A model airport is a scale model of an airport. While

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

models have been around, in a way, since airfields were open to the public, early model airports were basically restricted to public showcases about the airport and its surroundings to the public; these were usually located inside the airport themselves. Since Herpa Wings's introduction of their ''airport set'' series to their line of

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

related toys, there has been an increase of aircraft modelers who have made mock airports to showcase their private collection of model aircraft. Often, the collector will model their airport after a real-life airport. Model airports can be made to look very realistic, with many real airport features such as terminals, control towers, cargo terminals, hangars, passenger bridges and more. Companies such as Gemini Jets, Herpa Wings, and JC Wings have produced ground support equipment in various scales. Collectors who make model airports may use die-cast models for their creation. Among the brands of die cast aircraft models most commonly used on these airports are Aeroclassics, Herpa Wings, Dragon Models Limited, Gemini Jets, Phoenix Models, JC Wings, and NG Model. In 2011, what may be the world's largest model airport opened for public view at Miniatur Wunderland in

Hamburg, Germany Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. The model, named ''Knuffingen International Airport,'' is based on Hamburg International Airport. Another popular park in Europe,

Madurodam Madurodam () is a miniature park and tourist attraction in the Scheveningen district of The Hague in the Netherlands. It is home to a range of 1:25 scale model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks, historical cities and large developments. The par ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

includes a model airport featuring models of several airlines such as KLM,

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

EVA Air EVA Airways Corporation ( ; ) () is an international airline headquartered in Taoyuan City. It is one of the two largest airlines in Taiwan along with state-owned China Airlines. The privately owned airline operates passenger and dedicated c ...

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...

UPS Airlines UPS Airlines is a major American cargo airline based in Louisville, Kentucky, US. One of the largest cargo airlines worldwide World's largest airlines#Scheduled freight tonne-kilometers (millions), in terms of freight volume flown, UPS Airlines f ...

Transavia Transavia Airlines C.V., trading as Transavia and formerly branded as ''transavia.com'', is a Dutch low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of KLM and therefore part of the Air France–KLM group. Its main base is Amsterdam Airport Sch ...

Thai Airways Thai Airways International plc () is the flag carrier airline of Thailand. Formed in 1961 as a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines, SAS and Thai Airways Company, the airline has its corporate headquarters in Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Chat ...

Korean Air Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. (KAL; ) is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations, and international flights. It is owned by the Hanjin, Hanjin Group. The present-day Korean Air tra ...

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

, and an A380 of

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...

, alongside a

DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

-branded

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first Twinjet, twin-engine, double-aisle Wide-body aircraft, (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by ''Airbus Industrie GIE'', now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured f ...

. The Madurodam airport is based on Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. In addition, the TWA Hotel in New York features a model airport that demonstrates the way the TWA airline's operation center used to look like at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport in the 1960s and 1970s. This model airport was made using TWA model aircraft and runways and buildings in the 1:400 scale.

References

Scale modeling {{Toy-stub

See also

References