Fokker 100 variant
Fokker 100 Fokker 100 (Tay Mk 650-15)
Higher-weight, higher-thrust Fokker 100 with Tay Mk 650-15 engines. It was the choice of the big American customers: American Airlines, TAM and USAir.
- 3,167 km
- Range
- 122
- Passengers
History
More thrust for demanding runways
The Fokker 100 was offered with two Rolls-Royce Tay ratings. The Mk 620-15 powered the first aircraft, delivered to Swissair from February 1988. The more powerful Mk 650-15 produced the high-weight version: 45,810 kg maximum take-off weight against 43,090 kg, 24,541 kg empty and a range at maximum payload of about 3,167 km, nearly 700 km more than the basic version.
The big orders
This was the variant of the American and Brazilian customers. American Airlines ordered 75 aircraft — the March 1989 order, worth an estimated US$3.1 billion, was the largest in Fokker's history and the largest ever placed by a Dutch company — TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais 50 and USAir 40, all with the Tay 650-15.
End of career
American decided in 2002 to retire its whole 74-aircraft fleet early on operating-cost grounds, replacing it with smaller regional jets. In Australia, by contrast, the type remained a workhorse: QantasLink, through Network Aviation, was still retiring its Fokker 100s in 2026.