Fokker 100 Fokker 70 (F28 Mark 0070)

In November 1992 Fokker began developing an aircraft to replace the ageing F28. The airlines consulted agreed that the Fokker 50 and ATR 42 were too small for them and that the Boeing 737 and MD-80 were too large. The answer was to take the newly launched Fokker 100 and cut it down: 4.62 m less fuselage — 30.91 m against 35.53 m — leaving wing and tail essentially untouched. Maximum capacity settled at 80 seats, reduced to 70 on aircraft sold in the United States to comply with pilot-union scope clauses.

The first flight took place on 4 April 1993 from Woensdrecht and lasted three hours; part of the steep-approach testing was done at Granada, Spain. Type certification came on 14 October 1994, as the Fokker 28 Mk. 0070, and the first aircraft was delivered that same month, in executive configuration, to the Ford Motor Company. Sempati Air was the first airline to receive one, in March 1995; British Midland the first European operator; Mesa Airlines the first American one.

Fokker's bankruptcy in March 1996 cut the programme short: the last Fokker 70 was delivered in April 1997, with 47 aircraft completed plus the prototype. KLM Cityhopper flew it until 28 October 2017; Austrian Airlines operated up to 24 and replaced them with Embraer 195s from 2015. In October 2022, 32 aircraft were still in service with seven airlines and two governments.