REVIEW: KEWR For MSFS By Drzewiecki Design

Newark Liberty International Airport

Official description and key features:

Newark Liberty International Airport (IATA: EWR, ICAO: KEWR, FAA LID: EWR), originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union County, New Jersey. Located about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of downtown Newark, it is a major gateway to points in Europe, South America, Asia, and Oceania. It is jointly owned by the cities and leased to its operator, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It is the second-busiest airport in the New York airport system, behind John F. Kennedy International Airport.

In 2016, the Port Authority approved and announced a redevelopment plan to replace Terminal A, set to fully open in 2022.

The busiest domestic routes from Newark include Orlando, Los Angeles, and San Francisco while most popular international destinations are London, Tel Aviv and Toronto. Main operators are United, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines and American Airlines.

Sim Pilot HQ’s Take:

KEWR from Drzewiecki Design is such a breath of fresh air in the sim. The terminal layout and runway markings are so complex at this airport that you just end up needing this payware solution to do this busy domestic and international destination the justice it deserves.

Immediately upon loading into KEWR, you’re greeted with some impressive modeling of the terminal structures and jetways. Terminal buildings and landside areas are also intricately modeled and the FedEx cargo loading area is also included in this scenery. They’ve even gone so far as to include the nearby IKEA in case you’re in the market for a new shelving system during that long layover.

As good as the models are, the texturing really bumps it all up a notch. There’s a ton of runway detail here, and aside from the accurate taxiways I really think my favorite addition is just the amount of dirt, oil and grime from where these huge airliners are stationed at their gates. There are a few places where the tiling of the ground seems to switch off to a different color entirely in a patchwork pattern. I’m not sure if this was to signify concrete vs. asphalt or a different material being used, but hopefully in future versions of MSFS these airport developers are given the tools to blend these areas a bit better so they don’t stick out as much.

Nighttime lighting is a treat here. I really love how brightly lit the gate areas are and how the color temperature of those lights doesn’t quite match the terminal lighting. Drzewiecki Design also paid special attention to making sure the landside areas and the interiors were lit just as well.

The team behind KEWR are no strangers to impressive interiors (see their KDCA product as well) and this airport is no exception. Interior details nearly rival exterior details in every way and I’m really thrilled and surprised to see that they even went so far as to model the security checks. It’s just an incredible level of detail throughout. Admittedly though, that level of detail, in combination with the extremely detailed exterior and NYC scenery in the distance might introduce some stutters. It introduced a few in my review video on YouTube and I found that disabling VSync might have helped a bit, but ultimately you’ll want to look at the options available to manage FPS. Those options include the ability to disable the static 3D people, static aircraft, static interior details and static cars. It might take away some of the realism to disable those features, but if your FPS is suffering, there’s some options for you there.

So would I recommend KEWR? Yes, definitely. It’s such a frequently traveled destination that no matter what airline you’re flying there’s most likely a route to this airport. My only suggestion would be to play with your sim settings and the available configuration options (for me these configuration files are in the Orbx Central app) just to make sure that the FPS you’re getting at the airport is acceptable for you. There’s a lot going on at this airport, and turning some of those options off may help you have a smoother experience when all is said and done.