Aircraft – Fokker 27 / Fairchild F-27

The dependable, durable F27 is the only aircraft type to serve both as mainline equipment for Northwest’s progenitor carriers, and also as a flagship for Northwest Airlink in the post-Republic era.

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Bonanza

Edmund Converse had built a ten-strong DC-3 fleet but by the mid-1950s, demand on Bonanza’s core routes far exceeded what the vintage piston propliner could lift, and its slow speed meant that longer-range nonstop flights were uncomfortable and uncompetitive. With ample capital available to tap, Converse decided to buy new aircraft – going all-in on the F-27 turboprop (design by Fokker in the Netherlands; constructed by Fairchild in the US), eventually operating 13 of the type with operations beginning in 1959. Core nonstop routes like Phoenix-Salt Lake City, Reno-Las Vegas, and Las Vegas-Los Angeles were easily and profitably covered by the new type. By the end of 1960 all DC-3s were retired and Bonanza was advertising itself as the “first all jet-powered airline in America.” Ten of the fleet would ultimately migrate into Air West after the merger with Pacific and West Coast.

West Coast

After the merger with Empire, new services added to tie the Idaho and coastal networks together spotlighted the limitations of the carrier’s DC-3 fleet: too slow, not enough capacity, unpressurized and uncomfortable for the longer stage lengths now being operated. Replacement with newer and larger piston-powered craft was studied, but the high altitude and mountainous terrain around many stations, plus baking heat in summer, argued for a turboprop solution. The US-built licensed Fairchild F-27 fit the bill, and West Coast ordered five of the model, with deliveries beginning in July 1958 and first revenue service starting September 8 of that year.

WCA in fact would be the first operator of the F-27, eventually flying 13 of the type. Three of the fleet crashed; two with fatalities and the other with just injuries – all of those aircraft were destroyed. Ten would be passed along to Air West in 1968.

Pacific

On February 15, 1957, Southwest placed an order for three examples of the Fairchild F-27 in the 40-seat configuration, plus engines and spares from Rolls-Royce. Delivery was initially set for September 1958, and in its annual report was noted that a $2.6 million loan was taken out to finance the purchase.

F-27s were intended for the longer range and higher traffic routes, in order to move similar capacity Martinliners onto slower, smaller DC-3 routes so that type could be eventually retired.

The order was increased to 6 aircraft, with the first 3 entering service April 26, 1959 and the second 3 entering service July 1, 1959. The total loan ultimately came to $5.36 million.

These turboprops proved to be so versatile; faster than the Martinliners and more reliable, that they completely replaced piston-engined DC-3 and Martin 202 in 1963, and by 1965 swept out the remaining Martin 404s. By the time of the three-way merger with West Coast and Bonanza, the new Air West would have a consistent turboprop fleet, with Pacific contributing 12.

Air West

The F-27 complemented Douglas DC-9 operations across the merged network, but CAB routing and scheduling restrictions kept the new company from flexibly utilizing the propjet fleet to its full potential. The system was still “balkanized” to its original carriers instead of allowing flights to flow through across the network. Likewise, the F-27s, as “mainline equipment” to regulators, could not be employed to ramp up frequencies on “commuter” routes like what the newer third-level carriers were doing at the time.

So of the 35 F-27s that Air West started with in 1968, in March 1970 nine were placed into storage.

Hughes Airwest

With new ownership and management at Air West, the focus of the carrier became finding ways to increase stage lengths and reduce unit costs; getting more flying out of the existing fleet and acquiring larger capacity, longer range jet aircraft to serve larger business and leisure destinations.

This meant that service to small communities would be shifted out to third-level regional carriers, and with them the justification to keep F-27s in the fleet. These eliminations were concentrated in 1973-74, with essentially all propeller service concluded in 1975. A few aircraft remained on the rolls in 1976-77 but not on scheduled duty – all were gone by 1978.

Two of the fleet eventually and poetically found their way to Horizon Air, to finish their service flying the Pacific Northwest routes they had run over a decade earlier.

Mesaba – Northwest Airlink

Mesaba’s remarkable growth out of Minneapolis-St. Paul in the early 1980s quickly outpaced the lift it could offer with 19-passenger Metroliners, but it did not have the funding in place yet to order brand-new regional turboprops. Thankfully, a number of used Dutch-built Fokker 27s would appear in the market as other commuters started fleet replacements or went out of business. Mesaba’s F27 fleet was introduced in 1984 and served the rest of the decade, briefly getting the red-and-gray Airlink livery before being replaced by new Dash 8-100 turboprops.

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