Update – Fokker 100

The F100 is based broadly on the F28-4000. The fuselage is stretched to accommodate up to 107 passengers in an all-economy five abreast configuration at 32″ pitch. Alternatively 12 first class at 36″ and 80 economies at 32″ for a total uplift of 92 (typical TAA configuration) or a mixed arrangement of 60 Business class seats at 34″ and 45 economy at 32″ for a total of 105 passengers can be accommodated. Launch customer, Swissair will operate their aircraft as 84-seaters with 8 first, and a mix of 76 Business and economy seats. Swissair will operate their aircraft as 84-seaters with 8 first, and a mix of 76 Business and economy seats. In Swissair service, the F100 will replace DC-9-30s on short-haul European routes providing a greater proportion of end-to-end sectors which Swissair maintain will reduce airport congestion and boost business patronage due to increased non-stop flights. KLM are also on the verge of announcing a large F100 contract which will again see DC-9-30s being replaced with the new Dutch twinjet.

Fokker has in fact been planning on an F100-style airliner for many years. Readers may recall the numerous projects that have passed through the Amsterdam design office in recent years. The Super F28, F29 and the collaborative but ill-fated MDF 100 in which McDonnell Douglas and Fokker teamed to replace the former’s DC-9 family of jets. Fokker originally planned to replace the F28 with a much larger aircraft even though this would have meant taking on the likes of the large American manufacturers. Following stagnating growth during the seventies, which was about half that of the sixties, Fokker decided that a twinjet in the 100-seat class would be the optimum position in which to be for the latter nineteen eighties. And so was born the F100.

Though the aircraft will in fact be able to demonstrate considerable gains in per seat mile economy over the Fellowship (30% + ) the vastly reduced development budget required to launch what was essentially a derivative of a proven design enabled the Dutch company to also co-launch the smaller turboprop F50 (refer P36 March 1985 issue) design. Research has shown that the basic aerodynamics of the F28-4000 was so good that the wing only needed minor modifications to accept a substantially larger airframe weight. Additionally, wind tunnel testing had verified that this lengthened (3mtr) and enlarged (14. 5sq mtr) wing would have a reduced drag component thereby boosting aircraft mile efficiency by some five per cent in the cruise. The new wing will provide reduced drag at both high and low speeds and allow an overall 30% improvement in aerodynamic efficiency.

The greatest driver of the F100 project though were the all-new Rolls Royce Tay powerplants. Fokker calls them “the right engines at the right time” and Rolls is certainly not disagreeing as within weeks of announcing the new engine programme the UK engine manufacturer had 300 engines signed up between Fokker and Gulfstream Aerospace for the GIV executive jet.

Like the F100 itself, the Tay is a growth version of an earlier project, namely the Spey. The Spey needs no introduction and is one of the most versatile jet engines yet developed on either side of the Atlantic. Variants of the basic Spey power the F28, BAC 111, AMX, Gulfstream GIi and GIii, F-4M Phantom, Buccaneer and the A-7 built under licence by Allison.

To produce the Tay, Rolls Royce took the highly reliable core of the RB183-555 Spey and mated it to an all-new advanced Low-Pressure turbine, a new 3 Stage Intermediate Pressure compressor and a new wide-chord fan scaled down from the RB211 family. This wide chord technology is a Rolls speciality and boost the by-pass ratio from 1:1 in the Spey to 3:1 in the Tay with resultant improvements in fuel efficiency and a reduction in noise. Despite the fact that takeoff thrust is boosted from 9,900Ib to 13,550Ib, Specific Fuel Consumption is actually reduced by 15% over the older, noisier engine.

The third area of massive change in the F100 was the flight deck. The F100 will have full EFIS with four primary displays. Avionics are based on the Arinc 700 digital data processing technology while the layout’s flexibility allows additional avionics to be added as needed. Primary flight and navigation information, including colour weather radar, is displayed on the CRTs. The Automatic Flight Control and Augmentation System (AFCAS) display is digital CAT 11. An EFIS control panel and an integrated central warning system is also included. The Collins EFIS incorporates two 6″x7″ CRTs on each side of the cockpit, consisting of a primary flight display that includes attitude director indicator and air data information and a navigation display that includes weather radar and map overlay.

Launched in early 1984, the Fokker 100 has at the time of going to press scored one launch order. Albeit an impressive carrier on which to paint your first livery. Swissair take delivery of their first of type in April 1987, roughly one year after the F100 recorded its first flight. Swissair have signed for 8 with options on a further 6 though the eventual Swissair order could be for as many as thirty aircraft. Dutch carrier KLM is also about to sign and again _ the eventual order could be large even by North American standards. This is a good omen for the F100 as one of the eventual marketing problems with the F28 was that while a large number of operators chose the type (52 to date) only 222 have been sold. Hopefully, Fokker will have an aircraft that will appeal to the larger carriers who traditionally think in terms of dozens rather than single units.

Closer to home the Fokker 100 is well thought of at TAA. Ansett are still a little unsure about five-abreast seating though they have included this in their own BAe 146-200s so perhaps the attitude is changing at the Big A. Mind you the game is most probably lost here as Ansett look to be an eventual 146 operator for some time to come. TAA’s primary logic with the F100 would be as a DC-9-30 replacement for which they would have a need for around nine or ten aircraft. However, TAA might also be examining the appeal of running more end-to-end sectors instead of rubbing so much outlying traffic through the Sydney and Melbourne hubs. Atlanta and Memphis may be hubs of international note but it is not till you don’t live in Sydney or Melbourne that you appreciate first-hand the amount of through traffic that these crowded ports have to handle each day. By offering a greater number of direct services from secondary ports then TAA could improve their market share on a regional basis in various stages, the Fokker 100 would be the ideal vehicle with which to attack this market.

East West are the other principal local purchaser. Already big Fokker customers East West certainly have a requirement for such an aircraft as the F100 but may actually leapfrog past this size of the airliner by the time it is available if present growth continues over the coming three years. East West’s recent announcement of the intended purchase of a Boeing 737-200 might well signify that the carrier will wait a little longer and go for larger aircraft in the 120/150-seat class.

The potential market is very big for this class of aircraft, perhaps even bigger than Fokker estimates as the regional operators continue to grow with encouraging stability. British Aerospace are there too with their 146 in three versions while Boeing have retaliated with their 737 Lite and the MD-87 and 737-300 await on the upper boundaries of the existing market. In the end there should be enough for all though the best thing the executives at Fokker know is that they only need to build around 36 F100 aircraft a year to look good financially. That could well turn out to be a conservative production base.