Fokker's Back in the Airplane-Building Game

(MoneyWatch)  The younger generation may hear the word "Fokker" and, after snickering, think only about the movie Meet the Parents. But the rest of us also know Fokker as a defunct aircraft manufacturer with a very long history. (We also snicker, of course.) Now, after nearly 15 years out of the game, little Fokkers will once again start rolling off the line, trying to take their place as the bargains of the 70-100 seat aircraft market. I'm highly skeptical, but hey, they've got a shot.

This may seem like a somewhat insane venture. The plan is for the not-so-cleverly named Rekkof (yes, "Fokker" backwards) to update the designs of the last jets Fokker produced, the Fokker 70 and 100. The XF70 and XF100 (the XF stands for eXtra Fokking awesome) will have the same basic design (T-tail, two engines in the back, kind of like a DC-9), but will be updated in many ways.

• Greater Range - The planes will be able to nearly reach the west coast from New York for some of the best range in that size aircraft.
• New Engines - Current generation engines will be more fuel efficient, quieter, and all that stuff. They aren't actually saying which engines will be on there, however.
• Blended Winglets - The new versions will incorporate blended winglets into the design to further improve fuel efficiency.
• Updated Interiors - Necessary so you don't feel like you're flying on a crappy old plane.
• Cheap - Last and most important, it'll be cheap. How? Well they're using an existing design so they'll be able to save a bundle on design costs. They're also going with low cost production methods.

It's that last bullet point that's most important. The XF70 will seat, um, 70 while the XF100 will seat, say it with me, 100 people. As Flightblogger notes, the 70 to 100 seat market is a crowded space. In the 70 seat market, we have the Embraer 170, the Bombardier CRJ-700 and other potential entrants. The 100 seat market also has the problem of competing with the admittedly not-very-competitive Boeing 737-600 and the Airbus A318. It's crowded.

So how will they get into a niche here? They can't claim cockpit commonality because there aren't many people still flying the original planes around (though there are a few). But they should be cheap to buy and that will make it attractive, if the economics can get close enough to some of the clean-sheet designs that are out there. They don't need to be the best in performance, but if the acquisition costs are low, then it opens up real opportunity with some airlines out there.

[Image via Rekkof]