Originally Posted by
rog747
I recall early Tridents also could not make it non-stop to Malta
Bear in mind the Trident 1 followed the Comet down the Hatfield production line. BEA had bought quite a fleet of Comets, which could handle all the medium-range points, and I understand unwisely depreciated them in the accounts over 20 years. One would be fine for the Malta run, although being a monopoly route (like Gibraltar) Vanguards were stuck on the non-stops long after prop aircraft had passed their sell-by date on routes of such length.
It was an old BEA tradition that the Eastern Med was served by flights which stopped at both Rome and Athens.
Wiser councils soon prevailed and the Trident 2 did have the range for everything that the Comets did, but the depreciation issue and a huge potential writeoff was still with them. It was the principal driver behind setting up BEA Airtours with them, once they were beyond scheduled service usage (the noise in the rear cabin being a key issue, but that's apparently OK for a Night Malaga at revenue of £18 return per pax).