The Fuerza Aerea Argentina retired the F-28 from its fleet after nearly 50 years in service when TC-52 (c/n 11074) and finally TC-53 (c/n 11020) were withdrawn from service on 03Sep18 and 16Aug19, respectively. TC-53 was even painted with a special tail logo to commemorate the retirement of the long-lived Fokker product from service with the air force.
However, TC-52 was unexpectedly reconditioned in 2020 and returned to service at least as recently as 05Oct20, even flying for the Argentine Air Force's airline, Lineas Aereas del Estado (LADE), on routes such as Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) to Merlo (RLO) in the San Luis province.
Last year's surprise was followed up by another similar revival in 2021 when TC-53, which was retired earlier than expected in August 2019 due to cracks found in various parts of the structure, was recently repaired by the Fabrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA), located at an airfield southwest of Cordoba city, which performed the equivalent of a B+2C+D check. The aircraft flew once again, this time on a test flight departing and returning to El Palomar (EPA) air base on 06Aug21.
Photos of the aircraft painted in the new low-visibility grey scheme that was also applied to TC-52:
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