General news

Niger Airlines seems to have bought two F50 for replacing the two that were on long-term lease from Palestinian Airlines. One is 5U-NAA (20313) that recently underwent maintenance in Sweden, the other is still not identified. 

Virgin Australia Regional Airlines will retire its entire F100 fleet (still 10 in operation) and replace them with larger and more fuel-efficient Boeing 737-700s. A time schedule was not yet announced.

Fokker F27, Fokker 50 & Fokker 60

Fokker F28, Fokker 70 & Fokker 100

In Fokkernews 44 we reported on former Miniliner F27 I-MLRT (10377), which was being transformed into a luxury hotel suite. This project is now finished and the suite recently opened for guests. The aircraft is externally freshly painted in white with titles and logo; notably the name of the hotel is painted on top of the wings. (Naturooms.com; Brembate di Sopra, February 2022)

The world’s oldest F50 still in active service is 5Y-DDI of Silverstone Air Service (20103). It was one of the first F50s converted to freighter and as common in East Africa, it is all white. (André Alders; Juba, 11 April 2022)

One of the newest F50 operators is Orient Aviation Services that flies with 5Y-SKN (20110) out of South Sudan since December 2021. This aircraft has titles and a nice tail logo. (DS Aviation on Facebook; Juba, 14 December 2021)

A second new airline with home base in Juba is Aerojet Aviation Limited, that is operating 5Y-RNG (20120), which also sports a full livery. (André Alders; Juba, 12 April 2022)

Another new operator in South Sudan is still unknown to us. On F50 5Y-JJJ (20124) they have applied large titles with their telephone number and the aircraft also carries a small tail logo. Who has more information on this airline? (André Alders; Juba, 12 April 2022)

Kush Airlines has applied a new livery, but no titles, to their F50 D6-MOH (20129), which until recently still had the tail colors of Australian Skywest Airlines. (André Alders; Juba, 12 April 2022)

Renegade Air’s cargo F50 5Y-JWB (20197) has a large green cargo door with ‘Fokker 50 Cargo’ titles on the left-hand side (see Fokkernews 48), while the right-hand side is all white. (André Alders; Juba, 13 April 2022).

On 27 March an F50 with Karun Air titles was transported from Ahwaz airport to a new location in front of a shopping mall in Ahwaz, Iran. It was towed through the city on its own wheels, but without wings. The aircraft, which sports the unofficial registration EP-YPZ, appears to be former EP-NFD (20234) and was bought from Aria Airlines in 2015, but never actually flew for Naft or Karun Airlines; it was only  used for spares. As there is insufficient space at the shopping mall it is believed that the wings will not be reattached. (MohammadReza Zeinloo; Ahwaz, 28 March 2022)

Technical issues delayed the delivery flight of Niger Airlines 5U-NAA (20313) back home after heavy maintenance with Amapola Flyg in Malmö. This provided a welcome opportunity viewing the aircraft in daylight during an engine test. (Carsten Lundsten; Malmö, 29 March 2022)

Alliance Airlines has applied decals to VH-UQC (11468) advertising for three hotels located at Brisbane airport. (Gareth Ruhe Aviation Photography on Facebook; Brisbane, 17 April 2022)