Although increasingly rare in the west, it is still possible to fly on a Fokker 100. It is now an aging aircraft, but I highly recommend it.
I wrote about this aircraft before and even reviewed a brief flight in economy class, but had the chance to fly it again earlier this week, this time under Lufthansa instead of SWISS. It’s truly something I look forward to.
First, I love the interior of the Helvetic Airways…the red carpet reminds me of the TWA Flight Center in New York.
There’s no wi-fi onboard. No power ports. An old bathroom. But plenty of legroom and a padded seat.
It strikes me as amazing that these well-padded economy class seats are actually more comfortable than the new domestic first class seats on American and United.
I also love that it not jet-bridge accessible. While departing from a remote stand via bus is not all that fun, if you’re connecting to/from a Lufthansa or SWISS First Class flight you will be driven to the plane via a Mercedes S-Class or van.
Where else can you fly this vintage aircraft? Per Wikipedia, both Virgin Australia and Qantas still operate this aircraft on Australian domestic routes. That’s a long journey for that aircraft, though. In Europe, you can also catch this aircraft on Montenegro Airlines and PGA Portugalia Airlines. There are currently no commercial operators in North America.
> Read More: Flying on a Vintage Fokker 100 in Europe on SWISS
This is “vintage”???
The F27 is vintage and it was far more common than the F100. It was the mainstay of many airlines/routes around the world, more common in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America than in the USA, and particularly so for airports incapable of jet operations. It still flies in some places; certainly regional Indonesia until very recently, maybe some routes in Africa.
The F28 ( the jet alternative) was also very popular for smaller airports/regional flights ( there is one sitting on the terrace overlooking the tarmac at Schipol, and you can climb aboard)
BTW, I don’t believe that Qantas flies the F100 any longer; all those regional flights are B717
I don’t know, I see it as vintage.
I fly one to or from work every Wednesday. Western Queensland. Short runways.
I fly in to work in one now and then also in Western Australia. Still going in 2021.
Yeah, I had the pleasure of flying an F100 two years ago, flying home from ZRH to BUD. It is retro, it is oldschool but it is charming in its own way. Nice build!
Vintage seems a bit of a stretch, these aircraft were built from late 80’s to mid 90’s so at worst are 30 years old.
So about ge same age as a 737 Classic, a title which seems much more apt than Vintage!
But agree, they are great aircraft.
Flew these a lot when American Airlines had them in the 1990’s. I have ZERO nostalgia for these flying hunks of garbage.
Great write-up. Thanks for the post! I’ll be looking to book a short-hop on one of these this summer while in EU. I love the experience of being able to walk tarmac and up stairs to board a plane. And love the experience even more when I know the aircraft I am boarding isn’t even produced anymore. Call me crazy.
Thanks again. Cheers
Clearly the most important thing at this point is to assess the exact age at which something becomes vintage.
I recall flying AA’s F100s DFW-DTW back in the 90s. Loved those little planes, even though upgrades were hard to get (only 4 F seats). The windows were oval and narrow, but the best part was that the seats mounted to the cabin wall, so the area under the seats was completely unimpeded, without seat legs.
It is true that Fokker 100s will be heading to the bone yard in the next 5 to 10 years, but I’m not sure that fact makes the type ‘vintage.’ The average age of Delta Air Lines fleet is 17 years old (2001). The Fokker 100 was discontinued only 4 years prior to that in 1997, and indeed the average age of Fokker 100 fleets is only around 25-years-old. The Big 3 have many ships around 30-years-old with no immediate plans to retire them.
Shoot, you think the Fokker is old, you should have flown on one of Delta’s DC-9s before the last of them were retired in 2014. Some of the were 45-years-old and built in the 1960s.
Flew it ATL-TLH in ’13, and it was surely a treat. I was impressed that it had wifi.
I’m 33. I’ve been a fairly frequent flyer all of my life, and aside from a short stint where I lived in Eastern Europe in the late ’90s, boarding a Fokker has always been a rare occurrence. I can’t remember the last time I was on one. I agree with @Matthew. If these things aren’t vintage, I’m not sure what is.
I remember flying on one of these back in the late 90’s on Air Canada from YLW to YVR. It was the first “jet” I flew on as a kid and set the bar for seat quality very early on in life. Was really disappointed when I started flying on the 737’s. I was 10 or 11 at the time and flying as an “unaccompanied minor”, we were circling the airport for a bit when the captian came on and said we were having some mechanical difficulties. As we landed we were greeted by countless firetrucks, ambulance, and police cars lining the runway. As it turns out we lost wheel brakes and steering and had to be towed off the runway to the gate. I one memory that sticks out was a few of the women on the plane were crying hysterically as we landed, while I’m all giddy in my seat from seeing all the emergency vehicles. Thankfully they held the Dash-8 to YYJ for me as it was the last one over for the night so I could get home to my dad.
Maybe 767 is vintage, too? Would certainly be happy to see it consigned to the knackers yard.
Those old overhead bins are certainly decades past their prime!
I do believe these planes are jet-bridge accessible as I had the chance to fly the Helvetic Swiss operated ones in Zurich and boarding was done via a jet bridge.
Absolutely; I flew the F-100 as a captain and can tell you they behave like any other jetliner ramp wise.
Flew on one of these operated by Carpatair from Manchester (UK) to Ibiza last week. It was just by chance that the flight was leased out by British Airways. Doesn’t matter whether or not it’s “vintage” in the strictest sense, travelling on one is an experience that takes you back and different to what most of us are used to now, with opportunities getting fewer.
I have a maintenance engineers licence on the F100 and know them fairly well. Fokker had some bad luck with their timing, a few years after their bankruptcy there was suddenly a tremendous increase in demand for jet powered 100 seaters when it had become obvious for airlines that the public did not want turboprops. It took 20 years until 100 seater jets were available again, if Fokker had survived a few more years they would have sold hundreds, maybe thousands. It was a very capable aircraft, excellent short runway performance and quiet for its time. It also had 3 FULLY independent autopilot systems for cat III landing in opposite to other aircraft even of today where the third autopilot is dependent of electrical power from the engines.
Ready for takeoff now in a Helvetica F100 from Munich to Amsterdam. So far so good.
These planes sucked when they were new. According to pilot friends that had to fly them, they seriously lacked power given their size and in comparison to other aircraft of similar size like the DC-9 class of airplanes (especially the MD-80), and also lacked basic modern necessities like thrust reversers and leading edge slats. An F-100 just crashed where the aircraft was violently oscillating after takeoff, which is a typical symptom of being right at stall speed. Staying safely above Vs (stall speed) keeps you out of this zone, but because the wing lacks leading edge slats, the wing stalls at a higher airspeed than is typical of this type. The crash that just occurred in Kazakhstan, while too early to tell what the cause was, sounds like this type of crash – it’s possible the plane was overweight or out of balance as well, but with more power and with a more modern wing design, those issues are just issues, not something that brings an aircraft down. Any way this goes, you can count on the fact that the investigation will show that the pilot flew the airplane below its safe maneuvering speed. Pilot error, or poor design? Both – the pilot should know this airplane has these issues, but the F100 needs to be permanently grounded.
I believe your pilot friends are exaggerating a bit. The plane HAS reversers, spoilers and speed brakes, and as for engine power the 650s have more than adequate power. The wing is of such a clean design than most of the time you can takeoff with flaps up. The tail mounted speed brakes allow the pilot to control the rate of descent without any vibration or loss of performance all the way to the ground.
Regarding your rushed investigation on yesterday’s deplorable accident I detect some faults. You see, on the F-100 wing leading edge, near the wingtip, you will find a black area, visible from the flight deck, that allow the crew to detect the presence of ice before takeoff. G9ven the weather conditions at the time it is possible that ice accrued during taxi but of course I would not dare to affirm or deny the probable cause of the accident with insufficient data provided by my pilot friends.
Skippers Aviation and Alliance Airlines are also still using Fokker 100 from Perth, Western Australia. Skippers two Fokker are bit dated. Really bad smell inside the cabin (hydraulic) but really quite during flight. Cabin pressurization funny sometimes when descending.