Summary

• Rekkof Aircraft planned to revive the Fokker aircraft but faced financial difficulties and couldn't attract enough investments.
• The Netherlands Aircraft Company (NAC) revealed plans to build the Fokker 130, a fuel-efficient jet meant to compete with other aircraft families.
• It is unclear how far along the Fokker revival project is, as there is limited information and NAC's website lacks updates and news sections.

Royal Dutch aircraft company Fokker, named after its founder Anthony Fokker, was founded in Berlin in 1912 before moving its operations to the Netherlands in 1919. Famous for its Fokker 50, Fokker 70, and Fokker 100 aircraft, the company faced significant losses in the early 1990s. Eventually, it filed for bankruptcy in 1996, selling its operations to competitors.

In the early 2000s, a company by the name of Rekkof Aircraft (Fokker spelled backwards) set out to revive the Fokker aircraft and produce next-generation variants. This article explores Rekkof's plans to bring life to the Fokker aircraft.

From Rekkof to Netherlands Aircraft Company

In 2007, Dutch aviation company Premion signed a letter of intent to purchase 25 F100NGs - next-generation Fokker 100s - in a deal reportedly worth half a billion euros. These updated Fokkers would be created by a firm known at the time as Rekkof - which is simply Fokker spelled backward. Founded by Jaap Rosen Jacobson, Rekkof would eventually be renamed the Netherlands Aircraft Company.

Sadly, despite investments from both Mubadala (the investment fund of Abu Dhabi) and the Dutch government, the project couldn't attract enough investment to make any significant progress. One reason cited for this was the financial crisis of 2008.

Developing the NAC Fokker 130

In 2016, Luchtvaart Nieuws reported that there were plans to revive Fokker as an aircraft manufacturer. It was around this time that the Netherlands Aircraft Company (NAC) revealed a plan to build the Fokker 130, or F130 for short. The goal of this jet was to compete with the Airbus A220, Embraer E2, and Mitsubishi SpaceJet families.

The Netherlands Aircraft Company notes that F130 prototypes have already been developed:

A unique development program based on early certification flight testing using two existing Fokker 100 aircraft converted into two compliant Fokker 130 prototypes targets entry-into-service in five years. The Fokker 130 will be certified to latest EASA and FAA requirements.

NAC also claims that the jet will be developed in cooperation with renowned Dutch engineering companies, national aeronautical institutions, as well as international specialists.

Stretching roughly four meters more than the 35.53 meter Fokker 100, the F130 would also have a slightly larger wingspan. NAC claims that this jet would be far more fuel-efficient than its competitors, carrying as many as 137 passengers to a range of 2,000 NM (3,700 km) with an MTOW of 51,710 kg.

The Fokker 130 offers the trip cost of a 90-seat jet aircraft and the seat-mile cost of a 150-seat jet aircraft.

Is the project stalled?

Unfortunately, it's difficult to determine how far along this Fokker revival project is. While the bottom of NAC's website states "© 2021 Netherlands Aircraft Company," there isn't much more information on the progress of this endeavor. NAC's website doesn't show much more than marketing text for the F130, making lofty claims with very little to show for it.

The website also lacks a news section, nor does the company have any form of social media that might give us an indication of recent developments.

The firm's founder, Rosen Jacobson, might have a reason for this secrecy. In 2016, he told Luchtvaart Nieuws that the F130 plans were still standing, saying:

"The plans are still there, but I will not say anything further about them. Experience has shown that if developments are published in the press, the chance of progress is small."

Do you think the F130 will ever materialize? Let us know by leaving a comment.