Fokker was founded by the aviation pioneer Anthony Fokker in 1919. The company became GKN Fokker in 2015.

GKN Aerospace is a leading tier-one supplier in the aerospace industry, generating revenue of GBP 3.6 billion in 2025 and employs 16,000 people across 12 countries. Fokker was originally part of the Dutch conglomerate Stork, which was acquired and delisted from Euronext Amsterdam with the participation of Eyrir in 2008, in a private equity consortium. Concurrently, Stork Food Systems was sold to Marel. During the involvement of Eyrir in Fokker, Arni Thordarson served as a non-executive director, initially within the Stork group and later with the independent entities Fokker Technologies and Stork Technical Services.

The spin-off of Fokker and other operating units was initiated to achieve a clear focus and participate in the ongoing consolidation in the respective industries of those entites. At the time of Fokker’s acquisition by GKN in 2015, the company had approximately 4,000 employees in the Netherlands, US, and Mexico, and achieved an annual revenue of around €750 million.