Air Antwerp today revealed the name for its only Fokker 50 aircraft (OO-VLS). The latest Belgian airline, a joint venture between CityJet and KLM, received and considered numerous suggestions and finally decided on a term that fittingly describes the identity of this aircraft: Pagadder.
“This Flemish slang word can have several meanings depending on the context, but historically it refers to someone born in Antwerp from parents that were not born there. Seeing that the “parents” of both Air Antwerp (shareholders CityJet and KLM) and OO-VLS (owner Amapola Flyg and manufacturer Fokker) are not born in Antwerp but the airline is, we deemed Pagadder would be a suitable name,” the airline proudly announced.
The stickers, however, will only appear on the aircraft in a few weeks as the airline will now start the certification process to apply them: “Unfortunately this can take a couple of weeks, so please bear with us until we can present the aircraft’s updated look to you,” Air Antwerp said on social media.
Air Antwerp receives its first aircraft: a Fokker F-50 in a striking red and white livery
A certification process taking several weeks for a sticker? They must be joking!