Retired QantasLink Fokker 100 donated to Australian aviation museum

A Fokker 100 formerly flown by QantasLink has made its final flight, arriving at Shellharbour Airport for public display with the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society.

The aircraft, registered VH-NPU and nicknamed Meekatharra, is the second F100 QantasLink has given to the group. An earlier donation went to its Parkes Museum earlier this year. At Shellharbour, it will sit alongside a former Qantas Boeing 747-400 the airline gave the organisation in 2015.

QantasLink says the jet joined its fleet in December 2016, after earlier service with American Airlines and Austrian Airlines, making it the last F100 the carrier added. Over nearly a decade of regional flying in Western Australia, the airline says the aircraft logged more than 11,250 flight hours and around nine million kilometres across roughly 7,500 flights, carrying an estimated one million passengers.

The F100 fleet has served regional Western Australian towns including Kalgoorlie, Newman and Paraburdoo, supporting mining and resource communities. QantasLink's wider Western Australian network currently runs more than 600 weekly flights to over 25 regional destinations, along with services to Darwin, Newcastle, Hobart, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. These routes are flown with a mixed fleet of Fokker 100, Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.

QantasLink is phasing out its F100s in favour of Embraer E190 jets. The airline says the change will improve reliability, fuel efficiency and passenger comfort.