The story of the Fokker F-28 in the Iranian Empire could have begun in early 1959 when Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi made an official visit to the Netherlands, invited by Queen Juliana. During this visit, he toured the port of Rotterdam and the facilities of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Upon returning to Persia, several agreements were made for ships and aircraft, with the first Fokker imported being a F-27-200 Friendship, featuring VIP interiors, which was used exclusively by the King until 1962. With this background, it’s not surprising that almost a decade later, another major agreement took place between these two countries.
In late 1971, eleven Fokker F-27 aircraft were acquired for the Iranian Imperial Air Force, and the following year, Fokker likely seized the opportunity to show off its new product. A wet lease agreement was signed in September 1971 for aircraft msn. 11994, a Fokker F-28 Mk.1000, with Dutch registration PH-FPT. The plane had a full paint scheme for Iran Air, featuring an additional decoration celebrating the 2500 years of the Persian Empire along with the national coat of arms. This Fellowship played a special role in transporting passengers for the event. It was returned to Fokker on October 21 of the same year, without meeting the sales expectations of the Iranian airline, which by then had nearly monopolized the Iranian airline market. Fortunately, the story of the Fellowship didn’t end there in this region. In 1969, Pars Air was founded as a result of a merger between two small companies, Air Taxi and Air Service. Initially, it operated charter flights to the northwest of the country with a small fleet of small planes. At that time, they were unable to acquire larger aircraft due to local regulations.
In 1974, Article 5 of Iran's National Airline Establishment Law was modified for the first time, raising the restriction on aircraft acquisitions from 11,885 kg to 30,000 kg. This change only affected airlines other than Iran Air.
With this, Pars Air was freed to import larger aircraft and modify its operations, transitioning from a charter service to a regional airline with a network of short flights lasting under one hour, including destinations that Iran Air did not serve.
In this context, a thorough study was conducted to determine which aircraft could be incorporated into their fleet. The study narrowed down the options to the American Douglas DC-9 or the Dutch Fokker F-28, with the latter emerging as the winner. In 1976, an agreement was signed between the president of Fokker and Mansour Rafat, son of Ali Asghar Rafat and executive director of Pars Air (among other local aviation roles). The deal included leasing two units, plus the purchase of two more.
Between March and July 1977, the first aircraft msn. 11027, a F-28 Mk1000, registered locally as EP-PAS, arrived and operated preliminarily until the second and third aircraft arrived between July 26 and 30. The serials msn. 11052 and msn. 11093, Fokker F-28 Mk.1000 and Mk.6000 respectively, were registered locally as EP-PBA and EP-PBB. These three aircraft arrived under a wet lease, as local crew training did not start until November of that year. The paint scheme consisted of a gray lower fuselage and tail section, with diagonal lines forming the Iranian flag. The EP-PBB featured Fokker's color scheme, with red engine nacelles and a matching stripe running the length of the fuselage at window level. The words “Pars Air” and the Iranian flag were added on the tail.
In 1979, an additional unit msn. 11003 F-28 Mk.1000, registered EP-PBF, arrived and operated for just over a year. By 1980, Pars Air would merge with three other companies, forming the National Air Services Company Asseman, under the temporary direction of Dr. Sadegh Tabatabaei, who was head of the prime minister's office at the time.
The last aircraft to join Pars Air was msn. 11092, a Mk6000 variant, in July 1980. It was initially planned to be registered as EP-PBG, but due to winds of change, this was canceled, and its lease lasted only six months. With the consolidation of Iran Asseman Airlines, the first two F-28s were acquired directly from the manufacturer. These were Mk4000 variants, msn. 11164 and msn. 11166, registered as EP-PAT and EP-PAU respectively. The first was incorporated in May 1981, and the second in June of the same year, being the F-28s that operated the longest within the company. The color scheme for these two new units consisted of a rainbow of blues starting at the nose section, growing thicker as it descended from the cockpit windows and running the length of the fuselage, ending at the tail, where it formed a circle with the initials "IAA" inside. This scheme was later modified in subsequent units, replacing the initials with Iran's national emblem in dark blue, and the blue stripes were limited to the tail section, with the rest of the fuselage remaining white.
Between 1992 and 1994, five F-28s were leased as reinforcement: serials 11070, 11102, 11104, 11144, and 11135, corresponding to Mk.1000, Mk.1000C, and Mk.4000 variants, with the latter being the only "C" variant in the fleet. The first two were registered as F-GIAJ and F-GEXX, as they came from French operator TAT. They were later purchased and re-registered as EP-PAV and EP-PAX.
The fate of msn. 11070 took a tragic turn on October 10, 1993, when it crashed 35 minutes after departing Isfahan Airport, striking the Karkas mountains on a flight to Tehran, killing 66 people, including crew and passengers.
The other three, incorporated starting January 1993—msn. 11104 Mk1000, and msn. 11144 and msn. 11135 Mk.4000—were initially registered as F-GIAK, F-GDUZ, and F-GDFD, later re-registered as EP-PAZ, EP-PBI, and EP-PBJ, respectively.
The aircraft msn. 11104 was briefly leased to the Iranian government from May to August 1993 before returning to passenger service until its retirement. Meanwhile, msn. 11144 flew as EP-PBI until 2000, when it was briefly re-registered as F-GDUZ and again in 2001 as EP-ASF. It operated until the fleet's retirement in 2004, was transferred to the Iranian Aircraft Industries Company, which barely operated it. It was stored in 2005 and later sold to the Toranj Marine Hotel in Kish Island to be turned into a diving tourist attraction. The fuselage remains stored on land, and as of today, it has not been submerged.
About msn. 11166 suffered a hard landing in Ahvaz on July 28, 2000, due to poor weather. The aircraft was deemed irreparable, but a team of technicians from Tehran repaired it, although it was never fully operational. It operated until 2004, and its fuselage is preserved at the Civil Aviation Industry Faculty at Mehrabad Airport.
The case of msn. 11135 operated under the registration F-GDFD and was re-registered in 1999 as EP-ASE, operating until its retirement in 2004. It is now preserved in the Tehran Aerospace Museum.
Other aircraft that flew until the end of the fleet’s operation included msn. 11164, msn. 11104, and msn. 11135.
After retirement, msn. 11164 was preserved as training material for the Aviation Protection Unit, and it is now reported as scrapped.
The msn. 11104, after its retirement, was left on the ground at Mehrabad Airport and is used for training airport firefighters.
Fellowship EP-PAZ (msn. 11104) was left in Qom, where there were plans to convert it into a restaurant, but that never happened, and it remains abandoned in Ghadir Park.
In the final years, maintaining the F-28 in flight-worthy condition became increasingly difficult. Given the good performance of the small regional jet, it was decided to replace them with Fokker F-100s starting in 2003. This transition proved the value of the Fellowship in the region. The introduction of the new jets also justified the failed F-28 sale in 1971, as multiple Iranian airlines have since become active operators of the new generation of Fokker aircraft, showcasing their quality. Additionally, the F-27 remains in service with both the Air Force and Navy.
Esteban Lerín
