Fokkernews April 2023 (issue 64)

General news

Busy Bee Congo found their request for passenger flights with their second F50 denied by the local CAA. Only freight operations seem to be allowed for a reason not specified by the authorities. 

Congo Airways has officially denied the acquisition of Fokker 50s; the airline focuses on Dash-8 400Q equipment for developing short-haul operations. 

On April 4th 2023 startup Batanes North Airways inaugurated its first route from Clarck to Basco airport on Batan island, one of the northernmost islands of the Philippines. The virtual airline operates a F50 supplied by Leading Edge (Leascor). 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Authority withholds approval of the proposed acquisition of Alliance Aviation by Qantas. The merger is considered to substantially reduce competition in the field of air transport services to resource industry customers in Western Australia and Queensland.

Fokker F27, Fokker 50 & Fokker 60

c/n type registration new registration comment
20210 050 JU-8250 Aero Mongolia. No longer registered, cancellation date unknown.
20280 050 JU-1050 Mongolian Airways. The exact status of this aircraft is questionable: some sources have it stored since November 2022, others believe it lost its registration, for unknown reasons.
20303 050 VH-FKV HP-1899PST Air Panama. The Panamanian registration is now known, re-registered on 3 November 2022.

Fokker F28, Fokker 70 & Fokker 100

c/n type registration new registration comment
11042 1000 A-2801 Indonesian Air Force. Noted during the 77th anniversary Air Force parade at Jakarta - Halim. The aircraft is withdrawn from use, so it was only a static participant.
11316 100 VH-FWH Virgin Australia. Registration cancelled 5 April 2023. The aircraft was broken up at Singapore Seletar, after its last flight from Perth in late October 2022.
11463 100 PK-MJC Merpati. This derelict F100 was eventually cut into pieces in Bandung in April 2023. YouTube shows a video of its last hours at https://youtu.be/LpYmebICzoQ

As reported in Fokkernews 56, WDL Friendship D-BAKD (10179) was moved in summer 2022 to a position closer to the terminal. It now appears to serve as a training object for de-icing and rescue services at the airport. (Mario Dubbel on Facebook; Cologne-Bonn, 18 April 2023)

 

The second of three former Alliance Airlines F50 that Air Panama acquired in 2022 has now got its Panamanian registration and full color scheme: HP-1899PST (20303) used to be  VH-FKV. (Alexis Navarro on JetPhotos.net; David, 7 April 2023)

 

As Alliance Airlines is currently the world’s largest Fokker operator, we present a nice night shot of their F70 VH-QQY (11575). (Merv Crowe; Perth, 22 January 2013)

 

Credits

All photographers named above, Air-Britain News, ASNAR-RDC, ATDB newsletter, Aviator.aero, CH-Aviation, Frank Ellemers, Greg Hyde, Henk Wadman.