Avianca (Bogotá) has moved to permanently ground its fleet of Fokker 50s citing the type's reliability issues. In an interview with FlightGlobal, the airline’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, Estuardo Ortiz, said Avianca had planned to phase out its remaining Fokker 50s later this year, but had now decided to bring forward their withdrawal by three months.
The Colombian carrier has already begun replacing the props with four ATR72-600s, three of which are currently operational, the report said.
Earlier this month, Avianca grounded its F50 fleet after one of the turboprops suffered an engine malfunction prior to take off from Cali bound for Tumaco on January 28.
