On 4 April 1993, the Fokker 70 performed its maiden flight from the company's manufacturing base at Woensdrecht in southern Netherlands, which had a duration of three hours.

On 14 October 1994, type certification was granted for the Fokker 70, while the first delivery to a customer (made to the Ford Motor Company in an "Executive Jet" configuration) occurred later that same month.

[10] The Fokker 70 is equipped with an airbrake fitted upon its tail section, in a somewhat similar arrangement to that found on the competing British Aerospace 146, which allows it to conform with the 5.5° glide slope to perform steep descents, as required at London City Airport.

During the first two decades of operations, there were multiple incidents of ice having formed on the leading edge of the wing; during January 2009, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a mandate that all Fokker 70s and Fokker 100s operated in Europe would be required to be outfitted with on-ground heating apparatus to counteract ice formation.

[11] Early on, safety-critical issues with the aircraft's thrust reversers were uncovered; in December 1996, Fokker instructed all operators to conduct inspections.

[14] The Italian flag carrier Alitalia at one point had 15 Fokker 70s on order via leasing agreements for its subsidiary Avianova; on 20 December 1995, the first example was put into revenue service.

[17] During 1995, a pair of aircraft were delivered to Desert Sun Airlines, a subsidiary of Mesa Airlines, and were operated as America West Express flights as part of a promotional effort in support of the Fokker 70 within the United States; the purchase agreement permitted the operator to return the aircraft within 12 to 18 months.

[citation needed] During March 1996, Fokker entered bankruptcy, which brought an abrupt end to its sales campaign in the U.S. market.

[23][24] As early as the late 1990s, some operators opted to replace their often small Fokker 70 fleets with alternative, and often more modern, airliners.

[28] As of October 2022, 32 aircraft remain in service with seven airlines and two governments:[29][30][31][needs update] Data from airliners.net,[10] aer.ita.br,[3] flyfokker.com,[34]General characteristics Performance