Dutch persistence

The 50-seat F50 turborprops have seen service in Australian skies since the late 1980s through various Ansett subsidiaries including Ansett Express and Air NSW. Today, the aircraft is in service with Skywest Airlines and Alliance Airlines, operating on both RPT and charter services.

In contrast, its 100 seat jet stablemate, the F100, jet was a relative latecomer to Australian skies. The first of the type to be operated in Australia were delivered to Flight West Airlines in 1999 where they were intended to replace F28 Fellowships. But the type’s future in Australia was almost immediately curtailed, with Flight West falling into administration in 2000.

Instead, that event turned out to be the start of a major Fokker revival in Australia, with the two Flight West F100s acquired Alliance Airlines, which initially used them on RPT services before later switching to focus on charter services. Alliance then took the opportunity after 2001 to purchase a number of additional F100s which were being retired by US Airways, and the carrier is now the largest operator of the type in the region.

In 2007, Alliance also became the second operator of the F50, with the carrier initially taking three F50s to service a charter contract from Adelaide to Olympic Dam. Over the years, it has added a further three aircraft to its fleet, all of which are based in Adelaide.

For Perth based Skywest, the association with Fokker aircraft goes back to 1994 when it took over some of Ansett’s aircraft to replace its smaller BAe Jetstream 31s on regional services in WA. For many years, that core fleet remained unchanged, even after the airline became independent following the collapse of Ansett.

That association became stronger in 2002 when it chose the F100 as its first jet, initially to service a charter contract on behalf of Rio Tinto’s Argyle diamond mine. The subsequent success of its jet services has now taken its fleet of F100s to nine.

Most recently, Perth based charter operator Network Aviation has joined the Fokker club, with the airline taking three ex Germania F100 aircraft in 2008. It flies its aircraft on mining charter flights to the north-west from Perth.

A key to the growth of the Fokker fleet has been the relatively low acquisition costs. In the case of the F100s, this was brought about by the collapse in air travel after September 11, which caused American Airlines and US Airways to retire their sizable fleets of F100s. As a result, a number of carriers around the world seized on the aircraft which still provided strong operating economics at a price much more affordable than newer 100 seaters.

Similarly, F50s have been available on competitive lease rates or acquisition costs, while the modern systems and engines mean that it compares favourably to other aircraft in the 50 seat market, such as the ATR 42 or Bombardier Dash 8-300/Q300.

Both aircraft have also benefited from some future thinking by their designers, with both aircraft featuring electronic flight instrumentation systems in the cockpit, as well as a number of other advances which have meant that the types remain competitive against newer competitors.

With Fokker long bankrupt, support for aircraft is Fokker Services, which is a subsidiary of Dutch company Stork Aerospace. Fokker Services maintains the type certifications for both aircraft, and also plays a key role in providing spares, marketing the aircraft and providing maintenance services.

Australia’s Fokker operators are primarily supported by Fokker Services Asia (FSA). FSA provides parts support, while it also has its own maintenance facility at Singapore’s Seletar airport. “The services we provide ranges from supply of spare parts to component management covering both exchange and repair of rotable items on the aircraft, to engineering of modifications, and heavy checks,” explained Raj Ramanujam, director of FSA.

Ramanujan says that the Fokker aircraft have proven themselves in the Australian market. “The fact that three regional operators in Australia (Skywest, Alliance and Network), all of whom operate extensively in the fly-in, fly-out market, have selected Fokker aircraft speaks for itself. In fact, Alliance, and until recently Skywest, are exclusively Fokker operators. The aircraft have proven themselves in this environment.”

Fokker 50

Locally, the Fokker 50 has been a stalwart on WA regional routes, and more recently on mining charter services in WA and South Australia.

One of the keys to the type’s longevity has been the advanced design, which most pilots say was ahead of its time. Like the modern airliners in the same category F50 features an Electronic Flight Instrumentation System, while enhancements such as ADS-B and enhanced ground proximity warning systems (EGPWS) have been integrated later.

Another key has been the aircraft’s engines, which are Pratt & Whitney Canada PW125Bs, although some enhanced versions were fitted with the later PW127Bs, both of which drive six bladed Dowty propellers. As PW100 series engines, they are similar in performance to those powering newer ATR and Bombardier aircraft. “The Fokker 50 fuel burn is the same as any current generation fuel burn,” said Skywest CEO Mark Shelton.

Ramanujam adds that there are other positives for the aircraft. “The Fokker 50 has the best range-payload performance of any turboprop in its class and its low cabin noise makes it capable of handling long-distance routes without overly fatiguing passengers.”

The appeal of the cabin has been a major positive for Skywest, which primarily uses the F50 on its network of WA regional RPT routes in a 46 seat configuration. “This aeroplane is a full size aeroplane with a full size cabin and can take full size bags,” said Shelton.

Skywest’s managing director Hugh Davin adds that with most of its F50s ex Ansett machines that their aircraft have the advantage of being fitted with heated galleys and other refinements which means it is able to offer a product more akin to jet services. “We’re a little bit blessed by the choice that others before us have made,” he said.

The age of the aircraft in Skywest’s fleet varies, with the oldest pushing on 23 years while it has also recently secured one of the F50s to be produced. Despite the variation, Davin says that operationally the aircraft are largely identical. “We operate Fokker 50s with high 20,000 hours on them, and we operate Fokker 50s with 40,000 hours on them and you actually cannot tell the difference between one aircraft and the other.”

For Skywest, the F50 has been the ideal aircraft for its mix of RPT and charter operations which can be wide and varied. This sees the aircraft operate on the 1031nm flight from Perth to The Granites minesite as well as on shorter routes, such as the 233nm between Perth and Albany with relative ease.

The only other operator of the F50 in Australia is Alliance Airlines, which brought in its first F50 in 2006, with the carrier now operating six on contract charter services between Adelaide and Olympic Dam and Prominent Hill. “They’ve proven to be the perfect aircraft in terms of reliability and operating characteristics,” said the airline’s managing director, Scott McMillan.

Unlike Skywest’s aircraft, Alliance’s six aircraft are fitted with auxiliary power units, meaning that they do not have to rely on ground power at remote locations to power the airconditioning. The airline currently has no plans to increase its fleet of F50s in the short term, instead focusing its future growth on the F100s.

Fokker 100

Over the years, there has been a major growth in the number of Fokker 100s operated in Australia, with the majority servicing the growing needs of the mining industry over the last 10 years.

In most cases, the 100 seater has replaced smaller aircraft such as BAe 146s or smaller turboprops, with the aircraft able to meet and exceed the capabilities of those aircraft previously used.

“The fact that the Fokker 100 has good field performance from semi-prepared strips in high temperatures relative to competing aircraft has been a big plus point,” said Raj. “The Fokker 100 can take out more payload than other aircraft in its size segment under these conditions.”

McMillan says that the aircraft, which forms the backbone of Alliance’s fleet, has now become the baseline for fly in, fly out operators. “It’s been an industry changing aircraft,” said McMillan. “If you line it up against other aircraft types of similar capacity it performs well.”
Possibly the best indicator of that is the size of the fleet, with 26 currently registered to the three operators – Alliance, Skywest and Network Aviation. “It tells you that the F100 has really become the aircraft of choice for the big mining houses and even on RPT operations in the west,” said McMillan.

That local fleet is of F100s is set to increase over the next few years, with Alliance Airlines announcing earlier this year that it has acquired eight Fokker 100s from a European carrier. As the aircraft are also former US Airways aircraft, they are similar in specification to the aircraft which are already operated by the airline. The US Airways aircraft have a unique configuration to other F100s, with the avionics in the main cabin rather than the cargo hold. This allows for more freight to be carried, as well as easier access to the avionics.

Of the eight aircraft, only half will be delivered to Australia in the short term with the remaining four to be leased out elsewhere until they are required. This will ensure that the airline has a supply of F100s to meet its future needs.

Skywest has also seen its fleet grow substantially, tripling to nine aircraft currently operated. The airline operates the F100s on longer RPT services as well as its mining charter services, which in many cases have

Similarly, Skywest has no plans to retire its aircraft in the immediate future, and is instead investing in its fleet to give it more flexibility by fitting integrated GNSS equipment to its Fokker 100s. ” This system will be integrated with the existing flight management and autoflight systems providing the capability of higher navigation accuracy down to RNP 0.3 without an expensive upgrade to the existing avionics,” explained Ramanujam.

Nevertheless, Davin says that he expects that other issues will see the F100 have a shorter life with it than the F50s. “I think the Fokker 100 will have a shorter span with us because the Tay engines have suffered more from a technological ageing than the Fokker 50 engines have,” he said.

Part of the reason for that is that theF100’s Rolls-Royce Tay 650 engines were an evolution of the Spey, which powered the Fellowship, albeit with full authority digital engine control (FADEC) and other enhancements. Nevertheless, Rolls-Royce continues to support the type, and offers operators TotalCare support packages for the engine.

Maintaining the legacy

With both the F100 and F50 originally debuting in the late 1980s, there have been concerns that the types will eventually be forced into obsolescence. Yet, this appears to be some way off, at least for the moment.

“From a technical perspective, there is nothing which will prevent the aircraft from operating for another 20 years,” said Ramanujan. “The majority of aircraft in service have yet to cross the halfway mark with regard to the certified design life of 90,000 flight cycles. The technology on board is comparable to anything coming off the production line today.”

As such, Fokker Services plays a major role in ensuring that parts and support for the aircraft continue to be provided for a number of years ahead, particularly where there may be obsolescence issues. “There is a dedicated group within Fokker Services looking at obsolete parts and how to address them,” explained Ramanujam. “We have a variety of approaches we can use, ranging from sourcing for alternates and one-time buys, to taking over and re-jigging the supply chain of a supplier. In the most extreme case, we are capable of system re-design to accommodate current generation parts.”

As such, Fokker Services is working to ensure that the aircraft can continue serving for as long as it is economically viable. “The key determinant for the longevity of Fokker aircraft will be operating economics and this is our primary focus,” said Ramanujan. “Our aim is to ensure that the aircraft remains economically attractive to operators such as Alliance, Network and Skywest for many years to come. There is no reason why this cannot happen. With the resource sector in Australia continuing to show terrific growth, there will continue to be a need for the Fokker aircraft for the fly-in, fly-out services.”

To support this, FSA has recently received CAR30 approval for its heavy maintenance services at Seletar, and so it is able to offer full service for Australian operators. FSA previously conducted heavy maintenance on Skywest’s fleet, but under the airline’s system of maintenance.

Alliance does not see a pressing need to replace its aircraft in the near future as they are relatively low worked. “Our highest time aircraft is only 32,000 cycles and it has a fatigue life of 90,000. We’re never going to get there because we only do about 1,000 cycles a year,” said McMillan.

Following years of efforts by various groups, earlier this year the Dutch government helped to back a feasibility study on producing a ‘next generation’ F100, which would use the basic fuselage and wing design but introduce new engines, composites and winglets for extended performance. A prototype is expected to be developed this year through the modification of an existing F100, and will be used as a technology demonstrator ahead of a possible restarting of production in 2015.

However, it remains to be seen whether the F100NG will make it off the drawing board, particularly given the competition which has emerged in the 100 seat market with the likes of the Bombardier CSeries and the Embraer E Jets, the latter of which have replaced F100s with carriers such as Air France and KLM. Indeed, should the project gain some traction, the upfront acquisition costs will likely mean that it will take some time before they reach Australia, if at all.

While the F100 may gain new life, there are no such plans for the F50 yet, although it is expected that the global fleet of the turboprops will soldier on for a number of years to come. Both Skywest and Alliance have not indicated that they intend to replace their aircraft in the near future, while elsewhere they type soldiers on strongly.

For the meantime though, there is every sign that the Fokkers will continue to play crucial roles on RPT and charter services around Australia for years to come.