FANTASTIC Fokker 100 "siholuette landing" in Frankfurt: Montenegro Airlines [AirClips]

Montenegro Airlines a.d. is the flag carrier of Montenegro, headquartered in Podgorica. It operates scheduled and charter services throughout Europe from its hub at Podgorica Airport with a second base maintained at Tivat Airport. The airline was founded on October 24, 1994, by the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The first aircraft, a Fokker 28 Mk4000 (nicknamed "Lovćen"), was purchased almost two years later in 1996. The first commercial flight took place on May 7, 1997, at exactly 10:30 between Podgorica and Bari, Italy.
In April 2000, Montenegro Airlines became a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). In June 2000, the first of five Fokker F100 aircraft was delivered to Podgorica Airport. The airline joined Amadeus CRS on March 5, 2003. In 2004, Montenegro Airlines' pilots were the first in the region to be granted the IIIA certificate. On July 2 of the same year the airline carried its millionth passenger.
After the Montenegrin independence referendum, Serbia became an international market for Montenegrin companies. Montenegro Airlines had to cease international flights from Serbia to countries other than Montenegro, thus losing the profitable Niš - Zurich line, due to lack of Seventh Freedom policy. In an effort to circumvent this, Montenegro Airlines registered a separate airline in Serbia called Master Airways, but it was denied an operating license allegedly due to Serbian Government protectionist policies. On July 23, 2007, Montenegro Airlines ordered 2 Embraer 195 in order to grow its fleet and destination network. The aircraft being leased from GECAS for a period of 8 years. The first of the two Embraer E-195s arrived at Podgorica Airport on 5 June 2008. The delivery of the first Embraer was followed by introduction of regular flights to London-Gatwick and Milan-Malpensa International Airport.
On April 17, 2009, El Al and Montenegro Airlines issued a joint statement reiterating El Al's keen interest in buying 30% of the stock, but the plan failed. The airline remains a government-owned company and enjoys financial and protectionist support from the government.
After the arrival of the airline's first pair of Embraer E-195s, Montenegro Airlines requested Embraer to change the remaining backlog order to the E-175. However, the third E-195 was delivered anyway, and thus the fourth remaining order was to be an E-175. On July 6, 2012, local media cited that Montenegro Airlines has yet again changed the fourth order, this time requesting an E-190LR model. The aircraft was delivered in May 2014. In November 2014, Montenegro Airlines put both its Fokker 100s up for sale. However, by June 2015 no buyer has been found and the aircraft are likely to be scrapped.

The Fokker 100 is a medium-sized, twin-turbofan airliner from Fokker. Low operational costs and scant competition in the 100-seat, short-range class led to strong sales when it was introduced in the late 1980s, but sales fell as competition increased. Production ended in 1997 with 283 airframes delivered. In July 2012, 156 Fokker 100 aircraft remained in airline service with 30 airlines around the world. It was the largest jet airliner built by Fokker before its bankruptcy in 1996.
Two F28 prototypes were built - the first, PH-MKH, flew for the first time on 30 November 1986, and the second, PH-MKC, followed on 25 February 1987. The type certificate was awarded in November 1987. The first deliveries of the Tay 620-15 powered versions started to Swissair in February 1988. American Airlines (75 aircraft ordered), TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais (now TAM Airlines) (50 aircraft) and USAir (40 aircraft) were major customers of the Fokker 100 and their aircraft were powered by the more powerful Tay 650-15.
Although the design was a success in the marketplace, Fokker continued to lose money due to mismanagement. Eventually, their parent company, Daimler Benz Aerospace, shut them down. Fokker collapsed in 1996 and wound up production in early 1997. Some discussion had occurred about the company being purchased by Bombardier, but the plans fell through. Like any number of designs, the 70/100 was being increasingly squeezed from below by stretched versions of the Bombardier and Embraer regional jets, which also killed off plans for the Fairchild Dornier 528JET/728JET/928JET and an unnamed design from ATR. A proposed stretch version called the Fokker 130 was never built.