Aircraft are vital for creating connections between cities – both in real life and LEGO® Form. The first Minifigure Scale passenger planes debuted in the mid 1980s, and were relatively similar in design until 2006, with the arrival of large scale wing elements.

The New LEGO City 60367 Passenger Aircraft builds on the revitalization of the LEGO City reboot that we have seen this year. It brings us details that we have never seen executed in any of the dozens of airplane sets over the years, be they in Town, City, Friends or DUPLO. We have new livery, vehicles, uniforms and even a couple of characters that can be found in other aspects of LEGO City.

Join me as we check out all the new features and new ways to play with a LEGO Airplane.

Minifigures

We have 3 groups of characters: the Ground Crew, the Flight Crew and the passengers.

Ground Crew

Two are identically dressed, with dark blue legs and vibrant yellow torsos with silver reflective stripes, with grey arms and dark azure hands. The male figure is wearing a hard hat, and hearing protection. The female has a dual moulded helmet and hair element. The expression on her face suggests that depite being given eye protection, she is unimpressed with the absence of hearing protection. The third has turquoise /teal sleeves. She is wearing a hearing aid/cochlear implant. While it is great to see this particular element/print appear again, it does leave me wondering if inadequate attention has been paid to workplace health and safety at the LEGO city airport over the years. It does explain the dissatified look on her coworker’s face.

Passengers

I love the 4 passengers that the set comes with. (And the plane comes with seating for another 8)

With the short back and sides, red chequered flannel shirt and the improbably large macro lens. we have seen all these elements before. The tourist, in her tan safari suit sports a dual face print – smile on one side, and a little bit sad on the other – the kind of expression you have after you have been told that your flight will be another two hours late in departing… after the plane doors have been closed. This tourist was previously seen checking into a hotel room in LEGO City, with the new Downtown complex.

There is a young woman dressed for a summer holiday, with her brightly coloured, sleeveless top, sporting the same hairpiece as Autmn, from this year’s season of LEGO Friends (how odd to know that a Friends character has a solid hairpiece, rather than rubbery). However, my favourite is the guy dressed in his grey, airline-issue pajamas, with his bumbag/fanny pack slung across his chest. He has a tired expression on one side, while the other features a full blindfold, with his face in full snore. He features the same hairpiece as the convenience store worker from the apartment block. I wonder if it is the same character…he looks ready for a long-haul flight, having taken a couple of melatonin to minimise his jetlag.

Flight Crew

We have two members of the crew provided. They both have a new mint/aqua torso, with printed tie, epaulettes and pockets (with wings over the left breast pocket. She is the pilot, wearing sunglasses, and has long, black, plaited hair, tied back. He looks after the cabin and is practicing his a ‘full on customer service grin’, while wearing a light yellow hairpiece that looks as if it has seen a little too much product, a little too early in the day.

None of the figures in this set feature leg or arm printing.

The Build

First a quick look at the elements: bags 1-3 bring us the support vehicles, while the remainder of the set contributes to building the plane.

The Support Vehicles

The first few bags bring us the ground services: a small hauling vehicle, pulling the stairs, catering supplies as well hauling the baggage out to the plane. We see some play features never before seen in LEGO City!

The ‘tug’ is a small vehicle, with a 6×4 footprint. It is 2 bricks high, and I appreciate the fact that there are some recesses in the dies that allow a minifigure sized person to climb up to the drivers seat. The tinted windows will ease life on the tarmac on days with a bit of sun glare. A clip attaches an element representing a safety light. A tow connection at the rear allows a variety of trailers to be drawn behind.

The luggage trailer is little more than a platform on wheels, on which there is a unit load device: a tiles roof, smooth sides and inverted slopes at the bottom. These ULDs get loaded with Luggage, and placed in the baggage hold. This is a welcome feature, imitating how luggage gets transferred onto a real airliner. A suitcase, brown suitcase and lime green wheelie bag are included. The red backpack is relatively new to me, having debuted in 603787 4×4 Off Road Extreme adventures earlier this year, and reappeared in Mrs Castillo’s Turtle Van in LEGO DREAMZzz.

Stairs are included to enable passengers to enter the plane from ground level. This instantly means that there is no need to create an airport with airbridges to board the plane. Any flat surface will do. There is only one set of wheels, with an inverse tile minimizing the angle when the hauler is disconnected.

Finally, we have the catering/food delivery vehicle. This trailer carries a large box with doors on each end. But that’s not the clever part.The Blog is mounted atop a simple scissor lift mechanism, designed to raise the food up to the level of the galley service door on the starboard side of the airplane. We put together a small catering pack – well, a coffee cup and red soft drink can mounted on a 1×2 plate.

The next bag brings us the small bus to transfer passengers from the terminal building to the plane which has been parked out on the apron. the space is somewhat limited, but you can certainly fit a couple of minifigures inside. It is symmetrical end to end, and there is a sticker depicting the route taken by the bus. Doors are mounted on a horizontal rod, and swing up.

Finally, the pushback tug, designed to get planes safely pushed back from a landing bridge to a position where they can safely start to taxi. The vehicle features similar foot holds on the side to the luggage hauler tug, and has a safety cage for the driver, which tips back on a few clips. At the front of the tug, a technic pinhole engages with the front wheel of the landing gear, and is able to guide the plane itself.

While we have seen various airport support vehicles in the past – particularly baggage trucks, refuelling vehicles, and stairs, this is the first time we have seen a catering truck with a scissor lift, pushback tug or indeed the apron bound transfer coach.

The Airplane

As well as the numbered bags, we have a bag containing oversized elements, including the top and bottom segments. of the fuselage. The wings are loose in the box.

Finally, we come to construct the plane: The fuselage is 8 studs wide, and incorporates a number of 8xnx2 inverse curved slopes to form the base of the plane. A new element in this set is a combination wing and curved base unit, all in one. The wingspan measures 56 studs wide, and measures 16 studs from there front to the back, with the wing element angled back by 12 studs on the leading edge, and 4 on the trailing edge..

We build up the base of the plane, incorporating a large tail element, as well as the inverse curved slope to make up the front of the plane. We install 12 seats- 8 bright green and 4 dark blue – I presume for business class, or at least premium economy. These upmarket seats feature extra leg room and entertainment screens

There is a small galley area, and we also build a small cart, 1x2x7plates high, mounted on ‘web holders’ as wheels.

The cockpit contains seats for the pilot and co-pilot. There are controls made out of droid bodies and pulleys, while the printed screens have been in service since 2019.

We add some details to the wings, in particular, green technic winglets on the end.

We move on to build up the structure of the plane: the mounting for the V-Tail; and the windows next to the cabin.

There is a detailed bathroom with sink and toilet – it is almost as akward to position a minifigure in as a real airplane toilet is for an adult. We add upward tilting doors to the cargo hold, and build another Unit Load Device for extra luggage.

In the final steps, we add the landing gear, build the roof and add in details such as underwing lights, the swinging cabin door and the V-Tail. We have new livery for the Airline as well, updated from the previous logotype, resembling a bird, and the generic ‘Air’. For the final touches, we add in the underwing engines. These are some of the largest jet turbines ever seen in LEGO City, built around a core that includes the element otherwise used as the capsule for the spacecraft in the 2022 Lunar Base set.

My Thoughts

The final airplane measures 44cm wide and 49 cm long. There is no doubt it is chock full of play features: from seating for 8 minifigures with room for the catering cart to wander up and down the aisle; the toilet cubicle and the detailed cockpit. Let’s not forget the fact that we now have a premium seating of the plane.

Extra details such as the luggage hold, with a couple of baggage containers thrown in for good measure will help kids to understand what happens when they go travelling.

I quite enjoy the minifigure selection. While the ground crew are a fairly generic collection of characters in Hi-viz vests, they can be easily moved into other areas where city workers might be required. The passengers are a great mix, and I particularly appreciate the fact that we can see the story of at least one of them across multiple sets this half year. It is, however, slightly weird to see Autumn’s hair from LEGO Friends appearing in a City set.

As an AFOL, one of my first purchases in conjunction with my family was 10159 City Airport, a reissue of the 6597 Century Skyway. The jet in that set is significantly smaller – with a fuselage 4 studs wide and a span of 28 studs, it can actually ride on one wing of the new jet. The passenger capacity has tripled, and we see accommodation for twice the crew, and we see capacity for a galley and bathroom.

Some of the more…original plane designs experimented with over the years. Images: Brickset.com

The V-Tail is not unknown in the world, but has not been rolled out for large scale passenger aircraft at this stage. LEGO City and town have both experimented with come more Avant-garde airplane designs over the years. It offers a theoretical advantage by reducing the number of surfaces that might subject the plane ot additional drag. In the world of LEGO building, it offers the very real saving of $5-$10 ,based on some of the larger tail plane elements across the years.

Compared to some of its predecessors, this set has just about all you need to perform airport ground operations. While an actual airport terminal building building or control tower might be nice, they really aren’t required here. That said, they tend to crop up in some shape or form every three or four years: as such, I would not be surprised if we see one appearing at some stage in the next year or two. To be honest though, the set has great play value, converting any floor or table into an airfield.

The Support vehicles and crew really add to the play. The pushback tug is really effective in manaeuvering the jet. The stairs reach the door perfectly, allowing for easy ingress and egress.

I love the scissor lift mechanism on the catering truck. It brings the trolley to the correct height. there is a little clashing between the doors, however, and the only way I could get the truck flush with the open catering hatch was to have that hatch tucked into the catering truck.

Overall, this is a terrific playset, from the minifigure selection, through to the execution of tarmac services, as well as the scope for setting up play scenarios on board the plane.

The set is rated for ages 7+, and the one concern that I have is the bulk of the plane, compared with those from the 90s, and the ability of a 7 year old to just swoosh it around. Will they be able to safely zoom it around the room, or will it be a bit awkward, with family photos, trinkets and pets all at risk as the overloaded kid attempts a perfect landing on the ottoman?

Overall, this is a great addition to any city, with plenty of play starters, while retaining sufficient detail to keep an adult engaged with the play. With 913 pieces, it is only rivalled by the 10159 City Airport or the original Century Skyway for size. Those sets, however, featured a full terminal, some small service vehicles, and a variety of aircraft. This

This new set only brings us the main aircraft and service vehicles. It is certainly the largest airport/airplane set of the modern era. The V-Tail might take a little getting used to, but it would also be easy enough to upgrade it to a regular tail-plane.

Overall, I’m happy to give this set 4.5 out of 5 Arbitrary Praise Units.

The set will be on sale September 1st 2023, and has a retail price of $169.99AUD;USD119.99; £89.99; €99.99; CAD $149.99. You can order it from LEGO.com here, using this affiliate link. The ramblingbrick might receive a small commissions for any piurchases.

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Play Well!

This set was provided by the LEGO Group for Review Purposes. All opinions are my own.