Which Airlines Still Fly the Fokker 70?

Dutch regional jet, the Fokker 70, was developed in the late 1980s as a shortened version of the popular Fokker 100.

These quiet airliners found favour among the regional feeder networks of airlines around the world, and even as the mainline types in some airlines’ fleets.

For many years, the Fokker 70 could be seen all over Europe flying with airlines like Air France Regional, KLM Cityhopper, Malev, British Midland and Austrian Airlines, among others.

Now, however, there are very few still flying.

Which airlines still fly the Fokker 70 in 2024?

Alliance Airlines

Bahnfrend, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

This Australian regional airline is the world’s largest operator of the Fokker 70 today, with around 14 in its fleet (however, not all are active).

Sadly most of Alliance Airlines’ services are charters operated on behalf of mining operations across Australia, and as such its Fokker 70s are not always bookable.  Some of its aircraft are, however, flown on behalf of Virgin Australia services on wet lease agreements, so you may be lucky and get to fly one on a domestic flight with this airline.

I-Fly Air

Kenya’s I-Fly Air launched regional services from Nairobi to other destinations in Kenya and Africa a couple of years ago.

Alongside Fokker 50s, it flies Fokker 70s, and sometimes leases them to other carriers.

Air Niugini

Papua New Guinea’s national airline is still flying a fleet of around four Fokker 70s on regional and domestic flights.

These have, however, recently been earmarked for replacement by a new fleet of modern Airbus A220 aircraft which will begin arriving in a couple of years.

Salaam Air Express

It’s hard to find out much about this airline from Kenya, but they apparently fly their single Fokker 70 (5Y-MMB) between Nairobi and Juba.

Skyward Express

Another Kenyan operator with a single Fokker 70, as well as Fokker 100 and a few Fokker 50s, is Skyward Express.

Based at Nairobi, it flies to destinations throughout Kenya.

Jetair Caribbean

Photo (c) Arno Vesterholm

With two Fokker 70s in its fleet, Jetair Caribbean can be seen flying from Willemstad, Curaçao to destinations like Medellin, St Maarten, Kingston, Paramaribo and Aruba.

Its aircraft are painted in an attractive scheme, and look good swooping in over Maho Beach at St Maarten!

Fly All Ways

Andrew J. Muller, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Based in Paramaribo, Suriname, Fly All Ways has three Fokker 70s flying to destinations in Cuba, Guyana, Barbados and Jamaica.

It is an ambitious small airline with plans to add more destinations around South America and the Caribbean, and to add more aircraft to its fleet. It operates a single Airbus A320 alongside its Fokker 70s.

Last Chance to Fly

If you want to keep up with which airlines are still flying older and rarer airline types, including the Fokker 70, so that you can try to fly on any of them before it’s too late, why not check out Last Chance to Fly?

This digital book is produced for Airport Spotting Premium members and updated regularly with the latest information. Members can download it whenever it’s been updated to find out which rare aircraft are still flying.

Joining Airport Spotting Premium is easy, and costs as little as £5 per month. Find out more and subscribe here:

https://www.airportspotting.com/member/

Main photo (c) Arno Vesterholm