It's a great game. Much in the vein of Acquire, players vie for control of competing airlines. The airlines consist of cool wooden tokens which rejoined by different types of lines, which in turn have different numbers on them. Two different points are connected when a player plays a card that has the corresponding line type and a number equal to or higher than the lowest number still available on the line. That probably doesn't tell you anything, but it should give you the idea that players expand airlines along different routes through card play.

Each time a player expands an airline's route, he receives a share card (which are chosen from a pool of face-up cards much like other Alan Moon games). In future turns, a player may forgo expanding an airline to increase his holdings in an airline by playing as many of one type of airline stock as he has in his hand.

Scoring is handled four times during the game: three times randomly through the drawing of a 'wertung' card, and then at the end. And this is where the game gets meaty. When it comes to your turn, you can either expand an airline (making you more points if you have a majority of the played stock), or you can increase the stock you have in the airline increasing the probability that you'll be the one getting the points during the next scoring round. Every game is full of second guessing and frustration, because you keep wanting to push your luck, "Surely the scoring card won't come up _this_ turn...."

If you like Acquire, you'll like Airlines. It should be noted that a new version of Airlines is scheduled to come out soon, but it'll be about trains.