Fokkernews October 2024 (issue 82)
General news
On 15 November 2024 Skyward Express will start operating flights from Nairobi to Dar-es-Salaam, their first destination in Tanzania. The F100 will fly three times weekly between the two capitals.
Mexican regional airline MAYAir ceased operations back in December 2020. At that time they had three F50s in their fleet. Two of these are stored near the MAYAir hangar at Mérida airport and can be seen on Google Earth (20.927799, -89.662700), but which ones?
Fokker F27, Fokker 50 & Fokker 60
| c/n | type | new registration | registration | comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10660 | 500 | PK-KRJ | Asialink Cargo Express withdraw this Friendship from service in 2017 and it is supposedly stored at Surabaya. Rumors are that it is made ready for reentering operations. | |
| 20106 | 50 | XA-UZN | MAYAir ceased operations in 2020. This F50 was withdrawn from use in Febraury 2019 and stored at an unknown location. The registration was cancelled in April 2024. The whereabouts of this aircraft are not clear, see General News above. | |
| 20109 | 50 | SE-MFY | PopulAir. On 11 October 2024 fire and smoke was seen from one of the engines at start-up at Stockholm-Arlanda for flight HP281 to Mariehamn. The airport rescue team evacuated all 26 passengers and crew, there were no injuries. Apparently there was no or minor damage to the F50 as it was back in service two days later. | |
| 20113 | 50 | SE-MHR | After scrapping the fuselage of former RP-C7636 now belongs to the inventory of the DPR Aviation College in Plaridel, Bulacan, Philippines. | |
| 20118 | 50F | 5Y-JWC | Jetways. Seen in service at Mogadishu 14 October 2024. | |
| 20137 | 50 | 9S-AHT | 5Y-VVG | Busy Bee Congo. Registered in Democratic Republic of Congo, presumably in April 2023. On 3 October 2024 the F50 experienced a runway excusrion at Lodja, arriving from Goma. There were no injuries and no damage, the aircraft only got quite dirty by mud. |
| 20149 | 50F | 5Y-ELY | Silverstone. Seen at Mogadishu 29 September 2024. | |
| 20194 | 50 | XA-UVU | MAYAir ceased operations in 2020. Registration cancelled April 2024. The whereabouts of this aircraft are not completely clear, see General News above. | |
| 20197 | 50F | 5Y-JWB | The United Nations have contracted a Renegade Air F50 freighter; it was noted 20 May 2024 departing Mogadishu with black United Nations titles and number UNO657P. | |
| 20212 | 50 | XA-UZG | MAYAir ceased operations in 2020. The whereabouts of this aircraft are not completely clear, see General News above. | |
| 20240 | 50 | 5Y-GMB | SE-LFD | Largus Aviation had the Swedish registration cancelled 14 October 2024. The aircraft will soon go to Kenya as 5Y-GMB; judging from the registration we believe that Aerospace Consortium might be the next operator. |
| 20307 | 50 | 5Y-NWA | Star Airline. Leased from Renegade Air and seen in service at its base Mogadishu 10 October 2024. | |
| 20313 | 50 | 5U-NAA | Niger Airlines has sold the last operational F50. The new owner is not yet known. | |
| unknown | 50 | 5Y-IFY | Maandeeq Air. Seen in service at Mogadishu 10 October 2024 in full color scheme. |
Fokker F28, Fokker 70 & Fokker 100
| c/n | type | new registration | registration | comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11334 | 100 | VH-FNC | Alliance Airlines. Performed post-maintenance test flight around Perth on 22 October 2024. After a return flight to Gruyere airport for Virgin Australia it was ferried to Brisbane via Adelaide as QQ9822 on 24 October. It will remain in service in basic Virgin livery without titles until Alliance retires the F100; the airframe has still some 2000 flying hours left. | |
| 11373 | 100 | VH-FNU | Virgin Australia. Will remain in service until March 2026 for serving mining strips that are unfit for A320 and E190 aircraft. | |
| 11416 | 100 | 5Y-SKE | Premier Airways. Seen at Mogadishu 7 October 2024 in service. | |
| 11427 | 100 | 2-BDDE | Ex 5B-DDE of TUS Airways. Stored at Groningen-Eelde airport since April 2020. It is now very dirty, the cockpit instruments have been removed and the hull was damaged in a heavy storm. It will never fly again and awaits to be scrapped. | |
| 11450 | 100 | VH-FSQ | Virgin Australia. Will remain in service until March 2026 for serving mining strips that cannot handle A320 and E190. | |
| 11488 | 100 | VH-FNR | Virgin Australia. Ferried Perth via Port Hedland to Singapore-Seletar 1 September 2024 as VA9939 and returned 18 October as VA9938 after maintenance. It will remain in service until March 2026 for serving mining strips that are unfit for Airbus A320 and Embraer E190 aircraft. | |
| 11497 | 100 | EP-AWZ | Karun Airlines. After nearly one year of storage the F100 returned into active service on 14 October 2024. | |
| 11515 | 100 | VH-NHZ | Network Aviation, on behalf of Qantas Link. On 21 October 2024 flight QF1624 from Perth to Paraburdoo diverted to Geraldton after the aircraft suddenly climbed and descended twice. The crew decided for an emergency landing and landed the F100 safely 30 minutes after the event. Nobody was injured. The probable cause was a mechanical issue of the autoflight system. | |
| 11528 | 70 | 5Y-IFB | Maandeeq Air. Started flying the F70 from Mogadishu on 29 September 2024. The jet is supplied on wet-lease by Kenyan I-Fly Air and carries large Maandeeq Air titles. | |
| 11562 | 70 | 5Y-IFA | I-Fly. Noted landing on Mogadishu airport 27 September 2024. |
The DPR Aviation College (formerly DPR-Philippine Academy in Technology and Sciences) in Plaridel, Bulacan, Philippines has two F27s, this one inside a hangar and one all-white F27 that is kept outdoors. The identity of both is still unknown, but we think that the F27 fuselage on the photograph has a history with Laoag International Airlines and probably is 10167 or 10169. (Tom Singfield; Plaridel, 29 September 2024). Who has information that can help identifying these preserved Friendships?
The three Maritime F27s of the Spanish Air Force are retired since 2013 and are all stored at Cuatro Vientos air base; here we see D.2-03 (10587). (Hugo Guerra; Cuatro Vientos, 11 October 2024)
This picture shows the F50 that officially was SE-MHR (20113) of Largus Aviation (parent of Amapola Flyg/PopulAir). Largus acquired the F50 from Leading Edge Aviation (or Leascor) where it flew as RP-C7636 and used it for spares only. The Swedish registration was cancelled in 2023 as scrapped. It appears that scrapping was not total as the fuselage is kept at the DPR Aviation College in Plaridel, Bulacan, Philippines. The RP-registration is partially deleted, whereas the name 'Shire of Carnarvon' (on the left hand side) and the letter H of its time with Skywest as VH-FNH are still visible. There are no traces of the Swedish registration, which was likely never applied. (Tim Spearman; Plaridel, 29 September 2024)
The single F50 that Busy Bee Congo operates was allocated the Congolese registration 9S-AHT (20137) sometime during 2023; it used to be registered in Kenya. (Busy Bee Congo; unknown location and date)
In 2022 Largus Aviation bought the entire F50 fleet from Leading Edge Aviation in the Philippines. Two of the six aircraft are still in Malmö. SE-LFD (20240) is seen here doing an engine test, prior to imminent delivery to Kenya as 5Y-GMB. The Leading Edge titles have been removed, but the tail logo is still present. Sister ship SE-LFE (20258) is parked at the right in the full livery of the previous operator. (Ola Carlsson; Malmö, 27 September 2024)
Star Airline has taken 5Y-NWA (20307) under contract that was delivered in June 2024 to Renegade Air and painted it in their new livery. In the past the Somalian airline operated F50 5Y-WFD in a different color scheme. (undisclosed photographer; Mogadishu, 10 October 2024)
Further to the picture in Fokkernews 78 of June 2024, a recent photo proves that Maandeeq Air is still (or again?) the operator of 5Y-IFY (c/n still unknown): it now carries the full livery including titles and tail logo. (undisclosed photographer; Mogadishu, 18 October 2024)
Aerojet Aviation Ltd is operating F50 5Y-SKI (c/n still unknown) in South Sudan. (Paulino Angok Garang; Aweil, 28 June 2024)
One of the three Fellowships of the Argentine Navy, 0741/5-T-20 (11145), has got a prominent place in the National Malvinas Museum in Oliva. (Javier Parigini; Oliva, 18 July 2024)
Premier Airlines is still operating F100 5Y-SKE (11416) on lease from Skyward International. The jet is seen here on short finals over the sea. (undisclosed photographer; Mogadishu, 7 October 2024)
Somalian airline Maandeeq Air has added F70 5Y-IFB (11528) to their fleet, on lease from partner I-Fly Air in Kenya. The local fire brigade welcomed the aircraft with a water salute. (Maandeeq Air; Mogadishu, 29 September 2024)
Credits
All photographers named above, Air-Britain News, Airhistory.net, ATDB News, Aviation Herald, Aviation Safety Network, Aviator.aero, Merv Crowe, Frank Ellemers, FlightAware, Jan Homma, Greg Hyde, Thomas Jung, Planespotters.net, Skyward Express, Svenskt Flyghistoriskt Forum, Jacques Vooren, Henk Wadman.
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