No passengers walk to the plane. It's just the eye candy (Chocks, Pitot Tube Covers, Engine Covers, Red Carpet) that makes it look like an airplane waiting for Pax.
There is a HUGE flightsim community out there with vatsim.com and wolfala can fill you in on westcoastATC as he is a controller there. A friend of mine is a controller on Vatsim and was just hired by an airline.
There are virtual airlines, charter and all sorts of different things you can do out there. The actual multiplayer stinks, but if you use Vatsim or a similar community to have fully trained 'sim' controllers and fully qualified 'sim' pilots there is a lot out there true to life.
It's Microsoft Flight Sim 2004 run on my Dell 4700. Lots of the eye candy is turned up and I target the FR to be 60 (it holds it well as shown by the fraps FR monitor)
A note about Vatsim...
They have virtual airlines where you can earn 'virutal pay' and save up to either start your own airline, buy additional gates, buy airplanes or routes and all sorts of stuff.
Google "Vatsim" and "WestcoastATC" and you'll see the light. I don't play I just usually goof around with the airplanes I've got and now and then 'pre fly' a route if im going to a new airport for my company.