Find out whether Just Flight FS Traffic is worth it for MSFS 2020, including realism, FPS impact, limitations and the best alternatives.
Just Flight FS Traffic is worth it for MSFS 2020 on PC if you want busy airports, recognisable airline liveries and scheduled traffic without assembling a model library yourself. It is less compelling if you want genuinely live flights, dislike desktop-based configuration, or are very sensitive to CPU performance.
What does FS Traffic do well in MSFS 2020?
Its main strength is delivering a coherent airline traffic package with its own AI aircraft, liveries, schedules and management tools. You do not have to source individual models or build airline schedules before seeing plausible commercial traffic.
- Convincing airport activity: Major airports gain recognisable airlines, parked aircraft, departures and arrivals rather than relying mainly on generic models.
- Predictable scheduled traffic: The stored timetable does not depend on a live flight feed being available during every session.
- Focused injection: Traffic is concentrated around the airports relevant to your flight instead of attempting to simulate every airliner worldwide.
- Useful configuration: The Traffic Control Centre lets PC users manage schedules, aircraft and livery assignments.
FS Traffic suits airline flying particularly well. It adds much less value if most of your time is spent at remote strips, in general aviation aircraft or away from commercial airports.
What are the drawbacks of FS Traffic?
The main compromise is that scheduled traffic is not the same as live traffic. The timetable represents planned airline operations, so aircraft will not necessarily match the flights actually operating in the real world at that moment; our explanation of how live feeds differ from scheduled traffic covers that distinction in detail.
- Schedules can age: Airline routes, operators and seasonal services change, so a stored timetable gradually becomes less representative.
- MSFS AI limitations remain: Stuck taxi queues, strange runway choices, repeated go-arounds and inefficient spacing can still occur. An injector cannot completely replace the simulator's underlying AI and airport logic.
- Busy hubs cost performance: Every active aircraft adds CPU work, especially when complex scenery, glass-cockpit airliners and ground services are running together.
- It is a PC-oriented product: The MSFS 2020 workflow uses a desktop installer and Traffic Control Centre, so it should not be bought as an Xbox traffic solution.
How does FS Traffic compare with FSLTL, AIG and built-in traffic?
FS Traffic is the tidiest paid option when supplied models, straightforward schedules and offline consistency matter more than tracking real flights. Our side-by-side traffic add-on comparison examines the alternatives more deeply.
| Option | Traffic source | Setup | Best reason to choose it |
|---|---|---|---|
| FS Traffic | Stored airline schedules | Moderate | Integrated paid package with supplied models and liveries |
| FSLTL | Live flight data | Moderate; injector runs with the sim | Free live traffic with a useful model library |
| AIG | Downloaded airline schedules | High | Extensive control for users willing to configure it |
| MSFS built-in traffic | Online live or offline AI | Low | Simplicity, with weaker model and livery matching |
Choose FSLTL when live movements and zero purchase cost come first. Choose AIG if you enjoy building and maintaining a detailed traffic installation. Stay with built-in traffic if convenience matters more than accurate aircraft and liveries.
How much does FS Traffic affect FPS?
There is no universal FPS figure because traffic is often limited by the CPU rather than the graphics card. Dense traffic at a large add-on airport can produce a much larger penalty than the same settings at a regional field.
Start with moderate traffic density, disable unnecessary parked aircraft and test at the busiest airport you normally use. If the MSFS developer FPS display reports a MainThread limitation, reducing active traffic usually helps more than lowering texture resolution. Our guide to diagnosing add-on performance loss explains how to separate CPU, GPU and memory bottlenecks.
Why is FS Traffic missing or duplicated?
Most empty-airport and duplicate-aircraft problems come from configuration conflicts rather than a missing model library. A mistake we see constantly is leaving MSFS live or offline traffic enabled while FS Traffic is also injecting aircraft.
- Disable competing traffic. Turn off the simulator's built-in aircraft traffic and set its ground aircraft density to zero or very low. Otherwise, duplicate aircraft can occupy the same gates.
- Check both product components. Confirm that the traffic module and aircraft package are installed and enabled, then restart MSFS after installation or an update.
- Allow time for injection. Traffic does not always appear the instant the cockpit loads, especially at a large airport.
- Confirm the destination. Make sure FS Traffic knows your arrival airport, particularly when using an externally created plan or loading a saved flight.
- Check the airport scenery. Incorrect parking sizes or airline codes can prevent suitable aircraft from spawning at third-party airports.
For the complete setup sequence and further fault finding, use our practical FS Traffic installation walkthrough.
Who should buy FS Traffic?
FS Traffic is a good purchase for PC airliner pilots who want a ready-made fleet, plausible scheduled movements and less configuration than AIG. It is especially useful when visual airline variety matters but an exact live match does not.
Skip it if you require real-time flights, fly mainly from small non-airline airports, use Xbox or already have an FSLTL or AIG installation that meets your needs. For the intended PC airline simmer, we consider FS Traffic worthwhile but not essential: it improves airport atmosphere substantially, while the simulator's AI behaviour and the CPU cost prevent it from being a complete traffic solution.