Fokkernews March 2021 (issue 40)

General news

Silverstone Air Services has announced the intention to rebrand as Jetlite Air Ltd due to negative publicity from halting passenger services in 2019. 

Recently TUS Airways took delivery of their first Airbus 320 as an important step to resume operations as ELA Cyprus. Their two F100 and three F70 are still stored, awaiting to be sold, so it is unlikely that the Fokkers will return into service. 

Fly All Ways has received permission for scheduled 5th freedom flights out of Georgetown airport, Guyana, to Suriname, Barbados and Curaçao. The airline will use their F70 fleet for these new connections.

Fokker F27, Fokker 50 & Fokker 60

c/n type registration new registration comment
10152 100 9Q-CLN Air Tropiques. This Friendship is stored at Kinshasa-Ndolo airport since at least July 2015, probably longer. On Google Earth a Fokker is visible at -4.327996, 15.328263, but we are not sure whether it is this aircraft.
20106 50 XA-UZN MayAir. Reportedly stored since 13 February 2019.
20124 50E SE-KTC 5Y-JWH Swedish registration restored 22 February 2021 to Largus Aviation. Apparently the deal with Kenya has fallen through. Despite its Kenyan registration, the aircraft never left Malmö.
20233 50 5Y-JXK Premier Airlines. Thanks to a picture on internet the F50 that is operating for this new Kenyan/Somalian airline is now identified.

Fokker F28, Fokker 70 & Fokker 100

c/n type registration new registration comment
11394 100 EP-CFM Iran Air. On 4 March 2021 flight IR334 from Ahwaz to Mashad diverted to Isfahan due to a hijacking attempt. The perpetrator was arrested by on-board security officers and the plane landed safely with 4 crew and 63 passengers.
11459 100 VH-VKN Alliance Airlines. After nearly 11 months of storage in the desert of Alice Springs, this F100 was reactivated and flown to Brisbane 26 February 2021, still in Helvetic livery.
11505 100 D-AOLH Network Aviation. Delivery flight from Paderborn-Lippstadt via Belgrade, Heraklion, Muscat, Hyderabad, Penang to Singapore-Seletar 05 to 08 March 2021 as SXI2111 parting out.
11551 70 P2-ANY Air Niugini. Further to our note in Fokkernews 25, Papua New Guinea's Accident Investigation Commission has published their final report on the incident of loss of cabin pressure on 21 November 2019 near Port Moresby. A defect in the pressure control system was indicated as the possible cause.

Former WDL Aviation F27 D-AELM (10450) that is exhibited near the long closed  Butzweilerhof aerodrome in Cologne, has now got ‘Motorworld’ titles, after the well-known classic car and mobility center that owns it. (Ulrich Hoppe via Chris Witt; Cologne-Butzweilerhof, 24 February 2021)

 

A very nice surprise was to see Kush Air F50 D6-MOH (20129), still in basic Skywest colors, as this is ex VH-FND. Apparently the owner of the aircraft is based in Comoros, while Kush Air operates it from their South Sudan base in Juba. (Mads Oyen; Juba, 20 March 2021)

 

A spokesman from Daruro Airline has confirmed that they do operate two F50s, namely this 5Y-WFB (20243) with its characteristic Flugfelag Íslands tail colors and the still unidentified 5Y-WFD shown in a prior edition. (Screen capture from Serjuu Media Group video on YouTube; Baidoa, 10 February 2021)

 

Following a number of sister aircraft, Amapola Flyg had recently SE-MFR (20264) repainted in the current corporate livery, after some years in the colorful BRA outfit. (Anna Zvereva on Flickr; Stockholm-Arlanda 21 January 2021)

 

One of the Biman Bangladesh Fellowships is in use as a training object in the Bangladesh Airlines Training Center (BATC) at Dacca International airport. It now has BATC titles and can be seen at Google Earth (23.854437, 90.399930). No registration is visible, but we believe that former S2-ACW (11148) is the best candidate; any confirmation is welcome. (Screen capture from Xpress Moto video on YouTube; Dacca, 1 June 2018)

 

This F100 served only three years with Sun Adria, as 9A-BTF (11336) and was then stored at Osijek airport (see also Fokkernews 22). In 2019 is was sold at an auction and the new owner transported it to his home village, Strmec Stubički, just north of Zagreb, Croatia (Google Earth 45.969330, 15.916399). Initially it continued having Sun Adria titles without registration. Later it was adorned with ‘Party Avion’ titles, when it was taken into use as the heart of a children’s playing ground and party center. Recently it was painted on the right-hand side with pictures from famous Croatian sportsmen. (RobertTelišman on Google; Strmec Stubički, October 2020)

 

Nowadays less than a handful of F100s are active for European airlines. Carpatair operates two,  usually in south-eastern Europe. YR-FKB (11369) was photographed when paying a visit to Rotterdam. (Maarten Visser sr.; Rotterdam, 16 March 2021)

 

After just over one year of storage in the desert in central Australia, Alliance Airlines F100 VH-VKQ (11501) was ferried from Alice Springs to Brisbane, still in full Helvetic Airways livery. It is believed that this airframe will serve as a spare parts donor and if this turns out being true, it most likely made its last flight. (Lloyd Fox via Merv Crowe; Brisbane, 19 March 2021)

 

As previously reported Alliance Airlines provided F70 VH-JFE (11545) last January with a text announcing the official partnership between the Queensland REDS rugby team and Alliance. Alliance sponsors the team and acts as the carrier for their matches (Daniel Benefield; Brisbane, 4 March 2021)

 

Credits

All photographers, Aviation Herald, Aviator.aero, CH-Aviation, Merv Crowe, Frank Ellemers, Hans Groen, Jan Homma, Greg Hyde, Thomas Jung, Fred Niven, Skyliner, Jacques Vooren, Chris Witt.