Fokker 100 operators to head Down Under

Airlines in Asia Pacific that operate Fokker 100 aircraft will soon have to make the long trek down to Melbourne, Australia if they are to put their pilots through simulator training.
Alteon Training in Singapore has the only Fokker 100 simulator in Asia-Pacific and has just sold it to the Ansett Flight Simulator Centre in Melbourne.
The last day it will be avaliable in Singapore is 5 May, says Alteon Training Singapore director of sales and marketing Chris Bunning.
He says the reason the Fokker 100 simulator is being sold is to make room because later this year Alteon Training Singapore will be adding a Boeing 787 simulator.
But whether there is demand this year for 787 simulator training is highly unlikely considering the first 787 is only due to be delivered late next year.
Its also surprising that Alteon Training has no room in its Singapore centre to house both the 787 and Fokker 100 simulator considering the centre was only built a couple of years ago and it always knew it would be adding 787 simulators later on.
Having the Fokker 100 simulator relocated to Melbourne, supposedly hasn't gone down too well with some of the Fokker 100 operators in the region.
Mandarin Airlines in Taiwan, for example, is understood to be one of the carriers that is not too pleased about having to travel so far for simulator training.
This week I spoke to Kostar Airlines - a new airline in South Korea that plans to launch in August using Fokker 100s - and they told me they were looking to send their pilots to the US or Europe for simulator training rather than travelling Down Under.
The other Fokker 100 operators in Asia Pacific are: Air Niugini (Papua New Guinea), Air Bagan (Myanmar), Aero Mongolia, Alliance Air (Australia), Cosmic Air (Nepal), Mandarin Airlines (Taiwan), Merpati Nusantara (Indonesia), Skywest Airlines (Australia) and Transwisata Prima Aviation (Indonesia).
Another new airline in South Korea called Yeongnam Air and a carrier in Western Australia called Network Aviation Australia also plan to operate Fokker 100s.