Fokkernews August 2023 (issue 68)
General news
Ilam-Air is preparing to launch domestic operations out of the city of Ilan, Iran. Unconfirmed indications are that the new airline will fly two Fokker aircraft as a start.
Fly All Ways will very soon offer two new destinations when the airline connects Suriname with Caracas and Isla Margarita in Venezuela.
Air Niugini has received government permission for buying 11 new Airbus A-220 jets, as replacement for the F70 and F100 fleet. Deliveries are expected to begin in early 2025.
Amapola Flyg has rebranded its passenger operations as PopulAir. Six F50s are planned to operate under the new name. The cargo division will continue with three F50s under the original name..
Fokker F27, Fokker 50 & Fokker 60
| c/n | type | registration | new registration | comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10684 | 500 | VT-NEJ | Ex NEPC Airlines. For some time this F27 is in use as the Aeroplane Restaurant in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India. Recently, the NEPC livery was replaced with Coca Cola titles and a tail logo and the Friendship lost its registration. The aircraft is visible on Google Earth (26.1666, 85.40291). | |
| 10686 | 500 | AP-BHZ | Former ASSL Friendship that was on display in the PS Aero collection in Baarlo, Netherlands, was seen on a truckon its way to a new owner in Kassel, Germany 7 August 2023. More details are unknown at the moment. | |
| 20216 | 50F | SE-LFS | Amapola Flyg. On 2 August 2023 flight HP-20 from Malmö to Stockholm experienced an engine failure shortly after take-off due to oil leakage, the engine was shut down and the F50 returned to Malmö for a safe landing, with 2 crew on board. | |
| 20223 | 50 | 5Y-SMO | Saacid Airlines. Seen on 12 August 2023 at Mogadishu, in white with Saacid titles. | |
| 20234 | 50 | EP-NFD | Karun Airlines. This plane with the false registration EP-YPZ was recently placed on stilts on the banks of the Karun River, opposite the Hyperstar shopping center in Ahwaz, Iran. | |
| 20240 | 50 | RP-C8250 | SE-LFD | Largus Aviation. Registered in Sweden 23 August 2023; Largus is the parent company of Amapola Flyg. |
| 20251 | 50 | SE-MFO | Amapola Flyg. The F50 was ferried from Malmö to Norwich on 24 August 2023, still in Leading Edge (Leascor) color scheme. It will be repainted into the new PopulAir livery. | |
| 20258 | 50 | RP-C9273 | SE-LFE | Largus Aviation. Registered in Sweden 23 August 2023; Largus is the parent company of Amapola Flyg. |
| 20264 | 50 | SE-MFR | Amapola Flyg. Ferried from Malmö to Lelystad 31 July 2023 for repainting. It left the Satys painshop on 14 August in the livery of PopulAir.com, the new brand of the Amapola Flyg passenger division. | |
| 20282 | 50 | 5Y-FAI | Freedom Airline Express. After the collision with a ground power unit on 25 September 2022, this F50 was declared a write-off. | |
| unknown | 50 | 5Y-SKI | Aerojet Aviation. Noted at Bardera, Somalia, on 29 April 2023 in full c/s. Presumably this is the same aircraft that we reported as ET-SKI in Fokkernews 66, then without titles. A picture of the aircraft is shown as 5Y-SK* in Fokkernews 67. | |
| unknown | 50 | 5Y-IFY | Maandeeq Air. Entered service in late July 2023 and was seen at Mogadishu 12 August 2023 in full Maandeeq Air colors. | |
| 514 | 227B | XA-RUN | The Fairchild that is preserved on the premises of the 11th Infantry Batallion in Mérida, Mexico, is presumably former Aero Monterrey XA-RUN. It now seems to have a camouflage livery (Google Earth 20.9299, -89.6039). |
Fokker F28, Fokker 70 & Fokker 100
| c/n | type | registration | new registration | comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11444 | 100 | EP-FQF | Qeshm Air. Returned into service in May 2023 after two years of storage. | |
| 11477 | 100 | EP-FQJ | Qeshm Air. Flew last service on 14 May 2023 and was subsequently put into storage. | |
| 11484 | 100 | VH-FNY | Virgin Australia. After being scrapped in Singapore-Seletar, the registration was cancelled 7 August 2023 | |
| 11492 | 100 | EP-LCQ | Kish Air. Back in operation on 21 August 2023 after four months of heavy maintenance. | |
| 11528 | 70 | 5Y-IFB | Air Djibouti. Seen Addis Abeba 14 August with 'Air Djibouti - The Red sea airline' titles. | |
| 11547 | 70 | VH-KBX | Alliance Airlines. The former Dutch Royal Fokker was ferried on 21 August 2023 from Brisbane to Rockhampton for continued storage. | |
| 11561 | 70 | 5B-DDB | TUS Airways. Registration cancelled from the register in 2023, date unknown. The aircraft is stored at Woensdrecht since 2020 and has been offered for sale several times. | |
| 11570 | 70 | PZ-TFB | Fly All Ways. On 14 August 2023 the crew of flight 8W-625 from Georgetown to Bonaire decided to return to Georgetown due to low oil pressure in the right hand engine, they reduced the engine power to idle and made a safe landing some 35 minutes after departure. |
Former East West Airlines F27 VT-EWG (10606) is the instructional airframe of the Indian Institute for Aeronautical Engineering & Information Technology at Puna, India since 2006. It is externally marked as VH-EWD, but the cockpit plate correctly says VT-EWG. Over the years the aircraft was seriously neglected and had collected an enormous amount of dust and dirt. It was recently cleaned and the aircraft now looks reasonable fresh, but the characteristic colors of the East West livery have mostly disappeared. (Moiz Khan on Google; Puna, June 2023)
Former ASSL Friendship AP-BHZ (10686) that was on display in the PS Aero collection in Baarlo, Netherlands, was trucked to a new owner in Kassel, Germany. More details unknown at the moment. (PSAero on Facebook; Baarlo, 7 August 2023)
The first aircraft in the new PopulAir livery is SE-MFR (20264). It was painted by Satys in Lelystad and will be joined by five others in the near future. (AirOnline.nl; Lelystad 14 August 2023)
When the Fokker company went into bankruptcy, several airframes remained unfinished. One of these is 20318, which is a composit of a fuselage and separate cockpit. Hoping for a restart, Fokker employees painted the text ‘Maybe Airlines’ on it. The construct is still in existence nowadays. (Erwin Stam on Facebook; Lelystad 8 August 2023)
An unknown, all-white F50 of an unknown operator in Somalia: 6O-AAE (André Alders; Mogadishu, 13 August 2023)
The newest I-Fly F70 5Y-IFB (11528) is now leased to Air Djibouti and was photographed carrying the full titles of this airline. (André Alders; Djibouti, 15 August 2023)
Both WayraPeru F70s were withdrawn from use in 2019 and are awaiting things to come, while collecting dirt. In front is OB-2153P (11540), with sister ship OB-2156P (11539) parked behind. (Lucas31 Transport Photography on Flickr; Lima, 12 August 2023)
Salaam Air F70 5Y-MMB (11559) lost its titles and is only recognizable by its tail logo (André Alders; Mogadishu 12 August 2023)
Credits
All photographers named above, André Alders, AMCAR, ATDB News, Aviation Herald, Aviator.aero, David Booster, CH-Aviation, Merv Crowe, Frank Ellemers, Flight Aware, Johan Hetebrij, Greg Hyde, Luchtvaartnieuws, Jacques Vooren, Henk Wadman.
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