Fokkernews June 2023 (issue 66)

General news

After less than three months JetAir Caribbean has dropped the triangular flights between Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire. The carrier is now flying to Medellin from Bonaire.

 

Iranian airline Kish Air has announced to remove all F100s from their fleet soon. Kish Air currently has two F100s, one of which is believed to be still active.

Fokker F27, Fokker 50 & Fokker 60

c/n type registration new registration comment
20110 50 5Y-SKN Air Kasaï returned its F50 to Rudufu in December 2022 and the aircraft is stored since.
20145 50 5Y-MMA Salaam Air. Noted in service at Mogadishu 26 June 2023. The aircraft has both the Kenyan and Somali flag behind the cockpit.
20147 50E 5Y-GMS I-Fly. Leased from Aerospace Consortium for cargo flights in East Africa; the aircraft is all white.
20149 50F 5Y-ELY Silverstone Air. Seen with large 'Fokker 50 freighter' titles 24 June 2023 at Nairobi-Wilson and 27 June at Mogadishu .
20193 50 HK-5301 YV2917 Avior Regional. Never entered service with Gran Colombia de Aviación, returned to Avior 23 June 2023 and stored at Barcelona (Venezuela). The HK-registration was never applied to the aircraft.
20208 50 5Y-JWZ Skyward Express supported the Lamu cultural festival 2022 with special decals on this F50. Unfortunately no decent pictures could be found.
20214 50 5Y-WFD Fly-24 Air. Seen in service with small titles at Nairobi-Wilson 24 June 2023. This is a Somalian travel agency and virtual airline. Also seen 27 June 2023 in Mogadishu.
20231 50 5H-TGF Tanzania Government. Noted at Dar es Salaam 20 June 2023.
20243 50 5Y-WFB Fly-24 Air. Seen in basic Flugleidir color scheme with small 'Fly-24 Air' decals at Nairobi-Wilson 24 June and at Mogadishu 26 June 2023.
20247 50 7P-ALI unknown Mohahlaula Airlines. Reportedly deregistered, further details welcome.
20249 50 5Y-FAS Freedom Airlines Express. Seen acive with 'Operated by BlueSky Airlines' titles under the cockpit at Nairobi-Wilson 23 June and Mogadishu 27 June 2023.
20260 50 5Y-JRN Skyward Express. Noted Nairobi-Wilson 24 and 28 June 2023 without engines at the platform. Previously it was seen in the dump area; will it be brought back in service?
unknown 50 5Y-FAD Freedom Airlines Express. Noted parked at Nairobi-Wilson 23 June 2023.
unknown 50 5Y-IFY Seen at Nairobi-Wilson 24 and 28 June 2023. Hitherto unknown registration. The F50 operates for I-Fly, mainly in Somalia. The camel logo on the tail suggests that it is a Maandeeq Air aircraft.
unknown 50 6O-AAE Operator still unknown. Seen active at Mogadishu 26 June 2023, all white.
unknown 50 6O-YAS Seen with large 'StarSky Aviation' titles, tail logo and '10 year anniversary' tail titles 26 and 27 June 2023 at Mogadishu. Apparently the F50 no longer operates for Maandeeq Air as noted in November 2022.
unknown 50 ET-AYQ East African Aviation. Seen in service 26 June 2023 at Mogadishu, white with red engine cowlings and black F50 titles, c/n unknown.
unknown 50 ET-AZQ East African Aviation. Seen active with blue tail and engine cowlings at Mogadishu 26 June 2023; unknown c/n.
unknown 50 ET-SKI Unknown operator and unknown c/n. Noted in service with tail in blue and thin red line, without titles at Mogadishu 26 June 2023.

Fokker F28, Fokker 70 & Fokker 100

c/n type registration new registration comment
11137 3000 5H-CCM Tanzania Government. Noted at Dar es Salaam 20 June 2023 near corrosion corner, but looking intact.
11334 100 VH-FNC Virgin Australia. Offered for sale as of 10 December 2023.
11391 100 VH-FSW Virgin Australia. Offered for sale as of 1 August 2023.
11416 100 9A-BTE 5Y-SKE Skyward Express. The ex-Trade Air F100 left Woensdrecht on 7 June 2023 on delivery to Nairobi. Ferry was via Luxemburg, Heraklion and Saudi Arabia in the Trade Air scheme without titles. The F100 was seen at Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta 26 and 27 June 2023, apparently not yet in service. It will soon fly for Fly Premier Airlines.
11452 100 VH-ZYT Network Aviation. This F100, ex Avanti D-AOLG, or actually what was still left of it after removal of all useful parts, was seen being ripped up at Perth 27 June 2023.
11456 100 VH-UQF Alliance. Seen Adelaide 15 June 2023, no longer carrying the '2023 Longreach Cup' sticker.
11489 100 VH-FNJ Virgin Australia. Offered for sale by 10 Juyly 2023.
11528 70 5Y-IFB I-Fly Air. Noted in service on Nairobi-Wilson 23 June, Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta 26 June and Mogadishu 27 June 2023. The livery still awaits completion.
11559 70 5Y-MMB Salaam Air. Seen active at Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta 24-06-2023, no longer titles, only logo on tail. Four days later it was seen during maintenance at Nairobi-Wilson.
11562 70 5Y-IFA I-Fly Air. Seen in service 26 June 2023 at Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta, 27 June in Mogadishu and 28 June 2023 in Nairobi-Wilson.

A new Fokker operator is Fly-24 Air that has put small titles on 5Y-WFB (20243), which still flies in the basic Flugleidir livery. (André Alders; Nairobi-Wilson, 29 June 2023)

 

The new location of former Sky Aviation F50 PK-ECF (20279) has now become known. It is on concrete struts in the Airplane Park, very close to Pekanbaru airport. Compared to the picture in Fokkernews 9, it has also got revised tail colors. (Harry Mustika on Facebook; Pekanbaru, December 2022)

 

A recent addition to the I-Fly Air fleet is F50 5Y-IFY (c/n unknown). The aircraft is devoid of titles and carries a camel tail logo that looks somewhat similar to that of Maandeeq Air. (André Alders; Nairobi-Wilson, 28 June 2023)

 

Also unknown is the c/n of 6O-YAS that now sports large Starsky titles and a 10th anniversary tail logo. Starsky is a Somalian airline that apparently took the F50 under contract recently. Also note the ‘AIR ELITE Alliance’ sticker under the cockpit. (André Alders; Mogadishu, 27 June 2023)

 

East African Aviation is an Ethiopian airline that currently operates two F50s for passenger and cargo flights. ET-AZQ (c/n unknown) is shown here. (André Alders; Mogadishu, 26 June 2023)

 

Three pictures from a unique transport. A group of F28 enthusiasts has successfully completed the plan to move a retired F28 from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Innisfail, Alberta. It concerns C-GTIZ (11099), a F28-1000C that still carries the Canadian Regional ‘Prouds Wings’ livery. The aircraft,  affectionately called TIZZY after the registration, was withdrawn from use in 2002 and was stored over 20 years at Saskatoon, together with many sister ships. In 2020 a private person bought the aircraft, with the intention to bring it to his farm in Alberta. That plan has now been realized. After some external cosmetics the F28 will be on display in the original colors at the owner’s property. The pictures illustrate key phases of the project: loading on a truck in Saskatoon, transport through the Canadian countryside and arrival at final destination Innisfail. (Arnold Begeman and Alex Praglowski on Facebook; Canada, June 2023)

The Argentine Air Force is finalizing the process of making a veteran Fellowship airworthy again. The airframe (11203), soon 40 years old, started its career with Korean Airlines and is in Argentinian service since 1998. It was recently re-serialled from T-02 to T-51 and received a new, all-grey livery. The name is ‘2 de Abril’ (2nd of April), an important date in het history of the Falkland conflict. The Rolls Royce Spey engines are currently being refurbished and once completed they will give at least another 750 flying hours to the aircraft. (Zona-militar.com; El Palomar, 21 May 2023)

 

During a short period Alliance Airlines had a sticker applied on F100 VH-UQF (11456), promoting the 2023 Longreach Cup (horse racing) in September 2023. (Jonesy’s Photography on Flickr; Brisbane, 1 June 2023)

 

The newest Fokker in the rapidly growing I-Fly fleet is F70 5Y-IFB (11528), which is painted in a fancy VIP-like livery. The aircraft is named ‘Airman'. Reportedly the livery is still incomplete. (André Alders; Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta, 27 June 2023)

 

Credits

All photographers named above, André Alders, ATDB News, Aviator.aero, Alexandre Avrane, CH-Aviation, Merv Crowe, Frank Ellemers, Flightradar, Jetphotos.net, My Air Trade, Planespotters.net, Skyliner, Jacques Vooren, Henk Wadman, WoensdrechtAS forum.