Yesterday I boarded my SWISS flight from Frankfurt to Zurich and had to stop and do a double take: what happened to my CS100?! I thought I was flying on a brand new Bombardier CS100 but instead I found myself on a Fokker 100 pushing 30 years old.
It’s relatlivey rare to find an interesting aircraft on an intra-Europe route. Unlike on short flights within Asia, widebodies are scarce. Most routes are operated by fairly modern Airbus and Boeing single aisle planes.
When making a reservation for intra-European flights, I rarely pay attention to the aircraft type. This time I did notice a “100” on the route, which I assumed was the Bombardier CS100. I had just flown the CS100 a month ago on the same route…
Turns out it was a different 100.
As we pulled up to the aircraft in our Black Mercedes S-Class (yes… a gratuitous Lufthansa First Class Terminal reference), we noticed a very different aircraft. It had round windows like the CS100, but it clearly was something else. Indeed, it was a Fokker 100.
My flight was operated by Helvetic Airways, which still has a fleet of Fokker 100, some more than 30 years old.
Upon boarding we were met with this–
Talk about a retro throwback! It was a 35-mintue flight, so it’s not like there was much time to enjoy it, but the legroom was amazing! It felt like 34 inches! Compared to the horrible Recaro slimline seats found across most of the SWISS narrow body fleet, this was an incredible upgrade. The red carpet felt like the old TWA Terminal at JFK.
Enjoy these pictures from the flight. If you have the chance, I highly recommend seeking out a Fokker 100 on Helvetic Airways. If nothing else, it represents a huge upgrade in legroom.
Covered ashtrays! Yes! Definitely a flying museum!
Nice post. If you’re a regular Delta flier though, you’ll often fly planes older than the Fokker!
Probably not with the same legroom! 😉
Holy Fokk!
Proof that old can be better.
Assuming these pics are “as is” and not dressed up by filters or photoshop, not only does this old bird look FAR MORE COMFORTABLE than ANY others one steps onto and has had the DISpleasure of being stuck sitting on those awful, hard as cement, park bench (or for those of us in NYC the wooden block benches in subway stations)-like “Slime-line”…er Slimline…seats (in teeny-tiny pitched rows) in virtually any plane – new or old – here in the USA (or elsewhere) on ANY airline…
…is it just me, or does that 30-year old Fokker F-100 look much, much cleaner than virtually any of the barely two-week old 737s flown by United, American or Delta that most of us have found ourselves aboard many times over in the past few years?!?! 😉
Fokker is Dutch, not “a 30-year old British aircraft.”
I did not call the Fokker British or Dutch in this review.
I live in South Hedland, Western Australia and see these daily. Fly them to Perth. They’re good planes.
i have took this one during a short flight Zurich – Milan after a long flight from SA….it seems like a toy after 11 hrs in a 777-300ER 😉