Scandinavian Commuter

In early 1990 Fokker commenced assembling F50 with construction number 20198; this was the official construction number, but internally Fokker used P098, meaning that it was the 98^th F50 built. The airframe was part of an order for 15 units by Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS). As usual, SAS divided the aircraft from an order over the three countries where the airline was active and 20198 was assigned to the Swedish branch (SAS Sverige AB).

On 11 October 1990 the F50 made its first flight from the Fokker factory at Amsterdam-Schiphol airport, with test registration PH-EXG, in full SAS Commuter-Eurolink livery and adorned with the name ‘Folke Viking’. Exactly two weeks later it was delivered to SAS, now registered as SE-LFO. Initially SAS leased the F50 from Aircraft Finance & Trading BV, which very soon transferred the lease to its subsidiary Stockholm Aircraft Finance BV. SAS Sverige used the aircraft for more than ten years on domestic routes and to various destinations in Northwest Europe. It was withdrawn from use on 8 April 2001 in Copenhagen and ferried to Fokker in Woensdrecht the day after for storage; by then it had been painted all white. It had flown in SAS service for 20,487 hours and made 21,359 landings. The Swedish registration was cancelled on 10 May 2001 and replaced with PH-ZDH on 14 May.

Merpati Nusantara

Two weeks later PH-ZDH was ferried from Woensdrecht to Amsterdam, because a sales contract with Merpati Nusantara Airlines was pending. However, that transaction fell through and the aircraft was placed in storage at Amsterdam. It remained stored there for almost two years.

Gee Bee Air

In early 2003 the Greek airline Gee Bee Air announced that they intended to lease three F50s for regional operations and 20198 was to become SX-BTJ. It was seen at Amsterdam in April 2003, painted in the Gee Bee Air livery, but was never delivered. Sistership 20199 (to become SX-BTK) experienced the same fate and actually only 20103 has been in service with Gee Bee Air as SX-BTI. After the deal with Gee Bee failed, PH-ZDH was flown to Woensdrecht and put in storage, together with 20199 as PH-ZDI, both still in full Gee Bee colors.

Swe Fly

On 24 November 2003 PH-ZDH was ferried from Woensdrecht to Amsterdam and three days later left the paintshop in all white livery, with SE-LFO painted on. This time it was meant for Swe Fly, but also this acquisition was cancelled. In December 2003 the aircraft returned to Woensdrecht as PH-ZDH for continued storage.

Air Astana

During 2003 Fokker, through Aircraft Finance & Trading BV, closed a lease contract for six F50 with Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan that had started operations the previous year. On 3 March 2004 20198 was noted at Amsterdam in full Air Astana livery, still without registration. Few days later it returned to Woensdrecht for final maintenance, the new registration P4-HAS was applied on 18 March and the F50 delivered to Almaty on 22 March 2004. In 2005, 2010 and 2011 it was in the Netherlands again for maintenance and eventually Air Astana withdrew it from service on 30 November 2012. Utilization by Air Astana was 20,777 hours and 10,654 landings. It returned to Maastricht in January 2013 for maintenance as P4-HAS and was restored to PH-ZDH again in April of that year.

Avior Regional

On 4 September 2013 the F50 departed Maastricht and flew to Caracas in two days with fuel stops at Keflavik, Halifax and Nassau, on delivery to Aviones de Oriente, which operated as Avior Airlines, still as PH-ZDH in basic Air Astana colors. The registration was changed to YV2948 on 19 September 2013. The aircraft was not immediately put in service, but stored at Puerto Ordaz airport near Ciudad Guayana. In September 2014 it was seen in the paintshop at Barcelona, Venezuela, and rolled out in Avior Regional livery, preceding the official renaming of the airline into Avior Regional in March 2015. The Avior Fokkers not only flew domestic services from Caracas to Valera and Barinas but were used for the connection with Curaçao, too. In December 2016 Avior Regional ceased operations and YV2948 was stored at Barinas.

Gran Colombia de Aviación

In late 2017 it was decided to transfer three Avior Fokkers to Gran Colombia de Aviación (GCA), the Colombian subsidiary of Avior Airlines. On 18 August 2018 YV2948 was ferried from Barinas via Caracas and Bogota to Cali, in Avior color scheme without titles. The aircraft was officially reregistered to HK-5303 on 18 October 2018, but the Colombian registration was never applied to the aircraft. It did never enter service with GCA and remained stored at Cali with its Venezuelan registration until 2 November 2023 when it was ferried back to Avior in Barcelona, Venezuela and stored there. In the meantime, the Venezuelan registration YV2948 had been restored on 1 August 2021 and CGA had ceased all operations in February 2022 as a result of financial problems. In 2021 there were reports that Largus Aviation of Sweden was interested to buy the Avior F50s, but this deal never materialized. Avior had used YV2948 for only 466 hours during 408 flights.

Somali Government

In 2025 it became known that the government of Somalia had acquired two Fokker 50s and one of these appeared to be 20198. YV2948 was flown on 4 December 2025 from Barcelona to Paramaribo, painted all white, for some maintenance. Subsequently it was delivered from there to Mogadishu on 1-5 February 2026, with registration 6O-GAM; the official registration date is unknown. For the second time in its career the F50 crossed the Atlantic Ocean, this time following a southern route from Paramaribo via Fortaleza, Sal, Accra, Yaoundé and Entebbe to Mogadishu. Its use in Somalia is described in the accompanying article by Mads Oyen.

20198 pictures

PH-EXG (20198) SAS Commuter-Eurolink during a pre-delivery test flight. (unknown photographer, collection Hans Groen; Amsterdam, October 1990)

SE-LFO (20198) Scandinavian Commuter-Eurolink in service (Leo Larsen; Copenhagen, 8 October 1991)

PH-ZDH (20198) parked at the Fokker factory in all white livery (Erwin Stam; Amsterdam, 17 April 2003)

PH-ZDH (20198) stored in full Gee Bee Air colors, with sister ship PH-ZDI (20199) on the right. (Hans Hoffmann, Woensdrecht, 16 August 2003)

SE-LFO (20198) just out of the Fokker paintshop, devoid of colors and intended for Swe Fly, but not delivered. (Dutch; Amsterdam, 27 November 2003)

P4-HAS (20198) in service in original Air Astana livery. (Alex Nitter; Almaty, 2 October 2004)

P4-HAS (20198) during a diversion due to Woensdrecht being closed for snowfall; note the revised Air Astana titles. (Hans Hoffmann; Eindhoven, 4 January 2010)

PH-ZDH (20198) preparing for a test flight after maintenance, in basic Air Astana livery. (Arjen Sleeuwenhoek, Maastricht, 27 June 2013)

YV2948 (20198) shortly after painting into Avior Regional colors. (l8rmt; Caracas, 25 October 2014)

YV2948 (20198) on delivery flight to CGA in basic Avior colors. (Andres Restrepo; Cali, 21 August 2018)

6O-GAM (20198) on its delivery flight to the new Somali carrier Bestlink Air Services. (Davi Avila, Fortaleza, 1 February 2026)