Following the Fokker F27 Friendship, an early and commercially successful turboprop-powered regional airliner, Fokker decided to embark on developing a new turbojet-powered commuter aircraft that would build upon its experiences with the F27. During the design phase, a high level of attention was paid to market research and operator concerns; amongst other changes made, the prospective jetliner was increased in size, changing its maximum seating capacity from 50 to 65 passengers. During April 1962, Fokker announced the formal launch of the F28 Fellowship. The Fokker F28 Fellowship was a short-haul twin-engine jetliner, sharing broad similarities to the British Aircraft Corporation's BAC One-Eleven built in the UK and the first generation Douglas DC-9 built in the US in terms of basic configuration, featuring a T-tail and engines mounted at the rear of the fuselage. The choice of a low-mounted wing, amongst other benefits, somewhat shielded the tail-mounted engines from the threat of foreign object damage. Fuel is stored within both the outer wing and within the fuselage; additional pylon-mounted tanks could be installed for extended range operations if so required. The structure, which features a fail-safe design, is constructed using the same bonding techniques previously pioneered for the F27. The F28s of Ansett Transport Industries' Western Australian intrastate airline, MacRobertson Miller Airlines of Western Australia, flew the longest non-stop F28 route in the world, from Perth to Kununurra, in Western Australia – a distance of about 2,240 km (1,392 mi). This was also the world's longest twin-jet route at the time. MMA's F28's also had the highest utilisation rates at the time, flying over 8 hours per day. For more details including variants, click here. The specifications below are for the original F-28-1000 variant.
