Airliners.sk is going to save the Fokker 100 from scrapping

The civial association Airliners.sk in cooperation with Austrian Airlines Technik – Bratislava, s.r.o. and the Aviation Museum at Slávnica Airport have just launched a project to rescue a Fokker 100 aircraft. The aim is to save the aircraft from being scrapped, and to move it to the Aviation Museum in Slávnica.

„As fans of aircraft, we don’t like to see them end up as scrap. When we learned that Austrian Airlines Technik – Bratislava, s.r.o. planed to scrap a Fokker 100 aircraft at their premises, it resonated with us. A plan popped up in our heads as to how to save the aircraft. We understand that without the help of the public we cannot do this. We are therefore trying to raise the funds needed for its transport through public donations. We believe that we will find enough sponsors and Fokker will present itself to the public as a museum exhibit at the Aviation Museum in Slávnica. It will enrich the collection of transport aircraft, presently consisting of: Tupolev TU134, Avia AV-14S and Lisunov LI-2,“ explains Juraj Ondruš, chairman of the Airliners.sk Association, which brings together enthusiasts of aircraft and photography.

The Fokker 100 was built in 1991 and delivered to American Airlines later that year. It spent 12 years here, followed by flying for several other airlines until 2005, when it found itself in the fleet of Austrian Arrows. Definitely an interesting fact is that the aircraft during its service for Austrian Arrows and Austrian Airlines bore the name Bratislava.

„Our company is happy to support the initiative of the association Airliners.sk, because ATB has basically grown into a world leader in the maintenance of these aircraft, and it was the Fokker 70/100, which trained a lot of skilled and highly qualified aircraft technicians able to succeed around the world in this difficult profession. That is why, whenever the operator decides to end the life journey of any aircraft, it is a very difficult task for the maintenance organization, and certainly not one of the favourite ones. We by far prefer to send these results of human engineering back into the air safely. Fortunately, a bolt ouf of the blue comes sometimes in life, and we appreciate the enthusiasm of our aviation colleagues in how to keep this machine as an exhibit in Slovakia. We basically agreed on cooperation immediately, ” said Pavol Hamšík, CFO of Austrian Airlines Technik – Bratislava, s.r.o.

„We are pleased to be able to expand our collection with another beautiful airliner. The whole project is the result of cooperation with exceptional people and clear evidence that aviation should connect people, and that it will be possible to do a similar project in the future“, said Michal Stráňavský, manager of the aviation museum at Slávnica Airport.

„We hope that the community of aviation fans will support our project, and we will present the aircraft to the public soon. Our cooperation with Slávnica Airport, which we launched in 2017, will bear fruit, and visitors to the aviation museum will have another exhibit to experience. At the same time, we must once again thank Austrian Airlines Technik – Bratislava, s.r.o., without whose help the aircraft would have ended up as scrap“, added the chairman of the civic association Airliners.sk, Juraj Ondruš.