In Airline the players are attempting to build a global airline. As players move around the board they are able to buy "landing rights" in the cities on which they land. If another player lands on one of your cities, they must pay landing fees based on the type of aircraft you operate. Players start with a prop plane and advance to a jet and then to an SST. However, players can only collect landing fees if the city in question is connected to their "base city" by an air route. Players can challenge each other for landing rights. Other factors which can affect players are things like strikes, charters and weather.

Airline is best described as Monopoly with airplanes. The three types of aircraft take the place of undeveloped property, houses and hotels and the various special squares (like "Maintenance" or "Air Cargo") replace "Chance" and "Community Chest". Not that this is necessarily a bad thing; Monopoly is a classic game and it is hard to go wrong emulating it. And the airline industry is certainly as cutthroat as the real estate industry. This is certainly an interesting variation of a classic game.