Qantas Ends An Era After 32 Years

Qantas is ending an era by retiring a 32-year-old Fokker 100, but the aircraft will not follow the traditional fate of outgoing Fokker jets.

VH-NPU, with its 32-year flying career coming to a close, will, instead of heading to the scrapyard, become a permanent public exhibit at the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society’s (HARS) Shellharbour facility.

The preservation of the Fokker 100, which flew with QantasLink and other operators, marks one of the last aircraft added to the regional carrier’s long-serving Fokker fleet, as the transition to Embraer advances.

Qantas Sends VH-NPU to Museum

VH-NPU, named Meekatharra, arrived at Shellharbour Airport after its final flight across Australia and has joined the HARS’ collection at Albion Park. The aircraft is the second QantasLink Fokker 100 donated to the organisation to date in 2026.

This QantasLink Fokker 100 holds special importance within the Qantas Group, with Meekatharra joining Network Aviation, QantasLink’s Western Australian operator, in late 2016. Specifically, VH-NPU was the final Fokker 100 to join the fleet.

Before the Fokker 100 arrived in Australia, the jet had a lengthy history worldwide and completed 7,543 flights with Qantas, covering around nine million kilometres during its decade with the Australian carrier.

QantasLink logged more than 11,250 flight hours, carrying around one million passengers during its ten-year Australian career focused on linking Perth to regional Western Australian centres and vital mining townships.

HARS President and Chief Pilot Bob De La Hunty said the aircraft and its rich history will, for generations, tell the story of regional travel within Western Australia and how vital these planes were to the economy and people. The jet sits alongside HARS’ most noteworthy jet, VH-OJA, the City of Canberra Boeing 747-400, donated in 2015.

32 Years of Memories for the Fokker 100

VH-NPU concluded its flying life after more than three decades, spending the final third of its operational life in Australia; before that, it flew around the world, carrying customers across regional airports.

American Airlines first received the aircraft in March 1994, when it was registered as N1469D after production in Amsterdam. After four years, the aircraft was withdrawn from service in February 2004 and subsequently stored in Mojave.

After American Airlines parted ways with the Fokker 100, the aircraft flew again under the registration OE-LVB with Tyrolean Airways from August 2004, operating on behalf of Austrian Arrows. From 2004 through to its withdrawal in 2016, the aircraft remained in the Austrian Airlines family.

After delivery to Alliance Airlines in August 2016, OE-LVB became VH-NPU and spent its final years with QantasLink, operated by Network Aviation across Western Australia, specialising in vital regional connectivity.

The Fokker Era Comes to a Close

Since its introduction to the Qantas Group, the Fokker 100 has been vital to the Western Australian operation. The twinjet’s ability to seat roughly 100 passengers and serve short-haul sectors has made it well suited to Western Australia’s harsh climate and regional hubs such as Kalgoorlie, Paraburdoo and Newman.

These routes, while not able to support frequent service with other aircraft, have seen residents, corporate travellers and a substantial fly-in/fly-out workforce use them to support links to the resource industry, the principal beneficiary.

Network Aviation’s Western Australian network covers more than 25 regional destinations. With more than 600 weekly flights, the network spans Australia, providing vital connections for those travelling for leisure or business.

With the Fokker 100 slotted into a niche of these high-frequency services into mining centres, the era is coming to a close as a transition to the Embraer E190 progresses. The newer aircraft will improve reliability, fuel efficiency, and overall comfort, but Qantas and the people of Western Australia will not forget the Fokker 100’s impact.