In 1932 Fokker built five Fokker F.XVIII aircraft for KLM as replacements for the airline's F.IIs.

The new aircraft were put into service on the Dutch East Indies route. Before KLM chose the F.XVIII , it discussed its requirements with Fokker in detail. As a result of these talks, the Technical Department made a number of alternative designs.

These are thought to have been the F.XV, the four-engined Fokker F.XVI, the Fokker F.XIX and the Fokker F.XXI - but it was for the F.XVIII that KLM finally opted.

The fact that all of these aircraft were designed within the same period indicates that they were intended as potential replacements for the F.XII One particular feature which the designers had on their minds then was what type of passenger seat to put in the cabin.

Up until then KLM had always used reclining seats on its Indies route. This was not the case with the F.XVI however. In the Fokker archives the one and only F.XVI document which exists is a drawing showing non-reclining seats similar to those used by KLM on its European routes. Possibly to increase the aircraft's sales potential, Fokker suggested American, Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines.

For the remainder of the F.XVI design, the aircraft had the same wing as the F.XV and an almost identical fuselage. The F.XVI was not the first four-engined Fokker type to be designed. Before this 12-passenger aircraft was put on paper, there was already a smaller four-engined design based on the F.VIIb. With this latter aircraft, the fuselage had an enclosed nose with space for baggage.

Four 130 hp Armstrong Siddeley Mongoose engines were to be mounted below the wing. The resulting F.VlIb-4m could seat eight passengers. For long-range routes around 1930, the market proved to be more interested in three-engined than four-engined aircraft.

As a result, neither the F.VIIb-4m nor the F.XVI was built.