The Fokker F28 Fellowship is a twin-engined, short-range jet airliner designed and built by Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker.
Following the Fokker F27 Friendship, an early and commercially successful turboprop-powered regional airliner, Fokker decided to embark on developing a new turbofan-powered commuter aircraft that would build upon its experiences with the F27. During the design phase, a high level of attention was paid to market research and operator concerns; amongst other changes made, the prospective jetliner was increased in size, changing its maximum seating capacity from 50 to 65 passengers. During April 1962, Fokker announced the formal launch of the F28 Fellowship. The Fokker F28 directly competed with the American Douglas DC-9 and British BAC 1-11.
On 9 May 1967, the prototype F28-1000 conducted its maiden flight. On 24 February 1969, Kees van Meerten, Fokker Board member, received the Certificate of Airworthiness from Willem Jan Kruys, Director General of the Dutch National Aviation Authority. The first revenue-earning flight by Braathens was performed on 28 March 1969. Following its entry to service, Fokker developed multiple variants of the F28; one model, the F28-2000, featured an extended fuselage that could accommodate up to 79 passengers. A major revision was the F28-4000, which was powered by quieter Rolls-Royce Spey 555-15H engines, a redesigned cockpit, and a modified wing, and had a further increased seating capacity up to 85 passengers. During 1987, production of the type was terminated in favour of two newer derivatives, the Fokker 70 and the larger Fokker 100.
Development
thumb|Prototype one month before its 9 May 1967 first flight
By 1960, Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker was engaged in multiple programmes; these included military aircraft such as the Bréguet Br.1150 Atlantic and the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, as well as the commercially successful turboprop-powered F27 Friendship airliner. Around this time, British European Airways (BEA) released a specification that called for a high-speed regional airliner powered by turbofan engines. In response, Fokker took an interest in developing its own turbofan-powered short-haul airliner. According to aviation publication Flying, Fokker's prospective jetliner design was heavily shaped by feedback and experiences from its existing customers of the F27, particularly those in the crucial North American market. As such, American design methodologies and preferences were incorporated, reportedly emphasising simplicity, as well as efforts to minimise both language and trade barriers.
During April 1962, Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker announced the launch of the F28 Fellowship. The programme was a collaborative effort conducted between a number of European companies, namely Fokker itself, West German aerospace companies Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) and VFW-Fokker, and Short Brothers of Northern Ireland. Substantial government funding was also invested in the project; reportedly, the Dutch government provided 50% of Fokker's stake, while the West German government contributed 60% of the overall 35% German stake. Fokker had also approached several other aviation companies with offers of involvement, including France's Sud Aviation and Britain's Hawker Siddeley.
Initial design work centered on an aircraft capable of transport a maximum of 50 passengers across distances up to 1,650 km (1,025 mi), the design was later modified so that it could accommodate up to 65 seats in a five-abreast configuration, noticeably increasing its maximum takeoff weight, on the basis of market research. The enlarged aircraft was roughly comparable in capacity to that of the British Vickers Viscount, a successful turboprop airliner. The design was capable of speeds well in excess of turboprop-powered competitors, but retained a relatively low cruise speed in comparison to contemporary jet-powered designs, facilitating its use of a relatively straight low-mounted wing and achieving favourable low-speed characteristics as to enable the type's use from 85% of existing airports used by the F27 and the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. According to Flying, the tentative airliner could achieve double the productivity of the preceding F27, while the company itself referred to the jetliner as a complement to its turboprop-powered sibling.
At one stage of development, Fokker had reportedly intended for the F28 to be powered by a pair of Bristol Siddeley BS.75 turbofans. However, when Fokker wanted to open contract negotiations, Bristol Siddeley told them that engine was no longer available as the market was too small when they lost the BAC 1-11 project. Rival British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, put forward their Rolls-Royce Spey Junior, a simplified version of the Rolls-Royce Spey. From the first prototype onwards the type would be exclusively powered by various models of the Spey engine.
The responsibility for both design and production of the F28 was divided between the partner companies. Fokker designed and built the nose section, centre fuselage, and inner wing; MBB/Fokker-VFW constructed the forward fuselage, rear fuselage, and tail assembly; while Shorts designed and produced the outer wings. Final assembly of the Fokker F28 was at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. At one point, American manufacturer Fairchild Aircraft had considered locally producing their own derivative of the F28, which was referred to as the Fairchild 228, but this ultimately did not reach production, with the company deciding to act as a distributor for the existing F28, instead. During 1987, production of the type was terminated in favour of two newer derivative airliners, the Fokker 70 and the larger 100; by this point, a total of 241 airframes had been constructed.
;F.28 Mk 3000 (F28-3000)
: A Mark 1000 with a wingspan extension, it was approved on 19 July 1978, with a 3000C variant with a large main-deck cargo door.
;F.28 Mk 6600 (F28-6600): Proposed version, not built The project was cancelled.
Operators
thumb|[[Argentine Naval Aviation Fokker F28, one of the last in service.]]
By 2019, no Fokker F28 aircraft remained in civil service (LADE mentioned below is organizationally part of the Argentine Air Force). Fly-SAX was the last airline operator of the F28 worldwide with the last aircraft in service stored in September 2019 due to lack of flight crew.
Garuda Indonesia had the most F28s, with 62 of the aircraft in the former fleet. All have since been retired. Major operators included:Time Air/Canadian Regional (35 - second and third hand) MacRobertson Miller Airlines, Ansett Group Australia (more than 15), Aerolineas Argentinas (5), Toumaï Air Tchad (1), AirQuarius Aviation (3), SkyLink Arabia (1), Satena (1), Gatari Air Service (2), LADE (1), AirQuarius Aviation (4), Merpati Nusantara Airlines (1), and Biman Bangladesh Airlines (4). Some 22 airlines operated smaller numbers of the type. The F28s of Ansett Transport Industries' intrastate airline, MacRobertson Miller Airlines (MMA) of Western Australia, flew the longest nonstop F28 route in the world, from Perth to Kununurra, in Western Australia – a distance of about 2,240 km (1,392 mi). This was also the world's longest twin-jet route at the time.
In late 2025, the World Air Forces publication by FlightGlobal, which tracks the aircraft inventories of world's air forces and publishes its counts annually, published the World Air Forces 2026 report. According to that report, there were no F28 aircraft in service in any air force (or other military unit) of the world. The World Air Forces 2026 report does not however list the aircraft of the LADE, and indeed Argentina, through LADE, is the last operator of F28 Fellowship aircraft.
Accidents and incidents
The F28 currently has the highest hull loss rate of any current commercial airliner, not including airplanes manufactured in the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or the People’s Republic of China (PRC) due to lack of operational data. At a rate of 4.62 per million flights, it is comparatively higher than aircraft of its generation, including the Boeing 737-100/200 and DC-9, which have hull loss rates of 1.78 and 1.45 respectively.
thumb|Wreckage of [[Braathens SAFE Flight 239]]
The following is a list of Fokker F28 accidents and incidents:
- Braathens SAFE Flight 239 – 23 December 1972, (Asker, suburb of Oslo, Norway): 41 fatalities, 4 survivors - 40 immediately from the crash, and 1 in 1976 from injuries originally caused by the crash. First fatal crash of a Fokker Fellowship.
- Itavia Flight 897 – 1 January 1974, (Caselle Torinese, airport of Turin, Italy): 38 fatalities, 4 survivors. Flight IH897 from Cagliari to Geneva with intermediate stops in Bologna and Turin, crashed about 2 miles south of Runway 36 while attempting to land in fog. Airplane involved was registered I-TIDE.
- Turkish Airlines Flight 301 – 26 January 1974, (İzmir, Turkey): 67 fatalities, 6 survivors. The aircraft crashed away from the airfield during takeoff because of icing and over-rotation.
- Turkish Airlines Flight 345 – 30 January 1975 (Istanbul, Turkey) 42 fatalities. The aircraft crashed into the Marmara Sea on its second approach. The first approach failed when a power outage caused the runway lights to fail. Cause of the accident is unknown.
- Garuda Indonesia Airways Flight 150 – 24 September 1975 near Palembang, Indonesia: 26 fatalities. Crashed on approach in fog killing 25 people out of 61 passengers and crew. 1 person was killed on the ground.
- Turkish Airlines - 23 December 1979, 41 fatalities, 4 survivors. Jet named "Trabzon" was destroyed that flew into the side of a hill nearby ESB airport from Samsun Airport (SSX). The crew had deviated from the localizer course while on an ILS approach.
- Garuda Indonesia Airways - 11 July 1979. 61 fatalities. Crashed into Mount Sibayak while on approach to Polonia International Airport. There was bad weather at the time of the crash.
- NLM CityHopper Flight 431 – 6 October 1981 (Moerdijk, Netherlands): 17 fatalities and 1 on ground, the aircraft flew into a tornado which broke off one of the wings.
- Garuda Indonesia Domestic Flight – 20 March 1982, runway overrun at Tanjung Karang-Branti Airport in bad weather, 27 fatalities.
- Nigeria Airways Flight 250 – 28 November 1983 (Enugu, Nigeria): 53 fatalities, 19 survivors. Controlled flight into terrain in poor weather.
- 1985 SATENA Fokker F-28 crash – 28 March 1985 (Florence, Colombia): 46 Fatalities. Crashed into a mountain due to bad weather.
- Air Ontario Flight 1363 – 10 March 1989 (Dryden, Ontario, Canada): 24 fatalities, 45 survivors. Due to various factors including snow, ice and lack of use of anti-icing measures.
- Korean Air Flight 175 - 25 November 1989 (Gimpo, South Korea) The plane was on a regularly scheduled flight from Seoul to Ulsan, improper flight preparation caused wing icing which, in turn, caused the number one engine to lose power on take-off. The pilot immediately lost directional control and aborted the take-off. However, the abort was so abrupt that the aircraft overran the runway and exploded in flames. The airframe was not salvageable after the fire was eventually extinguished and was written off. No one died in the crash.
- USAir Flight 405 – 22 March 1992 (Queens, New York, United States): 27 fatalities, 24 survivors. Due to ice buildup on the wings, pilot error and improper deicing procedures at LaGuardia airport
- Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 724 – Fokker F-28 Mk-3000 Registered PK-GFU - 1 June 1993. Domestic Flight (Sorong, Indonesia): 41 fatalities, 2 survivors. Controlled flight Into terrain - The aircraft crashed onto a rocky beach on Bad Weather Landing procedures at Jefman Airport
- Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 746 – 12 October 1994 (near Natanz, Iran): 66 fatalities. Both engines lost power and shut down due to contaminated fuel, causing uncontrolled descent.
- Air Mauritanie Flight 625 – 1 July 1994: All 4 crew and 76 of the 89 passengers on board were killed when their plane crashed at Tidjikja Airport caused a hard landing on sandstorm.
- On 28 October 1997, a Trigana Air Service Fokker F-28 Fellowship 3000 passenger plane returned to land at Jakarta–Soekarno–Hatta International Airport after the aircraft experienced technical problems two minutes after takeoff. Smoke and severe heat had entered the cockpit and the passenger cabin. The airplane sustained damage due to the heat.
- TANS Peru Flight 222 – 9 January 2003: None of the 41 passengers and 5 crew members aboard the Fokker F-28 survived after the aircraft hit a mountain near Chachapoyas, Peru.
- TAME Flight 120 – 17 January 2003: Operating a flight from Quito's Mariscal Sucre Airport to Cali, Colombia, suffered a runway excursion after takeoff was aborted due to a tire blowout. The nose gear collapsed, and the aircraft came to rest past the runway threshold and into the runway safety area. There were no injuries, but the aircraft was written off.
- Icaro Air Flight 504 – 22 September 2008, an F28-4000 (registered HC-CDT) on a flight from Quito to El Coca's Francisco de Orellana Airport, aborted takeoff due to an alarm fire in the front cargo compartment. The plane could not stop in time, went off the runway, hit the ILS antenna at the north end of the Mariscal Sucre International Airport runway, went off the runway safety area and hit a brick wall before stopping. There were no fatalities among the 62 passengers and 4 crew members, and the airframe was written off.
Aircraft on display
;Argentina
- 11028 - F28-1000C registered T-03 at the Museo Nacional de Aeronautica de Argentina in Morón, Buenos Aires in VIP livery of Argentinian Government, named 'Tte. Gral. Juan Domingo Peron'.
- 11145 - F28-3000C registered 0741 / 5-T-20 of the Armada de la República Argentina (Argentinian Navy) in the Museo Nacional de Malvinas in Oliva, Córdoba, Argentina.
;Indonesia
thumb|Indonesian Air Force F28-3000 A-2803 in 2004
- 11117 – F28-3000 registered A-2802 on static display at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base, Jakarta in Indonesian Air Force VIP livery.
- 11175 – F28-4000 registered PK-MGJ preserved as a cinema in Baturraden, Central Java.
;Myanmar
- 11114 – F28-4000 registered XY-ADW preserved as a bar at the Sky Palace Hotel in Naypyidaw.
- 11161 – F28-4000 registered XY-AGH at the Defence Services Museum, Naypyidaw in Myanma Airways livery.
- 11232 – F28-4000 registered XY-AGA at the Civil Aviation Training Institute, Yangon International Airport, Yangon.
;United States
- 11016 – F28-1000 registered N500WN at Wayne Newton's Casa de Shenandoah, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Specifications
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
|-
! Variant
! -1000
! -4000
|-
! Seating
| 65 || 79 || 85 || 65
|-
! Hold
| 459 cu.ft / 13m³ || colspan=2 | 559 cu.ft / 15.9m³ || 459 cu.ft / 13 m³
|-
! Length
| 89 ft 11in /27.4m || colspan=2 | 97 ft 2in / 29.6m || 89 ft 11in / 27.4m
|-
! Height
| colspan=4 | 27 ft 9.5in / 8.47m
|-
! Wingspan
| colspan=2 | 77 ft 4in / 23.6m || colspan=2 | 82 ft 3in / 25.07m
|-
! Wing
| colspan=2 | 822 ft² / 76.4m², 16° sweep, :1 AR
| colspan=2 | 850 ft² / 79m², 16° sweep, :1 AR
|-
! Max takeoff weight
| colspan=2 | 65,000 lb / 29,480 kg
| colspan=2 | 73,000 lb / 33,110 kg
|-
! Empty weight
| 35,517 lb / 16,144 kg || 36,953 / 16,707 kg || 38,825 lb / 17,611 kg || 37,139 lb / 16,846 kg
|-
! Max payload
| 18,983 / 8,629 kg || 17,547 / 7,976 kg || 23,317 lb / 10,556 kg || 19,003 lb / 8,620 kg
|-
! Max Fuel
| colspan=4 | 2,869 Imp Gal / 13,040 l
|-
! 2× Turbofans
| colspan=2| Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 555-15
| colspan=2| Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 555-15H
|-
! Unit thrust
| colspan=4 | 9,850 lbf / 43.9 kN
|-
! Cruise
| colspan=2 | 458kn / 848 km/h Max, 359kn / 666 km/h LR
| colspan=2 | 436kn / 808 km/h Max, 354kn / 656 km/h LR
|-
! Fuel Consumption
| colspan=2 | 6,180 lb/h / 2,800 kg/h Max, 3,260 lb/h / 1,480 kg/h LR
| colspan=2 | 4,980 lb/h / 2,260 kg/h Max, 3,252 lb/h / 1,475 kg/h LR
|-
! Range (max payload)
| colspan= 2 | 920nmi / 1,705 km || 900nmi / 1,668 km || 1,550nmi / 2,872 km
|-
! Takeoff (MTOW, ISA, SL)
| colspan=4 | 5,500 ft / 1,676m
|-
! Landing (MLW, SL)
| colspan=2 | 3,540 ft / 1,079m || 3,495 ft /1,065m || 3,173 ft / 967m
|-
! Service ceiling
| colspan=4 |
|}