F28 Mk.1000
Aerolineas Argentinas
F28 Mk.1000 PH-EXO first flew on 26th June 1974 and was delivered on the 13th February 1975 to the Argentine national airline, Aerolineas Argentinas. Then registered LV-LOC, the aircraft served with Aerolineas Argentinas for its entire 21 year service life, before being broken up in Buenos Aires in June 1996.
Air New South Wales
First flown on 26th October 1970 with test registration PH-EXA, the aircraft was delivered to Ansett NSW on the 7th November 1970 and re-registered VH-FKD, a registration it would keep for its entire service life. In April 1971 the aircraft was briefly leased to MMA MacRobertson-Miller Airlines and named “RMA Goldfields”. In January 1981, the aircraft was transferred to Airlines of Western Australia before then returning to Ansett NSW in March 1983. After a brief summer season lease to Ansett WA between November 1984 and April 1985, the aircraft served the remained of it’s service life with Ansett Express, eventually being withdrawn from use in Cairns in December 1993 and eventually broken up for parts.
Air Sicilia
Construction number 11034 completed its first fight on the 8th June 1971. Originally destined for Spanish airline Aviaco, the aircraft was refused delivery and instead was delivered to the West German airline Aviaction Hanseatische Luftreederei on the 7th July 1971 as D-AHLC, until it was repossessed two years later and returned to the manufacturer. The aircraft remained in the manufacturers ownership until 1975 during which time it was leased twice to the Nigerian national airline, Nigeria Airways, maintaining its Dutch registration PH-ZBI. In 1975 it was bought off lease by French regional airline TAT Touraine Air Transport and re-registered at F-BUTI. It would spend most of its service life operating for TAT, alongside the various TAT subsidiaries, one of which being Air Sicilia the livery of which this aircraft received for a brief period in 1995. In March 1998, the aircraft was sold to Canadian airline TimeAir as C-GNCR, which later merged into Canadian Regional Airlines. The aircraft was finally withdrawn from service in July 2006 at Saskatoon.
Germanair
First flown on 11 April 1972, construction number 11050 was delivered that month to Germanair as D-AGAC, before being sold to TAT as F-GBBS in December 1977. In April 1998 it was sold to Canadian Regional and flew as the ‘Spirit of Prince George’ until finally being withdrawn from use at Saskatoon on 25 October 2002. That might have been the end of the aircraft, but it was eventually acquired by enthusiast Jesse Millington, who had it transported by road to his property in Alberta during October 2021, where it now resides in his care.
Martinair Holland
PH-MAT was the first F28 for Dutch airline Martinair. It was the 6th F28 built, with construction number 11008; numbers 11005 and 11007 were built as static test frames and never flew. First flown on 24 July 1969, the aircraft was delivered to Martinair on 1 October that year and remained with the airline until March 1980, albeit with leases to Swedish airline Linjeflyg and French operator Air Alsace while on Martinair’s books. It was sold to Ansett Transport Industries in Australia as VH-FKF in October 1980 and flew its final service with Ansett Australia on 30 March 1995. The aircraft was scrapped at Melbourne in January 1996.
Turk Hava Yollari
First flown on 27th September 1972 as PH-ZBB, construction number 11058 was delivered to Turkish Airlines in March of the following year as TC-JAP. Turkish Airlines would be the only airline this aircraft would operate with, after a landing incident at Istanbul on the 30th January 1975 lead to the aircraft crashing into the Sea of Marmara with the loss of all 42 occupants onboard.
Transair
Construction number 11038 first flew on the 12th October 1971 with test registration PH-EXM, before being handed over to Fairchild Hiller Corp. in February of the following year as N286FH. In April 2973 with aircraft was sold to Trans air Canada as CF-TAY where it operated for almost 6 years. In February 1979, the aircraft was delivered to the Papua New Guinea airline Air Niugini as P2-ANF, where the aircraft served the rest of its operational service life. On 22nd April 2006, the aircraft was re-registered VH-XNG and delivered to the Aviation Australia Eagle Farm in Queensland, Australia, where it still resides to this day as an instructional airframe.
US Air
First flown on 17th October 1972, construction number 11061 was delivered to Garuda Indonesia just 28 days later as PK-GJU and named Sampara. In January 1974 the aircraft was reregistered as PK-GVF and received the new name of Tulang Bawang. After 11 years operating in Indonesia, the aircraft was sold back to the manufacturer in 1983, who then sold it on to Piedmont Air Lines in the following year. The aircraft operated with Piedmont as N280N until the airline merged with US Air in August 1989 when it was re-registered N463AU. The aircraft was sold to Canadian Regional Airlines in November 1995 registered C-FCRZ and named Spirit of Quebec City. A transfer to Air Canada Regional in November 2001 saw the aircraft operating for its last airline of its service life, before being withdrawn from use on 19th September 2005 and used as fire fighter instructional airframe at Vancouver International Airport where it still resides to this day.
F28 Mk.2000
Demonstrator
Construction number 11053 was the first prototype of the F28 Mk2000 variant. First flight was on the 2nd June 1972 with export test registration PH-EXF. The aircraft was then re-registered as PH-ZAX on 22nd August 1972 and performed at several airshows in an attempt to promote sales of the new variant. On 19th October 1972 the aircraft was leased to Nigeria Airways, who would later buy the aircraft outright on 6th January 1973 and re-register it 5N-ANB. The aircraft operated in Nigeria for 13 years, before being purchased by French regional airline TAT Transport Aerien Transregional in August 1985, which later merged into Air Liberte in October 1997. The aircraft was withdrawn from service in February 2001 and stored at Paris Orly airport, before then being used as a fire trainer at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
F28 Mk.3000
Cimber
F28 Mk.3000 Construction Number 11143 first flew on 7th March 1979 with test registration PH-EXZ, before being delivered to Danish airline Cimber Air just over a month later on 10th April. During its time with Cimber Air the aircraft was leased to French regional airline TAT Touraine Air Transport as well as Saudi Arabian Airline Saudia, who operated two F28 Mk3000 leased from Cimber Air between July 1980 and December 1986 retaining the Danish registrations. In April 1987, the aircraft was leased to Australian airline EAST-WEST Airlines and re-registered VH-EWF. The following year it was subleased to Ansett Western Australia and leased again to Ansett Express in November 1990. After 11 year down-under, the aircraft was sold to Namibian airline Kalahari Express Airlines in October 1998 and re-registered V5-KEX, a registration the aircraft would continue to hold when leased and subsequently transferred to Air Namibia in April 2000. In July 2003, the aircraft was sold to AirQuarius Aviation and re-registered for the final time as ZS-JAP. The aircraft was broken up in Lanseria.
Delta Air Transport
Construction number 11163 first flew on 13th October 1980 with registration PH-EXM. After several orders not taken up, the aircraft was eventually registered at XT-FZP and sold to Burkina Faso airline Air Brikina in August 1981. After 2.5 years of flying in Africa, the aircraft was purchased by the American airline Pilgrim Air in and registered N163PM. Pilgrim air would later merge with Business Express with the aircraft following suit. In February 1987 Belgian airline Sabena purchased the aircraft, re-regrated it as OO-DJA, and painted the aircraft in DAT Delta Air Transport colours. In May 1996 the aircraft was sold to Indonesian airline Trigona Air and re-register the aircraft as PK-YPT, a registration it would also wear when serving its next airline, Mandala Airlines. After only two years in Indonesia, the aircraft was sold to Canadian Reginal Airlines, registered as C-GTAN, and eventually broken up on 7th May 2007.
East-West
Construction number 11151 was ordered by Danish Airline Cimber Air in May 1978. It first flew on 14h August 1979 and was delivered to Cimber the following month. From June 1980 until December 1980, the aircraft was wet leased to Saudia Saudi Arabian Airlines. The aircraft was sold to East-West Airlines of Australia as VH-EWG in April 1987 and operated for them until May 1988 when it was leased to Ansett Western Australia, and then transferred to Ansett Express a couple of years later. The aircraft ended its days at Lanseria in South Africa in 2010.
Merpati
F28 Mk.3000 construction number 11131 first flew on 5th April 1978 with test registration PH-EXW. It was delivered to Garuda Indonesia the following month with registration PK-GFU and named “Waitatiri”. In 1989 the aircraft was leased to Merpati Nusantara Airlines. On 1st July 1993 whilst still operated by Merpati, the aircraft crashed on approach to Sorong-Jefman Airport with the loss of 41 of the 43 occupants onboard.
Royal Swazi
Construction number 11136 first flew on 26th June 1978 with registration PH-EXN. On 21st July 1978 the aircraft was delivered to Royal Swazi National Airways with registration 3D-ALN and named Ljubantendele. During it’s time flying in the Kingdom of Swaziland, the aircraft become famous being the only aircraft to have been hijacked twice, and twice shot full of bullet holes and repaired, once in the Seychelles, and again at Johannesburg. After an adventurous first half of its life with Royal Swazi National Airways, the aircraft was leased to Air Mauritanie in 1995, and transferred to Airlink Swaziland in 1999. In August 2002 the aircraft was re-registered as 9Q-CAY and delivered to Business Aviation. The aircraft was eventually stored and broken up at Lanseria in 2005.
F28 Mk.4000
Altair
Originally ordered by Altair Airlines in early 1978, this aircraft, construction number 11156, first flew on 22nd February 1980 before entering service with Altair as N505. The aircraft was sold on to American regional airline Empire Airlines in December 1983 before that airline merged with Piedmont Airlines in May 1986. In April 1989 the aircraft became N491US as Piedmont itself merged with US Air. The aircraft was eventually sold in South Africa and then employed in Equatorial Guinea before being scrapped at Abidjan in 2013.
ICARO
Construction number 11224 first flew with test registration PH-EZW on 19th April 1985, before then being delivered to Empire Airlines 9 days later at N118UR. The aircraft continued to operate with under the same registration through Empire Airline’s merger with Piedmont Air Lines, before being re-registered as N476US when the later merged with US Air in May 1989. The aircraft operated with US Air until 1997 when it was transferred to Horizon Air. In 2002, the aircraft was sold to Ecuadorian airline ICARO and re-registered as HC-CDW. The aircraft operated for ICARO until 2007 when it was sold to the Equatorial Guinea airline General Works Aviation and eventually withdrawn from use.
Linjeflyg (C.1984)
First flown on 5th November 1982 with test registration PH-EXU, the aircraft was then delivered to Swedish airline Linjeflyg 21 days later with registration SE-DGO. After operating for Linjeflyg for 11 years, the airline merged with SAS Scandinavian Airlines System in January 1993, and the aircraft continued to operate under the same registration. During that period, the aircraft was briefly leased to Air Botnia Oy between April 1999 and November 2001. In April 2003, the aircraft reached the end of its life in Scandinavia and was sold to AirQuarius Aviation and re-registered ZS-BAL. The following year the aircraft was purchased by IRS Airlines with whom the aircraft with spend the rest of it’s operational life, eventually being broken up in Lagos.
FlySax
Construction number 11229 was the 12th last F28 to be manufactured and made it first flight on 10th September 1985. It was delivered to Piedmont Air Lines on 3rd March 1986 as N206P, before being re-registered as N480AU. Piedmont merged with US Air in August 1989 and the aircraft followed suit. The aircraft was leased to Horizon Air in December 1996 and operated for Horizon Air for just over 5 years. In June 2002, the aircraft was re-registered 5Y-MNT and disbelieved to Eagle Aviation. The following year, the aircraft was bought and re-registered again, this time to East African Safari Express as 5Y-EEE. The airline was renamed to Fly-SAX in August 2012 and the aircraft received an updated livery. The aircraft was withdrawn from use at Jomo Kenyatta International, Nairobi in November 2022, marking the end of 53 years of civilian passenger operations for the original variants of the F28 family.