Fleet renewal projects at major operators across Europe mean that numerous BAe 146 and Avro RJ regional jetliners are now starting to come out of mainland European airline service, but manufacturer BAE Systems says these aircraft are steadily finding new operators, markets and applications.
With long-standing operator Swiss International Air Lines replacing its Avro fleet with the Bombardier CSeries, Irish regional carrier CityJet with the Sukhoi SuperJet and others also introducing modern generation airliners to their fleets that bring enhanced efficiency and performance to the market, many believed it is the end of an era for the British-built quad jet.
This may be the case in terms of scheduled commercial passenger operations in Europe, but the aircraft flexibility, continued utility and economic attractiveness of the aircraft is seeing the type fulfil many key missions in developing markets across the globe.
New operators and applications for the aircraft include a prestigious overnight freight operation in Australia, an established airline in Africa, a new start-up airline operator in the Caribbean, and further aircraft for the aerial firefighting role in North America.
Some 220 BAe 146/Avro RJs remain in service, fully supported by BAE Systems Regional Aircraft – the Original Equipment Manufacturer. More than 12 million flight hours of service have been accumulated. “We strongly believe that this aircraft has many years of productive service yet to offer,” said John Stevens, head of customer support, BAE Systems Regional Aircraft at the European Regions Airlines General Assembly in Madrid this week.
“In addition to continuing to support all our customers and, particularly in Europe, playing a constructive role in helping them to transition from our aircraft to newer types, we work to help introduce the aircraft to new market applications through our extensive and specialist engineering capabilities. BAE Systems can provide a total support package, planned for at least a 15-20 year period,” he added.
Over the past few months three previously operated European BAe 146s have been placed with new operators in Australia and the USA. Two of these aircraft are BAe 146-200QT freighters, previously operated by ASL Aviation Group on behalf of the FedEx-TNT combination. They have been sold to Pionair of Sydney, Australia, which in September started overnight freight services on behalf of Virgin Australia which has won a five-year US$575 million contract from TNT Express.
The aircraft fly the dedicated Eastern seaboard routes with one aircraft routing from Cairns-Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne to Adelaide and the second in the reverse direction but with the addition of Townsville, slotted in between Brisbane and Cairns. The BAe 146 is still the only jet airliner allowed to operate at both Sydney and Adelaide during airport curfew hours and at around 10 tonnes freight payload is the right size for the job.
An ex-Bulgarian Airlines BAe 146-200 has also just been acquired by Neptune Aviation Services of Missoula, Montana and will be converted to the aerial firefighting role ready for the 2017 fire season. Delivered in late September, this aircraft joins seven other Series 200s in Neptune service that have had a busy year in the Western United States. On one very busy day Neptune reports that one of their aircraft flew 18 sorties.
All told, 20 BAe 146/Avro RJs are now operating or being converted for the vital aerial firefighting role with three North American operators. In addition to Neptune Aviation Services, Conair of Abbotsford, Canada and its Aero Flite subsidiary in the USA has seven RJ85s, while the first of five BAe 146-200s being converted by Air Spray of Chico. California is expected to be rolled out before the end of 2016.
As the later-build Avro RJs also start to come out of European service, so they too are now finding new homes. Established Ghanaian airline Starbow has just taken delivery of its first RJ100 which it has added to its existing fleet of BAe 146 and ATR-72-500 aircraft.
Starbow has become the premier Ghanaian airline since it started services with BAe 146s in September 2011 and currently operates some 46 departures a week, providing air links from the capital Accra to other main domestic destinations such as Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi. International services are also flown to Cotonou in Benin and Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.
Another ex-European RJ100 has just been delivered to new start-up airline BVI Airways based in Tortola, British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Once the airline has received its operating certificate from the authorities it plans to commence daily non-stop services from Tortola to Miami later in 2016. The 2.25 hour flight will dramatically reduce the existing journey time from the US city to the Islands.
With excellent short-field performance and its quiet engines enabling it to serve many inner city airports the BAe 146 and Avro RJ have helped establish a number of key business routes and have played a key role in facilitating growth at airports such as London City and Stockholm Bromma in Europe.
A look at published timetables for the forthcoming winter 2016/2017 season from OAG Schedules Analyser shows that while there is a 28.7 percent reduction in BAe 146 and Avro RJ seat capacity, the types are still scheduled to operate almost 40,000 one-way flights between November 2016 and March 2017, offering over 3.6 million seats.
Since last winter, Braathens Regional Aviation (formerly Malmo Aviation) has overtaken Swiss as the largest scheduled operator of the BAe 146 and Avro RJ with a 17.4 percent share of available scheduled capacity for the forthcoming schedule period. This is up from a 14.5 percent share in winter 2015/2016 and is despite a 13.8 percent decline in its own inventory.
The data shows significant capacity declines for the types in the Aegean Airlines, Air France, Brussels Airlines, CityJet, Star Peru and Swiss networks this winter, although there is growth from the likes of South African Airways, Ecojet in Bolivia, SkyJet in the Philippines and Starbow Airlines in Ghana.
A total of 135 airports are due to see BAe 146 and Avro RJ scheduled flights across the winter 2016/2017 schedule, down from 177 in last year’s schedule. Despite the reduction in European operations of the type, the region still dominates with nine of the top ten markets for the type in the Continent.
Similar to the airline side, the gradual replacement of its Avro RJ fleet with new C Series equipment at Swiss means that Stockholm Bromma and London City have jumped above Zurich as the busiest airports for regular BAe 146 and Avro RJ operations.
The only non-European airport, OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, is also the only airport in the top ten to see a growth in capacity with these aircraft (2.7 percent versus winter 2015/2016), while outside this positions Kotaka International Airport in Accra, Ghana (129.0 percent), Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines (109.6 percent) and Teniente Av. Jorge Henrich Arauz Airport in Trinidad, Bolivia (50.3 percent) are seeing a growth in BAe 146 and Avro RJ capacity this winter.
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