An Appeal For MENA's Missing Models: A Middle Eastern Wishlist Part 1

Introduction

Among one of the more neglected regions in 1/400 scale would be the Greater Middle East and North Africa. You might say "that's false, NG is always releasing some Qatar's and Gemini loves Emirates so it's not neglected Abdul" Well, I'd like to point out that those are Persian Gulf airlines and the Persian Gulf is only part of the Middle East. The Middle East, and in this case the Greater Middle East and North Africa region stretches westwards from Morocco, southwards to Sudan and Somalia, northwards to Turkey and eastwards towards Pakistan. This gives manufacturers a wide array of choice to choose from, although I myself will acknowledge that some of these releases might be commercially nonviable to produce, but I wish to show people that these exist.

The criteria I'll use to include airlines within this wishlist if it's a:
- Flag Carrier
- Large LCC
- Airline of Significance to its Respective Home Country(For example, what Virgin Atlantic is for the UK)

The criteria I'll use to choose the aircraft of each respective airline within this wishlist if it:
- Forms a majority of their fleet
- Would be the only commercially viable aircraft of the airline to be produced as a model
- Doesn't from a majority of their fleet BUT is replacing parts of their fleet(Ex. FlyDubai's 737 Max's)

So with criteria established, let's look at what could be made from the Greater Middle East and North Africa

Algeria:
Tassilli Airlines
: Owned by Sonatrach, the state-owned oil company, Tassilli is primarily a domestic airline with a few routes to France and Turkey. The only viable model that could be produced is its 737-800. No models of Tassilli seem to have ever been made in any scale so this could be a good start.
1024px-Tassili_Airlines%2C_7T-VCC%2C_Boeing_737-8ZQ_%2839746341835%29.jpg


Air Algerie: The Algerian flag carrier, it has yet to get any representation of its current fleet. Two viable models exist, its A330-220 and its 737-800, as they form the majority or only part of its long and short haul fleet. More likely to sell than Tassilli. The airline also has orders for the A350-1000 and the A330-900 so those will be models to look forward to.
1024px-Air_Algerie_Boeing_737-800_7T-VKJ_ORY_2015-05-25.jpg
Air_Algerie_A330-200_7T-VJX_LHR_2014-05-31.png


Cyprus:
Cyprus Airways:
Flag carrier of Cyprus. Although an A320-200 was made by Aeroclassics in 2012, no model exists of the new livery nor of the 2015 revival of the airline. It only has 2 A320-200's in its fleet so the choice is easy.
50218_1669182019.jpg


Egypt:
FlyEgypt:
A new Egyptian LCC, it uses a fleet of 737's to carry around the Middle East and parts of Europe. It has yet to get a single release in 1/400 so a 737-800 could be a good start.
1024px-FlyEgypt%2C_SU-TMH%2C_Boeing_737-8GJ_%2822815378005%29.jpg


Iran:
Iran has a very diverse air travel industry and for the sake of shortening this list, I believe it would be best to cover it as a separate post. I will link that to this post and cover it soon.

Iraq:
Iraqi Airways:
Although the Iraqi Flag Carrier has seen 9 models released about it, only 1 of those depict the modern post-2003 Iraqi Airways with that being a 747-400. A few viable models exist of the airline, its sole 777-200LR, its 737-800 and its future replacements the 737 Max 8 and its 787-8 which are just starting to enter the fleet. An A220-300 could also be produced however I would imagine it wouldn't sell that well.
1024px-Iraqi_Airways_Boeing_737-81Z_at_Munich_Airport.jpg
1280px-YI-AQZ_JFK_Landing_22L_IA_B777_29M_LR_Small.png

93076_iraqiairways787ciraqiairways_261716.jpg
737-8-iraqi.jpg

FIfqIKKXIAMvlYg-1.jpeg


Fly Baghdad: Iraqi LCC, mainly links Iraq with other Middle Eastern countries. 737-800
1233454_0a75741dca_280.jpg


Jordan:
Royal Jordanian Airlines:
Although it has had decent representation within the scale, I have only included it to bring attention to its A320 family fleet, with their fleet including the A319, A320 and A321. One of their A321's wears a retro livery so that could be a viable release.
1024px-Airbus_A319-132%2C_Royal_Jordanian_JP6634050.jpg
royal_jordanian_a320_jy-ays.JPG

1024px-Royal.jordanian.a321-200.jy-ayg.arp.jpg
1024px-JY-AYV_Airbus_A321-231_Ryal_Jordanian_Airlines_LHR_17.1.22.jpg


Kuwait
Kuwait Airways: The Kuwaiti Flag Carrier has seen its fair share of releases, but similar to Royal Jordanian, I wish to bring attention to the A320ceo's and neo's it operates.
1024px-Kuwait_Airways_A320-200_9K-AKA_DXB_2014-11-22.jpg
Kuwait-Airways-A320neo.jpg


Jazeera Airways: Notable for being the first privately owned carrier in the Middle East, it has yet to be released in 1/400(excluding the company exclusive model by Gemini), it operates a fleet of A320ceo's and A320neo's which are replacing the ceo's.
A20N-_-9K-CBG-_-LTFM-_-Karam-1-scaled.jpg


A Part 2 will be posted in this thread to finish off the wishlist.
 

JJ Skippy

Well-known member
Those Irqai Airways look interesting to me because of the livery. Hopefully we do see some more Middle Eastern releases in the future, this looks like it could have some great potential.
 

LeoMuse747

Well-known member
Very exotic airlines and liveries. Would be great to see them all produced!
Sadly some smaller ones like Tassili Airlines might still be neglected. I guess chances are much better for bigger players like Kuwait Airways and Royal Jordanian.

Even Air Algerie is quite underrated too. They have just ordered a bunch of new jets, including the A350. That should remind the model manufacturers about the existance of a certain flag carrier in Algeria :cautious:

Iraqi Airways 787 could be a nice release by NG or JC Wings.
 
Very exotic airlines and liveries. Would be great to see them all produced!
Sadly some smaller ones like Tassili Airlines might still be neglected. I guess chances are much better for bigger players like Kuwait Airways and Royal Jordanian.

Even Air Algerie is quite underrated too. They have just ordered a bunch of new jets, including the A350. That should remind the model manufacturers about the existance of a certain flag carrier in Algeria :cautious:

Iraqi Airways 787 could be a nice release by NG or JC Wings.
Oh you're 100% right, the only ones I really think would ever be done are the flag carriers, but I think there's still some hope that some of the LCC's such as Jazeera Airways could be done, given how NG released the pair of FlyDubai's last month.
 
Top