Admittedly not the best of sources, but the De Telegraaf is reporting that Rekkof is close to signing an agreement to move production of the F100NG to Brazil.
Below the translation of the article with in brackets some comments by me:
by Wouter van Bergen (translation: Peter ten Thije)
AMSTERDAM – Fifteen years after the bankruptcy there is still a chance that Fokker will rise from the ashes, in Brazil! The company Rekkof [should that not be NG Aircraft?] says they are close to an agreement with Brazilian autorities for the creation of a plant there.
Rekkof has for years been working on restarting production of modernised versions of the Fokker 70 and Fokker 100. The new factory is planned to be build in the city of Anápolis komen. Maarten van Eeghen, managing director of Rekkof, confirmed this yesterday to De Telegraaf rumours that the company is close to an agreement with the Brazilian state of Goiás.
The factory that would have to be build requires an investment of a billion US Dollar (715 million euro) Van Eeghen did not want to release further details saying “I prefer to wait till signatures have been signed”. Van Eeghen hopes to reveal more news later this week.
Today’s it’s been 15 years ago since DASA, the owner at the time, requested bankruptcy for Fokker. Shortly after that entrepeneur jaap Rosen jacobson established Rekkof, with the aim to give the Fokker jetline a new chance. Till now without concrete results, in spite of rumours and announcements that keep resurfacing every few years. However, last year the Dutch government did provide a subsidy for the further development of the Fokker jetline.
According to Rosen Jacobson this subsidy has enabled Rekkof to develop a new generation of planes that will be among the most quiet and most economical in their class.
Brazil already has a flourishing aviation industry. In fact, Embraer is operating very succesfully in the same market Rekkof is targeting. When KLM announced an Embraer order in 2007 [Embraer 190s] many feared this would mean the end of Rekkof.
By: MSR777 - 15th March 2011 at 18:23
Interesting story. Don’t get me wrong, I like Fokker aircraft, and the F28 is my personal favorite. But the aviation landscape has changed quite a lot since the demise of the original Fokker company, is there really now a market for their products? I hope there is, it would give me great pleasure to see these aircraft being built again.:)
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March 15, 2011 at 5:14 pm