Fokkernews March 2022 (issue 51)

General news

Niger Airlines is planning to soon add two ATR-72 and two Embraer-190. Would this mean the end of F50 operations?

Fokker F27, Fokker 50 & Fokker 60

c/n type registration new registration
20105 50 SE-MFP Amapola Flyg. After the PSO contract for the daily Dublin-Donegal service ended, the F50 was ferried home from Donegal to Malmö on 26 February 2022 as HP9232.
20111 50 5Y-MIS Skyward International. This F50 was stored for some three years at Nairobi-Wilson and now has been scrapped.
20116 50 5Y-SVN Rudufu. As expected also this F50 was broken up at Nairobi-Wilson.
20214 50 5Y-WFD Saacid Airlines. Noted on 4 February 2022 at Barawe airport, Somalia, with the airline's titles in black and red and a small tail logo.
20226 50 SE-LTR Amapola Flyg. The lease to Air Leap for the Roros – Oslo PSO route turned out to be of very short duration. It began 3 January 2022 and ended 21 January 2022, because Air Leap ceased all operations by 24 January, citing the economic situation due to the pandemic as the reason.
20286 50 VH-FKZ Alliance Airlines. Current plans are to retire the two remaining F50s in August 2022. Their usual mining flights have been taken over by F70 and Emb-190 in early March. The F50s will perform charter flights and remain backup for the jets.
20306 50 VH-FKW Alliance Airlines. See VH-FKZ (20286) above.
20313 50 5U-NAA Niger Airlines. To be ferried from Malmö via Tunis to Niamey 25 and 26 March 2022 after maintenance.

Fokker F28, Fokker 70 & Fokker 100

c/n type registration new registration comment
11251 100 I-ALPX Alpi Eagles. After sitting idle in a corner of Dinard airport since 2008, the registration was eventually cancelled from the register 4 March 2022.
11252 100 I-ALPZ Alpi Eagles. Also this F100 was exposed to the weather for 14 years at Dinant before the registration was cancelled on 4 March 2022.
11305 100 VH-FZO Virgin Australia. This F100 was cancelled from the register in 2020, "no longer to be used as an aircraft" being the reason. This time-lapse video clearly shows why: https://www.facebook.com/aviatglobal/videos/271341977846315
11333 100 VH-FZI Virgin Australia. After being broken up at Singapore-Seletar, the aircraft was deleted from the Australian register on 17 March 2022.
11452 100 D-AOLG VH-ZYT Network Aviation (Qantas Link). Taken up in the Australian register 10 March 2022, for facilitating the certification of parted-out spares. The fuselage will be retained as a cabin trainer.
11581 70 5Y-JWG LAG (Lignes Aériennes Gabonaises) has reportedly leased this F70 from Jetways for starting up scheduled flights in the region out of Libreville. On the airline's website is a picture of an unidentified F70.

This F27-500 (10606), had a 11-year long career with NLM/KLM Cityhopper in the Netherlands and was withdrawn from use in 1992. Subsequently it was leased to East West Airlines in India, named ‘City of Aurangabad’. It served there less than three years and was stored at Mumbai airport until the remains were auctioned in 2006. The hulk was transported to the Wingsss College of Aviation Technology in Pune where it is used as instructional airframe. It is incomplete as most usable parts are kept in the college buildings. The registration VT-EWD is now on the tail, reflecting the original registration that was carried for two weeks only before it was re-registered to VT-EWG; the latter is still under the wing. (Anusil Mishra on Facebook; 25 February 2022, Puna)

 

Very nice to see that IFly Air has applied some color on their single F50, 5Y-IFL (20151), which was all white until recently. The red bird in the tail is identical with what was on 5Y-SMT with Maandeeq titles (see Fokkernews 38). Therefore it is not completely clear which airline uses this bird logo. (Ahmed Mohamed (Asmali) on Twitter; Wajir airstrip, 3 March 2022)

 

In Fokkernews 39 we already had a picture of Gomair F50 9S-ABG (20181) and now we can present one of better quality. The text on the additional sticker remains unclear. (Thierry Claver Malick Lilama on Facebook; Goma 1 February 2021)

 

Somalian carrier Saacid Airlines has contracted 5Y-WFD (20214) from Buff Air and applied modest titles and tail logo to the otherwise white F50. (EDXYspotter at netAirspace; Mogadishu, 4 March 2022)

 

AE-567 (20253) is the first Peruvian Navy F50 that is nearing completion of its conversion into Sigint platform at the Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) plant. Note all new antennas and sensors, still painted in primer. (Seba Borsero - Fotografía Aeronáutica on Facebook; Cordoba, 9 March 2022)

 

On 7 March 2022 the fuselage of former PH-ABW (11493), which never flew for failed Air Hollandia, was lifted by crane and brought to a remote location on the airport. An empty hull is all that remains of this 1995-built F100. (Jacques Vooren; Maastricht, 19 March 2022)

 

Credits

All photographers named above, Air Leap, Amcarusa, ATDB News, Ger Buskermolen, Merv Crowe, Frank Ellemers, Flightradar24, Walter de Groot, Greg Hyde, Thomas Jung, Skyliner, Jacques Vooren, Willem Westerhof..