Skywest has purchased an additional Fokker 50 turboprop to add to its fleet, which it says will help improve its on-time performance and add capacity.
“We are satisfied with the terms we achieved for this plane and are pleased that we will be further able to increase reliability and on time performance and add additional freight capacity,” said executive chairman Jeff Chatfield.
The airline says that the aircraft, which is owned by European interests, has been inspected by Skywest representatives and is being acquired at a cost US$2.01m (A$2.16m). Financing will come from the airline’s operating cashflow over the next 19 months.
The new turborprop will take the airline’s fleet to 17 units, comprising eight Fokker 50s and nine Fokker 100s. Skywest uses the aircraft to fly a combination of charter and RPT services to regional ports around WA and to Darwin and Denpasar.
Separately, Skywest has announced that it will add two additional weekly services from Perth to Exmouth (Learmonth), effective December 1. Skywest will also upgrade its Sunday service to be operated by a 100-seat Fokker 100 jet, in place of the 50-seat Fokker 50 turboprops usually used on the service.
By: tenthije - 28th November 2009 at 12:10
Skywest has purchased an additional Fokker 50 turboprop to add to its fleet, which it says will help improve its on-time performance and add capacity.
Is it known where the plane will come from? Will it be ex KLM Cityhopper?
Is the Fokker 50 what used to be called the Fokker Friendship?
The F50 is a heavily updated version of the F27 Friendship.
By: Arabella-Cox - 28th November 2009 at 11:23
Is the Fokker 50 what used to be called the Fokker Friendship?
If so, I used to watch NAC Friendships taking off from Auckland Airport to domestic destinations back in the seventies. It was one of my first aviation experiences.
Sign In
November 24, 2009 at 4:54 am