Return of Fokker

[Hobbes]

When Fokker went bankrupt in 1996, plans were soon made to restart production. In 1998, Dutch entrepreneur and regional airline executive Jaap Rosen Jacobsen founded Rekkof Restart NV ("Fokker" in reverse) in order to resume production of Fokker 70 and 100 aircraft. Rekkof acquired tooling from Fokker trustees and began negotiating with former suppliers. This week it turned out that Rekkof was still alive: Dutch media announced that the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs has made available a loan of 20 million euros for constructing a prototype 'Fokker 100 NG', i.e. a Fokker 100 updated with new engines, avionics and winglets.

http://www.aviationnews.eu/2010/03/06/financial-suppport-for-new-fokker-aircraft/

http://www.rekkof.nl/



The news has generated a bit of excitement in the Netherlands (Fokker's bankruptcy is still a sore point), but IMO it remains to be seen if this initiative has any chance of succeeding.

[Spey_Phantom]

Fokker is back from the dead, yeah baby 

maybe its a good time to start designing an updated version of the Fokker 60 aswell (thinking 6-bladed props and a rear cargoramp  )

[upnorth]

It all comes down to the quality of management, or lack of same. Time will tell.

[Hobbes]

Management is one thing, but they're planning to offer an old airframe (first flight 1986), and they claim that with an engine upgrade it'll be the most fuel-efficient in its class. I find that hard to believe. As you say, time will tell.