The lobby

What you are joining

Headwinds is a free multiplayer airline management game that runs entirely in your browser. Sign in above with Google or a one-time email link, pick one of the open worlds, and found an airline at any airport on Earth. There is nothing to download and nothing to pay for.

A world is a shared map with room for up to 50 airlines, and every one of them is another person. There are no AI carriers anywhere in the standings. If you and a rival both fly the same city pair, the passengers on it are split between you according to your fares, your frequency and the quality of what you are offering — so the person on the other end of that route can and will price back.

Free to play No download 1,500+ real airports 100+ real aircraft Up to 50 airlines per world No AI opponents

How a world runs

Worlds advance on a server clock rather than a button you press. One game week passes every hour or few, around the clock, whether or not you are logged in — so a world you joined on Sunday has moved on by Monday, and the network you left behind has been earning or bleeding money the whole time without you.

Set it up to survive you

You are not expected to sit and watch the clock. Fares, frequencies, fleet orders and cargo lanes all persist. The skill is leaving a network that holds up for the days you are away.

Alliances are player-run

Nothing is scripted. Players found alliances, vote on who joins, and share partner feed on connecting traffic and a demand boost where their networks overlap — against a weekly fee that keeps it a real decision.

Diplomacy is part of it

Message rivals directly or talk in alliance chat. Negotiate a truce over a contested route, split a region, coordinate hubs — or say one thing and do another.

Seasons end

A world runs about 50 game years and then stops. The final standings are the record of it, and the next world starts everyone from nothing again.

Your first hour

  1. Sign in and pick a world. Each open world shows its pace, how far along it already is, and how many airline slots are left. A world that has been running for years is harder to enter than a fresh one, so if this is your first airline, take the newest.
  2. Choose a hub. Any airport on the map. A mega-hub gives you enormous demand and established rivals from day one; a quieter secondary airport gives you routes nobody is contesting yet and time to build. Both work, and they are genuinely different games.
  3. Lease before you buy. Starting capital goes further on leases, and an aircraft you have committed to for years is a bet on a route still being worth flying in three game years' time.
  4. Open a few short routes and watch a full week. Load factors, yields and rival moves all land at the tick. Read one week properly before adding a second aircraft.

Before you take off

The how-to-play guide walks through joining a world and opening your first routes. The strategy guide, route economics and hub strategy pages go deeper on pricing against real people and defending a hub. The aircraft guides list every type in the game with its real in-game seats, range and operating economics. The fair play rules cover conduct and multi-accounting, and the FAQ answers most of what comes up in the first week. New changes land in the devlog, and the live worlds page shows every public world's standings without signing in.

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© Headwinds — multiplayer, free in your browser. Solo game: Tailwinds. Headwinds is the multiplayer companion to Tailwinds, built on the same simulation engine. AI was used in the development of this game: core mechanics were designed by humans, while much of the coding and scaling of designs was done with LLMs.