KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will replace all planes constructed by Royal Fokker Aircraft. This Dutch company still exists but does no longer construct complete aricrafts, it is now specialized in space technology, in aircraft maintenance and in development and construction of advanced components for the Joint Strike Fighter Jets.
This means that for the first time in history, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will fly no longer with Dutch-made airplanes. The last Fokker 70's and Fokker 100's will leave the fleet and be replaced by 15 Embraer E175
+ planes, 30 Embraer E190 planes and optional 15 of these more. These Embraers (made in Brazil) will form the heart of the new fleet for mid-range distances ("city hoppers") of KLM.
Why is this news in this forum? The Royal House flies with a Fokker 70. The plane is under maintenance by KLM and is operated by pilots from KLM. The Government has announced that because all Fokkers leave the fleet, a new plane will be purchased. No formal decision has been made yet but it is in the line of logic that -for reasons of efficiency, costs and maintenance- it will be an Embraer too.
The present plane, the ph-KBX (
Koningin
Beatri
X)
The future plane, possibly named the ph-KWA (
Koning
Willem-
Alexander), will of course have another colour scheme and striping
The price of a standard Embraer E190 is around 40 millon Euro. It is expected that the plane which will used for the Royal House will have the necessary modifications, with an effect on the prize tag.
It seems Fokker still constructs aircrafts, that means: the existing Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 blueprints are used but with lower airframe, 20% lighter materials, increased fuel capacity and new generation Rolls-Royce engines, isobar winglets on the wings and other modifications.
It seems Fokker has competed with other aircraft manufacturers but KLM choose for the Brazilean manufacturer Embraer to replace the Fokker fleet. Possibly because Embraer already delivered 45 planes to Air France (with which KLM forms one company) and this had a positive effect on the prize tag for another 45 Embraers to be delivered to KLM.
I hope that a choice will be made for the Fokker 100 NG (New Generation). The King should always arrive with a Dutch-made airplane, I think. According Wikipedia (I know, I know...) the USA (Boeing), Russia (Ilyushin), France (Airbus), the United Kingdom (BAe) and the Netherlands (Fokker) are the only countries which have self designed, built, operated and maintenanced the official plane used by the head of state.... The first Fokker 100 NG will be presented later this year, I understood. Maybe that was also a problem for KLM: they want to be sure that the new planes can be constucted in large quantities (45 to begin with) and absolutely trustworthy and operational for daily flights. The plane used by the King, of course has another frequency of use and also does not need to fly 100 or 120 passengers, again and again and again.
The present Fokker 70 used by the King
The Fokker 120 New Generation but the King will hopefully use the smaller Fokker 100 NG