the authoritative simulation, not the simulation itself. Nobody can edit a save file into a fleet of 747s.

Free, instant, and browser-based

There's no download and no installer. Sign in with Google, Discord or an email link — one account, all your worlds, from any device. Open the page and you're playing within seconds.

Who makes Headwinds

Headwinds is made independently by the Headwinds team. There's no publisher, no investors and nothing to pay to win. The game is free to play, and running the worlds is paid for by players who choose to support it. Worlds have been running since July 2026 and the game has been updated continuously since: the devlog has more than 100 entries, and many of those changes began as suggestions from players on Discord.

The guides on this site are written by the same people who build and play the game, against the live version of it. The screenshots are taken from real airlines in real worlds, and when a rule changes in the game, the guide that explains it is updated with it. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.

How it was made

Headwinds is an independent project. The core game design — the economic model, the balance of systems, the feel of the simulation — was designed by humans. AI tools and large language models were used during development to help with coding and to scale those designs into the breadth of airports, aircraft, and content the game ships with. We mention this openly because we think players deserve to know how the things they use are built.

Community & contact

Headwinds shares a community with Tailwinds on Discord — players share strategies, report bugs, and help shape where both games go next. If you've found an issue, have a feature idea, or want to find a world to join with friends, that's the best place to reach us: join the Discord.