Fokkernews June 2019 (issue 19)
General news
KLM and CityJet are in the process of setting up a new airline Air Antwerp, that is planned to operate at least one F50 from Antwerp to three destinations, amongst which London City. The new airline should be operational in autumn 2019.
Air Niugini has resumed their F100 flights to Tokua airport at Rabaul now the runway works have been completed.
Alliance Airlines will open a base in Rockhampton, on the Queensland Coast, for expanding operations. The airline also plans to base two additional F70 and one F100 at Darwin airport in response to growing demand.
An hitherto unconfirmed report mentioned that the Royal Australian Air Force had acquired 2 F70 aircraft from Alliance Airlines; no further details are known.
Amapola Flyg has expressed their intention to continue flying the F50 for 10 more years. There are no plans to further expand the fleet; they rather hope to sell five aircraft in Africa. Currently there are some 20 F50's in Amapola service, both for freight (mail) and passenger transport.
After almost 16 years Helvetic Airways has concluded F100 operations. The airline now has an all-Embraer fleet.
For the 2019 summer season TUS Airways has added 3 routes from Tel Aviv to Rhodes, Samos and Skiathos, each twice per week on F100.
Fokker F27, Fokker 50 & Fokker 60
| c/n | type | registration | new registration | comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10154 | 300M | 5Y-BTD | Imaatong South Sudan Airlines; last known owner reportedly Profile Investments. Derelict since 2007. The Kenya Airports Authority announced that this F27 and other derelict aircraft at Nairobi-Wilson will be sold in public auction if not removed by 30 June 2019. | |
| 10530 | 500CRF | 5X-FFD | Fly540 Uganda Ltd. Stored at Nairobi-Wilson since at least 2012. The Kenya Airports Authority announced that this F27 and other derelict aircraft at Nairobi-Wilson will be sold in public auction if not removed by 30 June 2019. | |
| 20105 | 50 | SE-MFP | Amapola Flyg. The operations for Braathens Regional seem to have ended, as the aircraft was noted since February 2019 in all white. | |
| 20107 | 50 | RP-C9993 | Leading Edge Air Services. Made test flight at Seletar 17 May 2019 prior delivery to Philippines, still in basic Skywest livery. Apparently the intended parting-out will be done in the Philippines. | |
| 20112 | 50 | 5Y-SMS | Maandeeq Air. Noted in Mogadishu 24 March 2019 in full blue livery. This is the third F50 known flying with this Somalian airline. | |
| 20146 | 50 | SE-LIO | Amapola Flyg. Also this F50 was seen all white 21 April 2019 at Stockholm-Arlanda, after previous sightings in full BRA colors. | |
| 20179 | 50 | HP-1606PST | Air Panama has painted a second F50 in the new livery; it was seen as such 1 March 2019 at San Jose, Costa Rica. | |
| 20247 | 50 | ST-ASI | Tarco Air? A small picture on internet, made July 2018 at Khartoum, claims this registration for a F50 in Tarco Air colors. Confirmation is necessary. | |
| 35 | 27F | N432NA | Private owner. Cancelled from the US register 2 March 2019. This F27 used to be an instructional airframe for the Southeastern Oklahoma State University at Eaker Field airport, Durant, OK. Google Maps suggests that it is no longer there: broken up or stored elsewhere? |
Fokker F28, Fokker 70 & Fokker 100
| c/n | type | registration | new registration | comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11020 | 1000C | TC-53 | Argentina Air Force. Rolled out of the II Brigada hangar at El Palomar 25 April 2019 with a red tail, marking the farewell of this last flying F28. The air force will retire the type next August, after almost 49 years of service. | |
| 11048 | 1000C | T-50 | Argentina Air Force. Noted at El Palomar air base1 May 2019, stored in a hangar, looking intact. | |
| 11074 | 1000C | TC-52 | Argentina Air Force. Seen at El Palomar air base 1 May 2019, stored in a hangar, looking intact. | |
| 11317 | 100 | HP-1895PST | UP-F1018 | Bek Air. Delivered 17-19 May 2019 from Panama City via Manaus, Natal, Boa Vista, Algiers and Ankara to Almaty, in basic Air Panama livery. |
| 11322 | 100 | UP-F1014 | Bek Air. Seen at Almaty airport 23 April 2019 in a modified, predominantly white livery. | |
| 11340 | 100 | YR-FKA | Carpatair. On 6 June 2019 on board this aircraft, carrying out flight V32930 from Luxembourg to Vilnius and flying about 70 km northeast of Frankfurt, a burning odour was noticed in the cabin and in the forward cabin smoke came out of the floor in the forward cabin. The crew descended and soon the smoke and odor disappeared. The captain decided to continue to Vilnius and made a safe landing. There the crew identified a problem with one of the air conditioning systems. | |
| 11356 | 100 | N1405J | American Airlines. After being withdrawn from use, the airframe was stored in the desert in 2004 and finally parted out in 2013. The front cockpit section is in use as a bus stop shelter in Roswell, NM, USA. For pictures see https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8712559 and https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8434634. | |
| 11369 | 100 | YR-FKB | Carpatair. After some 5 years in a modified scheme, it is now in the standard Carpatair livery again. Wet-leased to Montenegro Airlines until late June 2019, but as far as known no special markings visible. First flew Tivat - Paris Charles de Gaulle 24 May 2019 as MGX2240. | |
| 11395 | 100 | YR-FZA | Carpatair. Adria Airways has leased this F100 for covering maintenance in their own fleet; the first flight was 28 April 2019 from Ljubljana to Vienna as JP136. | |
| 11444 | 100 | EP-FQF | Qeshm Air. Pictured on 26 April 2019 at Tabriz, in flight. Thus it was repaired after the landing mishap in February 2018. | |
| 11466 | 100 | HB-JVF | Helvetic Airways. Withdrawn from use and ferried from Zurich to Bratislava 14 June 2019 as OAW9552 for storage. | |
| 11478 | 100 | HB-JVG | Helvetic Airways. Made Helvetic F100 farewell flight from Zurich 14 June 2019 as OAW100 and was subsequently ferried from Zurich to Bratislava 13 June 2019 as OAW9552 for storage. | |
| 11497 | 100 | EP-AWZ | Karun Airlines. On 21 April 2019 this F100 was seen at Tehran-Mehrabad with Karun titles, in a new font, different from the other Fokkers. | |
| 11520 | 100 | OE-LVG | VH-UQG | Alliance Airlines Pty Ltd. Registered 17 May 2019; note that this is the second F100 carrying the registration, the other is now VH-FGB (11446). The aircraft is still in Bratislava. |
| 11560 | 70 | OE-LFP | VH-NUY | Alliance Airlines Pty Ltd. Registered 20 May 2019. The aircraft is still in Bratislava. |
| 11583 | 70 | 5B-DDI | TUS Airways. Pictured at Larnaca 29 May 2019 with engines covered, like being stored. 5B-DDB (11563) was parked next to it. It looks as if TUS at the moment has only 3 active Fokkers. | |
| 11585 | 70 | PK-TNR | 2-JACC | Ex Transnusa. Ferry registration, destined for Jetair Caribbean. Ferried Surabaya - Singapore-Seletar -Penang - Chittagong -Ahmedabad -Muscat - Hurghada - Izmir - Belgrade - Eindhoven 29 April to 2 May 2019 as SXI1925 for cabin conversion. |
Friendship PH-FCX (10183) recently got a new coat of paint and looks brilliant again. It started its career in 1961 as TC-TEK with THY Turkish Airlines. In 1974 Fokker bought it back and converted it into a maritime patrol demonstrator. After its last flight in June 1983 it was donated to the Dutch Fokker Friendship Association and was on display for some years at the Aviodome museum at Schiphol airport. Then it was part of a private collection until 2016 when it was trucked to Hoogerheide (close to Woensdrecht air base), where it opened as a luxury Bed & Breakfast in 2017. For more pictures and reservations see www.slapenineenvliegtuig.nl (the owners; Hoogerheide, May 18, 2019)
Although F50 freighter SE-MFD (20126) is flying some months now in Amapola Flyg livery, we have not shown it before in our magazine (Krister Karlsmoen; Stockholm-Arlanda June 9, 2019)
Blue Bird Aviation of Sudan operates one F50 since 2013, but we have never published a picture of it. It is a former Mid Airlines airframe that kept its registration ST-ARH (20131) (bluebirdsudan website; Karthoum, unknown date). It is unknown whether there exists a relationship between Blue Bird Aviation in Kenya and Sudan, both are F50 operators.
ST-DNP is the second F50 that became known to operate with Sudanese El Dinder Aviation (20335). The aircraft made the inaugural flight to Damazin; not the best picture but is shows that the aircraft is all white with the company logo on the forward fuselage (Ammar Abdelrahim on facebook; unknown location, June 2018)
The last Fellowship actively serving with the Argentine Air Force (TC-53, 11020) recently received a special red tail, sporting the coat of arms of II Escuadrón of the 1st Brigada (insert). The aircraft is planned to perform its farewell flight on 29th August (Fernando Ariel Torre; El Palomar air base, May 1, 2019)
The Best Western Plus Navigator Inn & Suites hotel in Everett, WA, USA offers a quite unique entry to their guests: the wing and part of the cabin of a former Horizon Air Fellowship. Most likely these parts are from N498US (11181), but the identity needs confirmation. (unknown photographer and date; hotel website: https://www.navigatorsuites.com)
One F100 of Bek Air (UP-F1014, 11322) was recently painted in a modified livery, mainly white (Vyacheslav Firsow; Almaty, April 23, 2019)
Karun Airlines has applied their new name now to all four F100 in the fleet. EP-AWZ (11497) was the last to carry the previous name Naft Airlines. Note the revised, thicker font used for the company name (Saeed.H; Tehran-Mehrabad, April 21, 2019)
The second F70 for Jetair Caribbean arrived at Eindhoven airport after a long trip with many stops for having the cabin refitted, before it will continue to its future home island Curacao. Surprisingly it had a new, intermediate registration (2-JACC, 11585), being the first F70 in the Guernsey register (Hans Hoffmann; Eindhoven, May 2, 2019)
Credits
All photographers, Air Britain News, Airlineroute, Aviation Herald, Aviator.aero, CH-Aviation, Fred Crampton, Hans Groen, FlightAware, Jan Homma, Scramble, Skyliner, Jacques Vooren, Henk Wadman.
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