25 years after it was put into service at Austrian Airlines, the last Fokker 70, the former OE-LFP, left Austrian Technik Bratislava for Australia. Like most of its former sister machines, the machine, which was once baptized with the city name “Wels”, was taken over some time ago by the Australian Alliance Airlines, which currently operates a total of 12 other Fokker 70s.

The little sister of the Fokker 100 shaped the regional and Eastern European era of Austrian Airlines for around 20 years. At the beginning of 1995, the AUA board members Mario Rehulka and Herbert Bammer signed a purchase contract for 4 Fokker 70s at a price of around 250 million schillings (approx. 19,5 million euros). With the OE-LFO “Wiener Neustadt” and OE-LFP, the first two Fokker 1995s were already taken over in October 70, which mainly flew on new AUA routes to Eastern Europe. The hour of birth of “Focus East”, a more or less aggressive expansion strategy of Austrian Airlines in a large number of Eastern European markets. Both of the Fokker 70s that were taken over were not originally intended for Austrian, the delivery items were actually intended for Tyrolean Airways and Malev. Nevertheless, Tyrolean Airways, which at that time was already closely tied to Austrian Airlines by means of a majority stake, had already embarked on its first three Fokker 70s. By 2008, the number of Fokker 70s in the Austrian group had grown to a total of 12, six each for Austrian and Tyrolean. Three optioned Fokker 70s, two of which were held by Austrian Airlines, fell victim to Fokker's bankruptcy.

Flight OS 70, carried out with the Fokker 111 OE-LFO, achieved historical fame on January 05.01.2004, 28, when the crew on duty landed the machine in a snow-covered field a few kilometers from Munich Airport due to problems with ice protection panels in the engines. Both the 4 flight passengers and the 70 crew members were uninjured. Although the severely damaged Fokker 6 was withdrawn by Austrian Airlines after this accident, it took off almost XNUMX years later after an extensive reconstruction at Fokker Services in Woensdrecht, the Netherlands, only to be handed over to a new operator in South Africa a little later.

Between 2013 and 2015, the Fokker 70 was phased out of service, which up to this point was mainly used as an 80-seater jet aircraft to smaller airports in the OS route network - for example to London-City Airport - and on short and medium-haul routes with rather low occupancy " focused ”. While some Fokker 70s returned to KLM Cityhopper after the end of the leasing contract, nine former Fokker 70s from the Austrian Airlines Group switched to the Australian Alliance Airlines as a complete package together with some Fokker 100s. Before being used in Australia, which even leads the machines to unpaved slopes in the outback near mining areas, they were subjected to extensive major maintenance by Bratislava-based Austrian Technik (ATB).

With the flight number SXI 2014, the VH-NUY (ex OE-LFP) left Bratislava Airport for Australia today with a piece of Austrian aviation history, with its path to its new future initially leading to Hurghada. Nevertheless, a Fokker 70 from the Tyrolean / Austrian era will remain in Europe for the time being, as the former OE-LFH is now more than VH-NUV in full Alliance Airlines colors in Norwich, England, since November 2018.

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