* Flight taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. All public health measures and government restrictions, including mask-wearing, were followed for everyone's health and safety *
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Where did I fly on this flight?
Alliance Airlines Fokker 50
Booking the Flight & Cost of the Flight
This flight was booked through the Alliance Airlines website on my laptop, paying full fare. An economy class flight between Adelaide and Olympic Dam at the time of travel started from $145 with dozens of flights a day. I paid about $145 for this flight. I found the Alliance Airlines website quite well laid out, easy to navigate and was quick to book on.
Operating Aircraft
Fokker 50 VH-FKW was the operating aircraft for the flight. A 25 year-old aircraft at the time of the flight, this Fokker 50 was the 306th Fokker 50 built. First flown in March 1995, the aircraft had an identical operational history to VH-FKV (the aircraft for the previous Alliance Airlines flight), and also saw service with Taiwan's Formosa Airlines (September 1995 - July 2000), registered as B-12275. Its next operator from August 2000 to June 2008 was Mandarin Airlines, also in Taiwan, bearing the same registration. It came to Alliance Airlines in June 2008 as VH-FKW, and is still there today. This Fokker 50 is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PWC PW125B engines, as are all of Alliance Airlines' Fokker 50s. This aircraft has been very well-kept and was a very nice aircraft to have had the pleasure to fly on. For an aircraft in the prime of it's life, it still felt like a very young aircraft.
Cabin
The cabin on this Fokker 50 was very clean and well maintained. The feel and look inside the cabin evoked that of a fairly young aircraft. It had a retro feel with the overhead panels.
Seating
For this short flight I was in seat 2A. There are 13 rows on the Alliance Airlines Fokker 50, which is in an all-economy 2-2 seating configuration. Each seat has a seat pitch of 33 inches and a seat width similar to that of a Qantas Boeing 737-800. There are 50 seats on the aircraft, and all are in a navy blue leather material. The seat was very comfortable. It was pretty narrow, but there was a very generous amount of legroom in this seat, with an acceptable width.
Inflight Customer Service
On this Alliance Airlines service there was one Alliance Airlines flight attendant onboard. She served all of us with a passionate attitude.
Inflight Entertainment
There was a safety card and vomit bag on hand in the seat pocket, but no inflight magazine. Alliance Airlines does not provide any seatback or overhead TVs. There is no app for the airline in regard to in flight entertainment purposes. Although there are no TVs onboard, this is expected when it comes to a regional aircraft, particularly one with 50 seats, however, this can be a slight issue for flights of the duration of this flight. The magazine was not there to avoid the transmission of the coronavirus. The safety card was eye catching; as it should be. Much like the first flight, I was glued to the window for the majority of the flight for the views of the sunrise, but also listened to music on my phone. It sure passed the time, especially when we were placed in an unexpected holding pattern before descending.
Photos
Boarding VH-FKW on the parking bay at Olympic Dam Airport. It had not long arrived from Adelaide as flight QQ3254
Economy class seats
Legroom
Seat 2A
Engine startup
Taxiing to runway 06
Takeoff from runway 06
Inflight at 17,100 feet
Water bottle provided for snack service
Seat pocket contents
Retro-style overhead panel, complete with the usual reading light, adjustable air vents and flight attendant call button
View over the top of the Yorke Peninsula, viewed from seat 3F
A cool cloud formation seen whilst inflight
Descending into Adelaide Airport
Holding pattern, gusty approach and rough landing onto runway 05
Taxiing to the parking bay
Docked on bay 50D
The next hop for this Fokker 50 would be back to Olympic Dam as flight QQ3214
Final Verdict
This flight was great. Alliance Airlines was very good, and the flight attendant was friendly. The Fokker 50 is a really fun aircraft to fly on, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second onboard it. For aircraft approaching 30 years old, the two Fokker 50s that I had still looked and felt very young and new additions to the fleet. I wished that I got the opportunity to ride this aircraft one more time before it was retired, but the opportunity never came; the aircraft was retired from service in August 2022, thereby ending Fokker 50 operations in Australia. Long live the Alliance Airlines Fokker 50!
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