Captains Sandra and Simon Taking Off for Helvetic's last Fokker F100 Passenger Flight! [AirClips]

The AirClips.com team was exclusively invited to produce a documentation about Helvetic's Fokker 100 farewell flight through the Swiss Alps on June 14th 2019. Witness these historic and emotional moments of Switzerlands last ever Fokker 100 passenger flight after a decade-long history of this airliner in Switzerland beginning with Swissair. Our all-free ULTIMATE COCKPIT MOVIE about this flight (available under https://youtu.be/aQP3tuCDNS4 starting September 2019) starts with sounds and sights of a stunning employee farewell party during the previous evening, to include keynotes of the company's CEO and COO! COO and Commander Simon Schatzmann can be seen in the Captain's seat during this flight while his Captain college Sandra impresses on the controls!

As an entirely Swiss Airline, Helvetic Airways offers European destinations in the short and medium-haul sectors. Established in 2003, the airline operates from Zurich and Bern-Belp airports. The
Helvetic Airways fleet currently consists of eleven Embraer E190-E1s. The first of 12 new Embraer E190-E2 will be added to the fleet from autumn 2019 onwards. Due to the arrival of the new E2 the airline will run one of Europe’s most advanced regional aircraft fleets in the medium-term future. Up to eight Helvetic aircraft are operated on behalf of Swiss International Air Lines under a long-term wetlease agreement. Helvetic Airways has a workforce which currently numbers some 450 employees, including 70 who are part of the maintenance.

The Fokker 100 is a medium-sized, twin-turbofan jet airliner from Fokker, the largest such aircraft built by the company before its bankruptcy in 1996. The type possessed low operational costs and initially had scant competition in the 100-seat short-range regional jet class, contributing to strong sales upon introduction in the late 1980s.
However, an increasing number of similar airliners were brought to market by competitors during the 1990s, leading to a substantial decline in both sales and long-term prospects for the 100. Fokker also encountered financial difficulties and was bought up by Deutsche Aerospace AG, which in turn had financial troubles of its own, restricting its ability to support multiple regional airliner programmes. Accordingly, in 1997, production of the Fokker 100 was terminated after 283 airframes had been delivered.
By July 2017, a total of 113 Fokker 100 aircraft remained in airline service with 25 airlines around the world. Although airlines are currently retiring the aircraft, there are still large numbers in operation in both Australia and Iran.
The F28 Mark 0100 “Fokker 100” is based on the Fokker F28 Mark 4000 re-engined with two Rolls-Royce RB.183 Tay high by-pass ratio turbofans and a fuselage stretched by 18.83 ft (5.74 m). Its wing is wider by 9.8 ft (3.0 m), has new flaps and larger ailerons, and extended leading and trailing edges improve aerodynamics and increase the wing chord. The landing gear is strengthened and has new wheels and brakes, and the horizontal stabilizer is widened by 4.6 ft (1.4 m). Maximum weights are increased while fuel capacity, max speed and ceiling remain the same, passenger capacity went from 85 to 109. The flight deck went digital with a flight management system, an autopilot/flight director including CAT III autoland, thrust management system, electronic flight instrument displays and full ARINC avionics.
The new wing was claimed to be 30% more efficient in cruise, while retaining the simplicity of a fixed leading edge. The cockpit was updated with a Rockwell Collins DU-1000 EFIS. Like the Fokker Fellowship, the Fokker 100 retained the twin rear fuselage-mounted engines and T-tail configuration, like the Douglas DC-9 family. It lacks the F28 eyebrow windows above the cockpit. In July 2014, Maarten Van Eeghen, chief executive of NG Aircraft, revealed more details about the pending revival and the new generation of aircraft that would be produced. Dubbed the F120NG, it would be a new-build aircraft, seating a maximum of 125 to 130 passengers, that would be essentially a stretched model of the base Fokker 100. It would adopt a new powerplant, the Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1X17G turbofan engine rated at 17,600 lb thrust, which is claimed to result in the new generation airliner burning 50 per cent less fuel per seat than the original Fokker 100. It was claimed in 2014 that the earliest entry-to-service date for the F120NG would be 2019, based on a five-year development and testing programme after obtaining official clearance to proceed.