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Alliance Airlines will become the first Australian operator of the Fokker 70, with the acquisition of two Fokker 70LRs, the first of which has arrived at its Brisbane base.
Alliance says it has reached agreement with an unnamed major customer to operate the Fokker 70s nonstop from the east coast to a a mine site in northwest WA. In addition, the airline says it is in discussion with other potential clients interesting in the Fokker 70’s capabilities, while Alliance “also has plans to use the aircraft for a range of other tasks on the eastern seaboard”.
“The decision to buy the Fokker F70LR aircraft was made after a review of the operating capabilities of a number of aircraft types,” said Scott McMillan, managing director of Alliance Airlines.
“The capabilities of the F70LR and the ability to easily integrate the aircraft into our existing fleet made the F70LR a natural choice.”
Alliance, a major player in the FIFO mine contract charter market, is also acquiring two additional Fokker 100s. With the delivery of the two Fokker 70s and the two additional Fokker 100s, the Alliance fleet will comprise 18 100-seat Fokker 100s, the two 75-seat Fokker 70LRs, and five 50-seat Fokker 50 turboprops.
A shortened development of the Fokker 100, just 48 Fokker 70s were built in the mid 1990s with the collapse of Fokker in 1996.
