Originally Posted by
pamann
Something that’s always puzzled me
What’s the difference between a 146 and an RJ85/100? I always think of them as the same. What changed?
Avro Hawker Siddeley designed what became the Bae 146
The 100 and stretched 200 series
80/85/100 seats and then the further stretched 115 seat 300 series version
Jota Aviation at SEN seem to be very successful and have a their growing fleet of 146's for ACMI and pax/cargo charter work.
They were recently looking for more cabin crew and Ops/crewing staff at SEN
Perhaps a local or bigger tour operator would consider Jota for a IT series out of SEN again - The 146 is 'right size' for routes like Palma Alicante and Italy.
I first saw a demo 146-100 in BAF colours being shown off to Brymon at LHR around the time the Brymon Dash 7 was being introduced - we handled it at BMA T1. 1981?
In attempt to join the growing market of Regional Jets Bae sort to market their 146 as an RJ model and give it a makeover
the RJ70/85 and 100 versions (seat capacity) saw new avionics and upgrades to the engines and few more tweaks
A QC quick change passenger/cargo version with a large freight door was also offered from 146 days - renamed QT quiet trader
SEN locally based Burstin Travel bought 2 new 146-200QC's to fly holiday charters from SEN and do cargo/mail flights at night - the airline was called Princess Air. They leased a 3rd -200
A further-improved version with new engines, the
Avro RJX, was announced in 1997, but only two prototypes and one production aircraft were built before production ceased in 2001.
The 146/RJ sold much better than the Bac-111
Quite a nice little aeroplane - Dan Air Manx and Palmair used them on holiday flights from Gatwick and Bournemouth - suited mainly as far as PMI and IBZ, but AGP and FAO were flown but a tech stop sometimes was needed as the range/payload was stretched to the limit.
Manx used them on ski charters to Chambery and INN but it was hard to get a full load of bags skis and boots in the holds.