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160-518: The Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident (originally the de Havilland DH.121 and briefly the Airco DH.121 ) is a British airliner produced by Hawker Siddeley . In 1957, de Havilland proposed its DH.121 trijet design to a British European Airways (BEA) request. By 1960, de Havilland had been acquired by Hawker Siddeley. The Trident's maiden flight happened on 9 January 1962, and it was introduced on 1 April 1964, two months after its main competitor,

320-717: A NATO design competition to replace the Lockheed P-2 Neptune , and Air Staff Requirement 381 , which sought a replacement for the Royal Air Force 's piston-engined Avro Shackleton . Amongst the various submissions that had been produced in response was a bid by Avro, part of the Hawker Siddeley Group, which was designated as the Avro 776. The proposed Avro 776 mated the Trident's fuselage with

480-616: A jet-powered 100-seat design at the request of Geoffrey de Havilland , involved in the first jet fighters development. After a brief contest, the Type I design was given to the Bristol Aeroplane Company , building on a "100 ton bomber " submission. This evolved into the Bristol Brabazon but this project folded in 1951 as BOAC lost interest and the first aircraft needed a costly wing re-design to accommodate

640-478: A 30-aircraft order which Guthrie had cancelled. The Standard VC10 had higher operating costs than the 707, largely due to BOAC's requirement at the design stage for the aircraft to have excellent hot and high performance for Commonwealth (African/Asian) routes, but the larger Super VC10 was a success with American passengers on the North Atlantic and was profitable. The next major order of Boeing aircraft

800-633: A Caravelle successor. The Super-Caravelle was a supersonic transport project of similar size and range to the Caravelle. It was merged with the similar Bristol Aeroplane Company project into the Anglo-French Concorde . The Concorde entered service in January 1967 as the second and last commercial supersonic transport , after large overruns and delays, costing £1.3 billion. All subsequent French airliner efforts were part of

960-471: A God-send". At one point, the Avro 776 looked set to win the competition to be selected as the RAF's new maritime patrol aircraft. Due to a desire to cut costs, though, the RAF decided to issue an entirely new operational requirement, under which the demands for speed, endurance, and capacity had all been diminished. As a result of the changes, the design team was recalled and the Avro 776 was entirely sidelined for

1120-623: A batch of nine. The Ford Trimotor had two engines mounted on the wings and one in the nose, and a slabsided body, it carried eight passengers and was produced from 1925 to 1933. It was an important early airliner in America. It was used by the predecessor to Trans World Airlines , and by other airlines long after production ceased. The Trimotor helped to popularise numerous aspects of modern aviation infrastructure, including paved runways , passenger terminals , hangars , airmail , and radio navigation . Pan Am opened up transoceanic service in

1280-671: A common fuel type – kerosene-based jet fuel – is another advantage. Some variants of airliners have been developed for carrying freight or for luxury corporate use . Many airliners have also been modified for government use as VIP transports and for military functions such as airborne tankers (for example, the Vickers VC10 , Lockheed L-1011 , Boeing 707 ), air ambulance ( USAF / USN McDonnell Douglas DC-9 ), reconnaissance ( Embraer ERJ 145 , Saab 340 , and Boeing 737 ), as well as for troop-carrying roles. Modern jetliners are usually low-wing designs with two engines mounted underneath

1440-402: A different fleet from rival airlines such as Ansett Australia , which had already selected the 727. In 1972, its unit cost was US$ 7.8M. By 1975, only 117 Tridents had been sold against over 1,000 727s. According to Woods, a significant opportunity that may have enabled the Trident to catch up with the 727 was lost during the 1960s in the form of two competitions for a maritime patrol aircraft ;

1600-423: A double-deck non-stop eastbound service from New York City to London Airport (later Heathrow). However, because of the prevailing westerly winds, the westbound flights needed re-fuelling at Shannon and Gander before reaching New York. Another four Stratocruisers were taken over from a frustrated SAS order and seven were bought secondhand in the mid-1950s. The Handley Page Hermes and Canadair DC-4M Argonaut joined

1760-555: A few experimental or military designs, all aircraft built to date have had all of their weight lifted off the ground by airflow across the wings. In terms of aerodynamics , the fuselage has been a mere burden. NASA and Boeing are currently developing a blended wing body design in which the entire airframe, from wingtip to wingtip, contributes lift. This promises a significant gain in fuel efficiency . The major manufacturers with large aircraft airliners currently in production include: The narrow-body and wide-body airliner market

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1920-493: A fourth engine in the tail, the tiny Rolls-Royce RB162 turbojet, fed from its own intake behind a pair of movable doors. The engine added 15% more thrust for takeoff, while adding only 5% more weight, and it would only be used when needed. BEA accepted this design as the Trident 3B , and ordered 26. The first flight was on 11 December 1969 and the aircraft entered service on 1 April 1971. Addition of extra fuel capacity resulted in

2080-450: A greater preference for the seating dimensions of what would become economy class was emerging amongst airlines, design alterations were made to adopt a slightly larger diameter fuselage to accommodate six-abreast seating, providing for a maximum configuration of 111 seats. According to Woods, this enlarged version of the DH.121 was "on the verge of building the right aeroplane for the market and

2240-573: A gross weight of 142,400 lb (64,600 kg) and a 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometres) range. BEA bought 15, while two were bought by Cyprus Airways . CAAC, the Chinese national airline, bought 33. The first flight of this version was made on 27 July 1967 and it entered service with BEA in April 1968. Subsequently, the Trident was becoming the backbone of BEA's fleet and BEA wanted an even larger aircraft. Hawker Siddeley offered two new designs in 1965:

2400-932: A growth by 3.5 from 2004 to 2020 is unprecedented and highly unusual for any mature market. In 2016, the deliveries went for 38% in Asia-Pacific, 25% in Europe, 22% in North America, 7% in Middle East, 6% in South America and 2% in Africa. 1,020 narrowbodies were delivered and their backlog reach 10891: 4,991 A320neo, 644 A320ceo; 3,593 737 Max, 835 737NG, 348 CSeries, 305 C919 and 175 MC-21; while 398 widebodies were delivered : 137 Dreamliners and 99 B777 for Boeing (65%) against 63 A330 and 49 A350 for Airbus, more than 2,400 widebodies were in backlog, led by

2560-403: A high-density, single-class layout as typical from the 1960s onwards on inclusive-tour charter flights). The design initially included a cruciform tail layout similar to that of the Caravelle. The engines were clustered at the rear, with the centre engine situated in the extreme rear of the fuselage fed by air ducted through a large oval intake at the front of the fin, a configuration similar to

2720-515: A higher gross weight of 5,500 lb (2,500 kg). Later aircraft were amongst the first airliners to be fitted with flaps for improved landing performance, along with downwards-facing recognition light and metal propellers, which were often retrofitted to older aircraft. It was also used in military roles; civil Dragon Rapides were impressed into military service during the Second World War . Metal airliners came into service in

2880-639: A larger 158-seat two-engine aircraft otherwise similar to the Trident known as the HS132; and the 185-seat HS134, which moved the engines under the wings, a design very similar to the Boeing 737 . Both were to be powered by a new high-bypass engine under development at the time, the Rolls-Royce RB178 . BEA instead opted for Boeing 727s and 737s to fill the roles of both the BAC 1–11 and Trident, but this plan

3040-966: A maximum speed of 370 knots. As a result of the BEA specification, Vickers developed an enlarged derivative of the Viscount for BEA, the Vickers Vanguard , which was ordered by the airline on 20 July 1956. By this point, however, the French-built Sud Aviation Caravelle had conducted its maiden flight during the previous year, and BEA was beginning to recognise that jet aircraft could soon be providing stiff competition. In April 1956, Anthony Milward, chief executive of BEA, stated that he "would rather do without [jet airliners]". Nevertheless, in December of that same year Lord Douglas of Kirtleside , BEA's chairman, stated that

3200-445: A much wider scope": a sentiment which would be echoed throughout the Trident's subsequent history. The de Havilland board elected to submit to BEA's demand, over-riding input from its own sales and market research departments, which indicated that other airlines sought the larger model, instead. Notably, de Havilland had not yet secured a formal and final BEA order and its competitor Bristol was actively promoting their 200 project, which

3360-504: A new proposal. This new proposal, based upon the de Havilland Comet's fuselage, had little to do with the Trident save for the use of its existing Spey engines; this would go on to be selected and procured as the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod . As a result of this loss, prospects for an enlarged, higher-power Trident effectively evaporated. Hawker Siddeley Aviation, which had absorbed de Havilland, needed additional customers for

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3520-652: A number of airlifts including but not limited to the Berlin Airlift in 1948, Abadan Air lift as part of the Abadan Crisis in June 1951, and as part of an airlift of Hungarian refugees from Vienna to London as a response to the Hungarian Revolution in 1957. Such a political outlook was also an important narrative in the context of Britain’s colonies and the wider Commonwealth . Described in

3680-555: A number of jet-powered short haul aircraft might need to be introduced while retaining turboprop aircraft as the mainstay of the company's inventory for the foreseeable future. In July 1956, BEA had announced what it called "outline requirements" for a short-haul "second-generation jet airliner", to work alongside its turboprop fleet. It would carry a payload of some 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) or some 70 passengers up to 1,000 mi (1,600 km), weigh about 100,000 lb (45,000 kg), use 6,000-foot (1,800 m) runways, cruise at

3840-503: A redesigned and enlarged wing along with more powerful Rolls-Royce RB178 engines capable of 16,300 lb of thrust. In addition to the maritime patrol requirement, Avro envisioned that the aircraft could be used in various military roles, including as a 103-seat troop transport and as being armed with up to four GAM-87 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missiles as a nuclear-armed bomber. In addition to Avro's proposals, Armstrong Whitworth had also proposed their own military variants of

4000-525: A six-abreast configuration. This specification took the 1C closer to the larger concept of the original DH121, but with 7,000 lbf (31 kN) less thrust. Only a few sales of the new design were made, three each for Kuwait Airways and Iraqi Airways , four for Pakistan International Airlines (later sold to CAAC), two each for Channel Airways and Northeast Airlines , and one for Air Ceylon . Channel Airways' aircraft were equipped with cramped, 21 in (53 cm) seat pitch , seven-abreast seating in

4160-1093: A survey by Inside MRO and Air Transport World , and this is a reason why Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation purchased the Bombardier CRJ program. It is an entry barrier for new entrants like the Xian MA700 and Comac C919 , with no credible previous experience with the MA60 , or the Irkut MC-21 after the Sukhoi Superjet 100 . The airliner fleet went from 13,500 in 2000 to 25,700 in 2017: 16% to 30.7% in Asia/Pacific (2,158 to 7,915), 34.7% to 23.6% in USA (4,686 to 6,069) and 24% to 20.5% in Europe (3,234 to 5,272). In 2018, there were 29,398 airliners in service: 26,935 passenger transports and 2,463 freighters, while 2,754 others were stored. The largest fleet

4320-521: A team led by Richard Clarkson , who would later use the Trident wing design as the basis for the wing of the Airbus A300 ; for the Trident he won the Mullard Award in 1969. The Trident normal descent rate was up to 4500 ft/min (23 m/s). In emergency descents of up to 10,000 ft/min, it was permissible to use reverse thrust. Below 280 kn IAS, it was also possible to extend

4480-401: A trijet configuration. Boeing had begun its studies into this sector of the market in 1956, and elected to launch its own trijet programme in 1959. Airco executives, who were at the time intensely exploring various alternatives and further partnerships with other aircraft companies, considered the possibility that Boeing might choose to drop the 727 project and instead co-manufacture the DH.121 in

4640-509: A very basic passenger conversion. This was the first sustained North Atlantic landplane service. By September 1944 BOAC had made 1,000 transatlantic crossings. In late 1942, the new hard-surface airport at Lisbon permitted the use of civil registered Liberators to North and West Africa and Egypt. Arguably, BOAC's most famous wartime route was the ' Ball-bearing Run ' from Leuchars to Stockholm ( Bromma ) in neutral Sweden . Initially flown with Lockheed 14s and Lockheed Hudson transports,

4800-440: A very high speed of 610 to 620 mph (980 to 1,000 km/h), and have "more than two engines". According to aviation author Derek Woods, BEA "wanted something that was faster than the Caravelle which was threatening to be highly competitive". While they were not intended as an express requirement, commentators ever since have taken these figures to constitute a definite call to industry. Four companies prepared projects to match

4960-585: A view to encourage further expansion and exploitation of regional resources. BOAC held both formal and informal interests in a number of associated enterprises operating in several parts of the British Commonwealth . In 1957, these associated organisations were brought under a subsidiary company called BOAC Associated Companies Limited. These included Aden Airways , Bahamas Airways, Fiji Airways , Ghana Airways , Gulf Aviation and Nigeria Airways . By 1960, BOAC Associated Companies Limited

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5120-400: Is dominated by Airbus and Boeing, and the regional airliner market is shared between ATR Aircraft , De Havilland Canada , and Embraer . Setting up a reliable customer support network, ensuring uptime, availability and support 24/7 and anywhere, is critical for the success of airliner manufacturers. Boeing and Airbus are ranked 1 and 2 in customer satisfaction for aftermarket support by

5280-634: The Airbus pan-European initiative. Soon after the war, most of the Soviet fleet of airliners consisted of DC-3s or Lisunov Li-2s . These planes were in desperate need of replacement, and in 1946, the Ilyushin Il-12 made its first flight. The Il-12 was very similar in design to American Convair 240, except was unpressurized. In 1953, the Ilyushin Il-14 made its first flight, and this version

5440-496: The Airbus A300 / A310 , A330 and A350 ; the 767 , 777 and 787 . Regional airliners seat fewer than 100 passengers. These smaller aircraft are often used to feed traffic at large airline hubs to larger aircraft operated by the major mainline carriers , legacy carriers , or flag carriers ; often sharing the same livery. Regional jets include the Bombardier CRJ100/200 and Bombardier CRJ700 series , or

5600-699: The BAC 1-11 , Vickers VC10 , and Hawker Siddeley Trident . The STAC committee was formed to consider supersonic designs and worked with Bristol to create the Bristol 223 , a 100-passenger transatlantic airliner. The effort was later merged with similar efforts in France to create the Concorde supersonic airliner to share the cost. The first batch of the Douglas DC-4s went to the U.S. Army and Air Forces, and

5760-669: The Bleriot-SPAD S.33 was introduced during the early 1920s. It was commercially successful, initially serving the Paris- London route, and later on continental routes. The enclosed cabin could carry four passengers with an extra seat in the cockpit. It was further developed into the Blériot-SPAD S.46 . Throughout the 1920s, companies in Britain and France were at the forefront of the civil airliner industry. By 1921,

5920-897: The Boeing 707 and its competitor the Douglas DC-8 . They were followed by smaller models : the Douglas DC-9 and its MD-80 / MD-90 / Boeing 717 derivatives; the Boeing 727 , 737 and 757 using the 707 cabin cross-section; or the Tupolev Tu-154 , Ilyushin Il-18 , and the Ilyushin Il-62 . Currently produced narrow-body airliners include the Airbus A220 , A320 family , Boeing 737 , Embraer E-Jet family and Comac C919 , generally used for medium-haul flights with 100 to 240 passengers. They could be joined by

6080-487: The Boeing 727 . By the end of the programme in 1978, 117 Tridents had been produced. The Trident was withdrawn from service in 1995. The jetliner is powered by three rear-mounted Rolls-Royce Spey low-bypass turbofans, it has a low swept wing and a T-tail . Advanced avionics allowed it to be the first airliner to make a blind landing in revenue service in 1965. The initial Trident 1/2 could seat 101–115 passengers over up to 2,350 nmi (4,350 km). The Trident 3

6240-576: The Bristol Proteus engine. The Type II was split between the de Havilland Dove and Airspeed Ambassador conventional piston designs, and the Vickers model powered by newly developed turboprops : first flown in 1948, the VC.2 Viceroy was the first turboprop design to enter service; a commercial success with 445 Viscounts built. The Type III requirement led to the conventional Avro Tudor and

6400-822: The Cessna Caravan and Pilatus PC-12 ; or twin piston-powered aircraft made by Cessna , Piper , Britten-Norman , and Beechcraft . They often lack lavatories , stand-up cabins, pressurization , galleys , overhead storage bins, reclining seats, or a flight attendant . Until the beginning of the Jet Age , piston engines were common on propliners such as the Douglas DC-3. Nearly all modern airliners are now powered by turbine engines, either turbofans or turboprops . Gas turbine engines operate efficiently at much higher altitudes, are more reliable than piston engines, and produce less vibration and noise. The use of

6560-485: The Dunlop Maxaret anti-skid system. The Trident had a complex, sophisticated and comprehensive avionics fit which was successful in service. This comprised a completely automatic blind landing system developed by Hawker Siddeley and Smiths Aircraft Instruments . It was capable of guiding the aircraft automatically during airfield approach, flare, touchdown and even roll-out from the landing runway. The system

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6720-701: The Embraer ERJ family . Currently produced turboprop regional airliners include the Dash-8 series, and the ATR 42 / 72 . Light aircraft can be used as small commuter airliners, or as air taxis . Twin turboprops carrying up to 19 passengers include the Beechcraft 1900 , Fairchild Metro , Jetstream 31 , DHC-6 Twin Otter and Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante . Smaller airliners include the single-engined turboprops like

6880-641: The First World War . The Minister of Supply stated of the Airco consortium that "this is not quite what [he] had in mind". Nevertheless, both Airco and the rival Bristol-Hawker Siddeley team proceeded to conduct their own approaches to various overseas airlines; sufficiently interested, American Pan American World Airways invited both teams to present their proposed airliners in January 1958. Sir Matthew Slattery , chairman of Bristol and Short Brothers , appealed for BEA to delay any decision until after one of

7040-771: The Fokker F.II , then the enlarged F.III . These were used by the Dutch airline KLM , including on its Amsterdam-London service in 1921. A relatively reliable aircraft for the era, the Fokkers were flying to destinations across Europe, including Bremen, Brussels, Hamburg, and Paris. The Handley Page company in Britain produced the Handley Page Type W , its first civil transport aircraft. It housed two crew in an open cockpit and 15 passengers in an enclosed cabin. Powered by two 450 hp (340 kW) Napier Lion engines,

7200-525: The Rolls-Royce Spey , while the boost engine was a Rolls-Royce RB162 , originally intended as a lift engine for VTOL applications. The Trident was one of the fastest subsonic commercial airliners, cruising at over 610 mph (980 km/h). At introduction into service its cruise Mach Number was 0.88/ 380 kn IAS . Designed for high speed, with a critical Mach number of 0.93, the wing produced relatively limited lift at lower speeds. This, and

7360-577: The Super Trident 3B . The Trident experienced some key export sales, particularly to China. Following a thawing of relations between Britain and the People's Republic of China , China completed several purchase deals and more than 35 Tridents were eventually sold. In 1977, fatigue cracks were discovered in the wings of British Airways Tridents. The aircraft were ferried back to the manufacturer and repaired, then returned to service. The beginning of

7520-412: The Trident 1E . This would be powered by 11,400 lbf (50.7 kN) Spey 511s, have a gross weight of 135,600 lb (61,500 kg), an increased wing area by extending the chord , leading-edge slats for improved field performance, different takeoff flap settings (a 23 degree setting shortened the runway length required but imposed a 59,900kg MTOW), and the same fuselage, but with up to 140 seats in

7680-444: The swept wings , while turboprop aircraft are slow enough to use straight wings. Smaller airliners sometimes have their engines mounted on either side of the rear fuselage. Numerous advantages and disadvantages exist due to this arrangement. Perhaps the most important advantage to mounting the engines under the wings is that the total aircraft weight is more evenly distributed across the wingspan, which imposes less bending moment on

7840-628: The 1930s, the British de Havilland Dragon emerged as a short-haul, low-capacity airliner. Its relatively simple design could carry six passengers, each with 45 lb (20 kg) of luggage, on the London-Paris route on a fuel consumption of 13 gal (49 L) per hour. The DH.84 Dragon entered worldwide service. During early August 1934, one performed the first non-stop flight between the Canadian mainland and Britain in 30 hours 55 minutes, although

8000-482: The 1930s. In the United States, the Boeing 247 , and the 14-passenger Douglas DC-2 , flew during the first half of the decade, while the more powerful, faster, 21–32 passenger Douglas DC-3 first appeared in 1935. DC-3s were produced in quantity for the Second World War and were sold as surplus afterward, becoming widespread within the commercial sector. It was one of first airliners to be profitable without

8160-527: The 1960s, airliners had expanded capabilities, making a significant impact on global society, economics, and politics. During 1913, Igor Sikorsky developed the first large multi-engine airplane, the Russky Vityaz . This aircraft was subsequently refined into the more practical Ilya Muromets , being furnished with dual controls for a pilot and copilot and a comfortable cabin with a lavatory, cabin heating and lighting. This large four-engine biplane

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8320-657: The A350 with 753 (31%) then the Boeing 787 with 694 (28%). The most important driver of orders is airline profitability , itself driven mainly by world GDP growth but also supply and demand balance and oil prices , while new programmes by Airbus and Boeing help to stimulate aircraft demand. In 2016, 38% of the 25 years old airliners had been retired, 50% of the 28 years old : there will be 523 aircraft reaching 25 years old in 2017, 1,127 in 2026 and 1,628 in 2041. Deliveries rose by 80% from 2004 to 2016, they represented 4.9% of

8480-537: The AW Ensigns, were due to be withdrawn. The corporation's aircraft, bases and personnel were scattered around the world, and it took a decade to reorganise it into an efficient unit at Heathrow . In 1943, the Brabazon Committee had laid down a set of civil aircraft transport types for the British aircraft industry to produce, but these were to be several years in coming, and particularly in the case of

8640-428: The BEA outline. Bristol proposed the initially four-engined Bristol Type 200 . Avro proposed the futuristic Avro 740 trijet before shelving it and joining forces with Bristol and Hawker Siddeley. Vickers proposed the VC11 four-engined airliner, derived from its in-development VC10 . The de Havilland company considered three possible contenders for the specification; two of these were four-engined developments of

8800-465: The BEA-mandated redesign as: "At one blow the 121 was emasculated in terms of size, power and range". Six months following BEA's request, de Havilland and the airline came to an agreement on the downsized DH.121. Details of the emerging aircraft, including its pioneering avionics, were announced to the public in early 1960. It was this revised aircraft that BEA ultimately ordered on 24 August 1959, initially in 24 examples with 12 options. In September 1960,

8960-503: The BOAC fleet between 1949 and 1950, replacing the last of the non-pressurised types on passenger services. When service entry of the Bristol Britannia was delayed in late 1956, BOAC was permitted to purchase ten new Douglas DC-7 Cs. These long-range aircraft enabled BOAC to operate non-stop westbound flights from London and Manchester to New York and other US East Coast destinations, in competition with DC-7Cs of Pan Am and Lockheed Super Constellations of Trans World Airlines (TWA). This

9120-409: The British government and indecision within BEA itself. During the time that the DH.121 had emerged in the late 1950s, the British government came to view the airframe and aeroengine industries as too fragmented into small companies; accordingly, a policy favouring mergers into a few large groups was adopted. De Havilland was keen to retain their independence and leadership of the DH.121, so approached

9280-410: The Comet took off on the world's first jetliner flight carrying fare-paying passengers and simultaneously inaugurated scheduled service between London and Johannesburg. However, roughly one year after introduction, three Comets broke up mid-flight due to airframe metal fatigue , not well understood at the time. The Comet was grounded and tested to discover the cause, while rival manufacturers heeded

9440-460: The DH.121 had come closest to its requirements and that it would proceed to order 24 with options on 12 more. A further six months were needed for the government to approve a formal BEA order for the DH.121; the government had favoured the Bristol 200 for industrial policy reasons. Reportedly, BEA had a considerable interest in the Caravelle itself, but this would have been a politically unacceptable choice. BEA also favoured de Havilland , and therefore

9600-464: The DH.121 proposal had been revised; differences included the adoption of the in-development turbofan , the Rolls-Royce Medway , and an expansion to accommodate a maximum of 98 passengers. The DH.121 was to be the world's first trijet airliner. Its designers felt this configuration offered a trade-off between cruising economy and take-off safety in case of an engine failure; moreover, the BEA specification had called for "more than two engines". Each of

9760-429: The German-controlled Skagerrak direct route. Between 1939 and 1945 6,000 passengers were transported by BOAC between Stockholm and Great Britain. At the end of the war, BOAC's fleet consisted of Lockheed Lodestars, lend-lease Douglas DC-3s , Liberators, converted Sunderlands, and the first Avro Lancastrians , Avro Yorks , and Handley Page Haltons . The Short Empire, Short S.26 and Boeing 314A flying boats, plus

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9920-527: The Goliath flew 12 passengers from Toussus-le-Noble to RAF Kenley , near Croydon , despite having no permission from the British authorities to land. Dozens of early airlines subsequently procured the type. One high-profile flight, made on 11 August 1919, involved an F.60 flying eight passengers and a ton of supplies from Paris via Casablanca and Mogador to Koufa, 180 km (110 mi) north of Saint-Louis, Senegal , flying more than 4,500 km (2,800 mi). Another important airliner built in 1919

10080-430: The Hunting 107 (later the BAC One-Eleven ) being marketed alongside the DH.121 as a complementary, smaller member of the same airliner family. Fairey Aviation, partially incorporated into Westland Aircraft , also left the DH.121 project. With the move to Hawker Siddeley Aviation, the designation was eventually revised to the HS 121. The reorganisation of the industry had compounded upon the delays caused by BEA's changes to

10240-442: The January 1959 edition of the BOAC in-house magazine, the BOAC Review , an article described that “BOAC is often able to earn the goodwill of various communities by doing some slight service, perhaps unconnected with air travel[…] 14 dolls in traditional costume for Johannesburg; 30 lbs. of haggis for Nassau and smaller quantities for Singapore and Kuala Lumpur”. Whilst these suggest charitable motives, often these are seen alongside

10400-433: The Joyce Green airfield in Kent on 13 April 1919. The world's first all-metal transport aircraft was the Junkers F.13 , which also made its first flight in 1919. Junkers marketed the aircraft towards business travellers and commercial operators, and European entrepreneurs bought examples for their private use and business trips. Over 300 Junkers F 13s were built between 1919 and 1932. The Dutch Fokker company produced

10560-423: The Mediterranean area and to London . The Sud-Aviation Caravelle was developed during the late 1950s as the first short range jet airliner. The nose and cockpit layout were licensed from the de Havilland Comet , along with some fuselage elements. Entering service in mid 1959, 172 Caravelles had been sold within four years and six versions were in production by 1963. Sud Aviation then focused its design team on

10720-549: The North Atlantic pre-war by Imperial Airways Empire flying-boats with improved fuel capacity, some using in flight refuelling, culminating in a series of mail/courier flights made by BOAC's Clare and Clyde to LaGuardia in camouflage during the Battle of Britain . These were BOAC's first New York services. In 1941, BOAC was tasked with operating a 'Return Ferry Service' from Prestwick to Montreal to reposition ferry pilots who had flown American-built bombers from Canada, and they were provided with RAF Consolidated Liberators with

10880-406: The Shetland Islands, BOAC presented itself as a national service aware of its wider responsibilities” BOAC were keen to promote their sense of wider obligation to the general public and wider world. In 1948, BOAC’s PR department published Operation India. A World's Record Air-Lift , referencing BOAC’s support in the events of the Partition of India. Throughout the years, BOAC would participate in

11040-406: The Treasury blocked the idea, and an agreement was reached instead to allow BEA to serve Ankara in Turkey , and in return to leave all routes east and south of Cyprus to BOAC. Paradoxically, through its effective control of Cyprus Airways , BEA was able to continue to serve destinations ceded to BOAC, including Beirut and Cairo by using Cyprus Airways as its proxy. However, it was only following

11200-404: The Trident involved substantial changes to the design being made, including a powerplant change from the Medway to a scaled-down derivative, the 40% less powerful 9,850 lb f (43.8 kN) Rolls-Royce Spey 505 . The gross weight was cut by about a third to 105,000 pounds (48,000 kilograms), while the range was cut by more than half to 930 mi (1,500 km), and mixed-class seating

11360-471: The Trident submission, due to the firm's established experience with jet airliners with its prior development of the Comet. In April 1958, de Havilland firmed the general configuration of the DH.121 and established a development timetable, including a projected date for the type's maiden flight to be conducted during mid-1961. The company's market research department was forecasting that as many as 550 airliners in its category would be sold by 1965. Noting that

11520-711: The Trident's end came in the early 1980s, since ICAO began drafting noise regulations that would require first- and second-generation jet airliners to fit hush kits to the engines. These regulations would go into effect on 1 January 1986. British Airways , the type's main operator, saw the required refits as not viable and instead chose to phase the Trident out of their fleet in 1985, the final flights were made on 31st December 1985. The Trident's services in China ended in 1995, marking its permanent retirement from service. Only 117 Tridents were produced and all are no longer in service. In contrast, 1832 Boeing 727 aircraft (designed to

11680-415: The Trident's original specification) were built and the last continued in passenger service until 2019. 1 x RB.162 -86 1 x (5,250) lbf (23.4 kN) Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Airliner Regional airliners typically seat fewer than 100 passengers and may be powered by turbofans or turboprops . These airliners are the non- mainline counterparts to

11840-549: The Trident, so entered into discussions with American Airlines (AA) in 1960. AA requested greater range than what the aircraft initially had, which meant that the original DH121 design would have fulfilled its requirements almost perfectly. In response, design began on a new Trident 1A , powered with up-rated Rolls-Royce Spey 510 engines of 10,700 lbf (47.6 kN) thrust, and a larger wing with more fuel, raising gross weight to 120,000 lb (54,000 kg) and range to 1,800 mi (2,900 km), but AA eventually declined

12000-682: The Trident. Later revisions of the Avro 776 substituted the RB.178 engine for the newer turbofan , the Rolls-Royce RB211 , the development of the latter being supported by the 776's procurement if selected. Rolls-Royce Limited , having shelved development of the Medway following the Trident's redesign, was keen to develop an engine to slot between the 10,000 lb Spey engine and the 20,000 lb Rolls-Royce Conway engine; if such an engine had been produced, it could have equipped new versions of

12160-630: The U.S.S.R. " references a flight from Miami Beach aboard a BOAC aircraft. In the song Montego Bay by Bobby Bloom , the first line is "Vernon will meet me when the BOAC lands". It is referenced in the James Tiptree Jr. story "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain." Multiple references throughout the Netflix TV Series The Crown . In The Sopranos , Season 6 Episode 19 “The Second Coming," Paulie Walnuts reminisces that he

12320-638: The US for military transport aircraft and the UK for heavy bombers . That such a policy was suggested or implemented have been disputed, at least by Sir Peter Masefield . British aircraft manufacturers were tied up to fulfill military requirements, and had no free capacity to address other matters though the war. The committee final report pushed four designs for the state-owned airlines British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and later British European Airways (BEA): three piston-powered aircraft of varying sizes, and

12480-493: The USA; Lord Douglas was one of the proponents of this initiative. As a result, Airco invited a team of Boeing engineers and executives to Hatfield ; (Boeing later permitted a return visit by de Havilland representatives to Seattle); however, Boeing revealed few details of their plans for the 727, while virtually all information on the DH.121 had been shared with Boeing, an openness that had allegedly "amazed" them. British commentators have tended to interpret this episode as involving

12640-423: The acquisition of sensitive proprietary data on the DH.121 by a direct competitor. Woods remarked that "de Havilland solemnly handed all its research over to its rivals ... the crowning piece of stupidity". On 12 February 1958, the British government authorised BEA to commence contractual negotiations along with the issuing of a letter of intent for 24 aircraft. Accordingly, that same month, BEA announced that

12800-430: The aircraft in favour of the Boeing 727. Some of these changes were added into the original prototype, and it was renamed the Trident 1C . The main difference was a larger fuel tank in the centre section of the wing, raising weights to 115,000 lb (52,000 kg), and range to 1,400 mi (2,300 km). The first Trident 1, G-ARPA , made its maiden flight on 9 January 1962 from Hatfield Aerodrome . The Trident

12960-402: The aircraft's current position relative to the ground on a moving map display on the centre instrument panel. This electro-mechanical device also recorded the aircraft's track using a stylus plotting on a motor-driven paper map. Positional information was given by a Doppler navigation system which read groundspeed and drift data which, alongside heading data, drove the stylus. The Trident was

13120-415: The aircraft's low thrust-to-weight ratio, called for prolonged takeoff runs. Nevertheless, the Trident fulfilled BEA's 6,000 ft (1,800 m) field length criterion and its relatively staid airfield performance was deemed adequate before the arrival into service of the Boeing 727 and later jet airliners built to 4,500 ft (1,400 m) field length criteria. The aerodynamics and wing was developed by

13280-538: The allied world, often under enemy fire, and initially with desperate shortages of long-range aircraft. During the war, the airline was sometimes loosely referred to as 'British Airways', and aircraft and equipment were marked with combinations of that title and/or the Speedbird symbol and/or the Union Flag . BOAC inherited Imperial Airways' flying boat services to British colonies in Africa and Asia, but with

13440-635: The backbone of the wartime fleet. (Only a handful of these had long range tanks but many were eventually upgraded with larger tankage and operated at overload weights.) The Empire flying-boats were at their limit on the 1,900-mile Lisbon-Bathurst sector. Refuelling at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands was permitted by Spain for some Empire flying-boat flights in 1940 and 1941. In 1941 longer range Consolidated Catalinas , Boeing 314 As (and later converted Short Sunderlands ) were introduced to guarantee non-stop Lisbon to Bathurst sectors (thus eliminating

13600-400: The ball-bearings is debatable, but these night flights were an important diplomatic gesture of support for neutral Sweden which had two DC-3s shot down on its own service to Britain. Other types used to Sweden included Lockheed Lodestars , Consolidated Liberators, and the sole Curtiss CW-20 (C-46 prototype) which BOAC had purchased; these types had more payload, and some had the range to avoid

13760-522: The capacity of airliners needed to be increased to achieve more favourable economics. The English company de Havilland , built the 10-passenger DH.29 monoplane, while starting work on the design of the DH.32, an eight-seater biplane with a more economical but less powerful Rolls-Royce Eagle engine. For more capacity, DH.32 development was replaced by the DH.34 biplane, accommodating 10 passengers. A commercially successful aircraft, Daimler Airway ordered

13920-468: The civil Trident, as well. Furnished with a more capable engine that could provide more thrust than the Spey could, an extended fuselage could also have been adopted and existing landing restrictions could have been discarded; overall, the Trident would have been a far closer match to the 727. Wood summarised the importance of this prospective development as: "For the Trident programme, the RB.177 would have been

14080-405: The competing firms had already secured an export order for their airliner. In response, Lord Douglas stated that BEA wished to order the DH.121 and was awaiting approval from the government; Douglas's reply has been viewed as the death knell for the rival Type 200 proposal. Meanwhile, a rival airliner emerged, this time from Boeing in the United States, in the form of the 727 , which also had

14240-428: The design as being unable to perform adequately in " hot and high " conditions, in light of such issues experienced with the Trident 2E. Since the Spey 512 was the last of the Spey line, extra thrust would be difficult to obtain. Instead of attempting to replace the three engines with a completely different type, which would have been difficult with one engine buried in the tail, Hawker Siddeley 's engineers decided to add

14400-412: The early Comet , the world's first jet-powered airliner: the D.H.119 and the D.H.120, the latter being also intended to be offered to British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). In July 1957, de Havilland made another submission in the form of the DH.121; this proposal was furnished with three turbojets , Rolls-Royce Avon engines, and greatly resembled the eventual production aircraft. By August 1957,

14560-487: The efforts made by Britain in the implementation of the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts which were often designed to improve the export industries of colonies at the expense of other more pressing needs like food and healthcare. As Smith argues, BOAC were prominent promoters of the colonial development agenda, with advertisements often highlighted the positive impact of such policies in Africa often with

14720-601: The end of the First World War, large numbers of ex-military aircraft flooded the market. One such aircraft was the French Farman F.60 Goliath , which had originally been designed as a long-range heavy bomber ; a number were converted for commercial use into passenger airliners starting in 1919, being able to accommodate a maximum of 14 seated passengers. and around 60 were built. Initially, several publicity flights were made, including one on 8 February 1919, when

14880-460: The entry into service of jet airliners in 1952, many airline managers and economists remained sceptical, and advocated turboprop airliners as replacements of piston-engined airliners. In 1953, while several manufacturers across the world were investing in pure jet-powered aircraft, BEA chose to favour turboprops on the basis of their superior economics and produced a specification that called for an aircraft capable of seating 100 passengers and attaining

15040-424: The first airliner fitted with a quick access flight data recorder. This sampled 64 variables, converted them into a digital format, and stored them on magnetic tape for ground analysis. Later the system included a voice recorder. The first Trident entered service on 1 April 1964. By 1965, 15 Tridents were in BEA's fleet, and by March 1966, the fleet had increased to 21. Hawker Siddeley then proposed an improved 1C,

15200-683: The first commercial plane to circumnavigate the globe during December 1941 and January 1942. In the United Kingdom, the Brabazon Committee was formed in 1942 under John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara to forecast advances in aviation technology and the air transport needs of the postwar British Empire (in South Asia, Africa, and the Near and Far East ) and Commonwealth ( Australia , Canada , New Zealand ). For British use, multi-engine aircraft types were allegedly split between

15360-740: The first scheduled international airline service from London to Paris. One aircraft was sold to the River Plate Aviation Company in Argentina , to operate a cross-river service between Buenos Aires and Montevideo . Meanwhile, the competing Vickers converted its successful First World War era bomber, the Vickers Vimy , into a civilian version, the Vimy Commercial. It was redesigned with a larger-diameter fuselage (largely of spruce plywood), and first flew from

15520-602: The fleet at the end of 2012 and 11.3% at the end of 2001. Since it began, the jet airliner market had a recurring pattern of seven years of growth followed by three years of deliveries falling 30–40%, except a steady growth from 2004 due to the economic rise of China going from 3% of world market in 2001 to 22% in 2015, expensive jet fuel till 2014 stimulating old jets replacement allowed by low interest rates since 2008, and strong airline passenger demand since. In 2004, 718 Airbus and Boeings were delivered, worth $ 39.3 billion; 1,466 are expected in 2017, worth $ 104.4 billion:

15680-459: The fleet in 2004 and 5.9% in 2016, down from 8% previously. Oil prices and airshow orders are trending together. British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd . It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After

15840-573: The flight of the swept-wing Boeing 367–80 (707 prototype) in 1954. In 1953 Vickers had started building the swept wing VC-7/V-1000 with Rolls-Royce Conway turbofan engines, but BOAC short-sightedly decided the Britannia and Comet 4 would be adequate for its purposes, and when the military version of the V-1000 was cancelled in 1955 the 75% complete prototype was scrapped. In October 1956 BOAC ordered 15 Boeing 707s with Conway engines (briefly

16000-408: The forward section, seating 149 passengers. At this point, BEA decided that the Trident was too short-legged for its ever-expanding routes, and that an even longer-ranged version was needed. Hawker Siddeley responded with another upgrade designated Trident 1F . It would have the Spey 511 engines, a 2.8 m fuselage stretch, a gross weight of 132,000 lb (60,000 kg) and up to 128 seats in

16160-592: The future airliner's name, Trident, was announced at the Farnborough Airshow ; this name had been chosen as a reflection of its then-unique three-jet, triple- hydraulic configuration. By 1960, de Havilland had been acquired by the Hawker Siddeley group. After the de Havilland takeover, Airco was disbanded. Hunting was marshalled into the competing newly formed British Aircraft Corporation (BAC); their departure removed any putative possibility of

16320-451: The government with a proposal to form a consortium under which de Havilland would produce the fuselage, Bristol would manufacture the wings, and various other companies, including Hunting Aircraft and Fairey Aviation , would be responsible for other elements; however, Bristol strongly opposed this arrangement and chose to work with Hawker Siddeley in competition against de Havilland. Companies vigorously competed to be selected by BEA due to

16480-426: The growing trend to higher-density seating. Although de Havilland stated that they generally concurred with BEA, its management also stated that they had worked "under terms more onerous than anything D.H. had previously undertaken". Industry observers at the time felt that the British aircraft industry had again stumbled "into the pitfall of having designed exclusively for one customer an aeroplane that has potentially

16640-701: The in-development Irkut MC-21 . The larger wide-body aircraft , or twin-aisle as they have two separate aisles in the cabin, are used for long-haul flights. The first was the Boeing 747 quadjet, followed by the trijets: the Lockheed L-1011 and the Douglas DC-10 , then its MD-11 stretch. Then other quadjets were introduced: the Ilyushin Il-86 and Il-96 , the Airbus A340 and the double-deck A380 . Twinjets were also put into service:

16800-583: The intended destination had originally been Baghdad in Iraq . British production of the Dragon ended in favour of the de Havilland Dragon Rapide , a faster and more comfortable successor. By November 1934, series production of the Dragon Rapide had commenced. De Havilland invested into advanced features including elongated rear windows, cabin heating, thickened wing tips, and a strengthened airframe for

16960-494: The larger aircraft operated by the major carriers, legacy carriers , and flag carriers , and are used to feed traffic into the large airline hubs. These regional routes then form the spokes of a hub-and-spoke air transport model. The lightest aircraft are short-haul regional feeder airliner type aircraft that carry a small number of passengers are called commuter aircraft, commuterliners, feederliners, and air taxis , depending on their size, engines, how they are marketed, region of

17120-684: The late 1920s and early 1930s, based on a series of large seaplanes – the Sikorsky S-38 through Sikorsky S-42 . By the 1930s, the airliner industry had matured and large consolidated national airlines were established with regular international services that spanned the globe, including Imperial Airways in Britain, Lufthansa in Germany, KLM in the Netherlands, and United Airlines in America. Multi-engined aircraft were now capable of transporting dozens of passengers in comfort. During

17280-507: The later Boeing 727; the design eventually settled on a variable-incidence T-tail. From the outset, the DH.121 was planned to employ avionics that were very advanced for the period. Among other capabilities, they would offer automatic approach and landing within a few years of service entry. The avionics were also to have triplicated components for reliability and to allow "majority 2:1 voting" for aircraft guidance during automatic approach and landing. The physical dimensions of most avionics of

17440-454: The lessons learned while developing their own aircraft. The improved Comet 2 and the prototype Comet 3 culminated in the redesigned Comet 4 series which debuted in 1958 and had a productive career over 30 years, but sales never fully recovered. By the 1960s, the UK had lost the airliner market to the US due to the Comet disaster and a smaller domestic market, not regained by later designs like

17600-681: The long West Africa route had to be employed (over-water via Lisbon, Bathurst , Freetown , Lagos ), then by landplane to Khartoum on the Horseshoe Route. The Empire routes had contained landplane sectors, but the Armstrong Whitworth Ensign and de Havilland Albatross ordered to replace the Handley Page HP.42 'Heracles' biplanes had proved disappointing, leaving the Short Empire flying boats as

17760-448: The lure of its £30 million contract (equivalent to £885,295,000 in 2023), as well as the likelihood of lucrative overseas export sales. On 4 February 1958, de Havilland, along with Hunting and Fairey, announced that they had agreed to form a partnership for the purpose of manufacturing and marketing the DH.121; the consortium adopted the corporate name of the defunct Airco company, which had been Geoffrey de Havilland 's employer during

17920-596: The main BOAC fleet at peak demand, and in a reciprocal arrangement BOAC would provide capacity to BOAC-Cunard on some operations when it had a shortfall. The effect of this arrangement was to remove competition on western routes. The operation was dissolved in 1966. The following is an incomplete list of destinations historically served by BOAC: During the time of the airline's existence, BOAC operated these aircraft: Dates above are for service with BOAC or its forerunners; those still in service in 1974 subsequently passed to British Airways. The Beatles song " Back in

18080-544: The main landing gear for use as an airbrake. The Trident's first version, Trident 1C, had the unusual capability of using reverse thrust prior to touchdown. The throttles could be closed in the flare and reverse idle set to open the reverser buckets. At pilot discretion, up to full reverse thrust could then be used prior to touchdown. This was helpful to reduce hydroplaning and give very short landing runs on wet or slippery runways while preserving wheel brake efficiency and keeping wheel brake temperatures low. Brakes were fitted with

18240-498: The more ambitious Bristol Britannia , although both aircraft suffered protracted developments, with the latter entering service with BOAC in February 1957, over seven years following its order. The jet-powered Type IV became the de Havilland Comet in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines buried in the wings, a pressurised fuselage, and large square windows. On 2 May 1952,

18400-519: The most economical commercial engine option). They entered service in 1960. (The British airworthiness authorities insisted on tail-fin modifications which Boeing made available to all 707 users.) Sir Giles Guthrie , who took charge of BOAC in 1964, preferred Boeing aircraft for economic reasons, and indeed BOAC began turning a profit in the late 1960s. After a row in Parliament the government instructed BOAC to purchase 17 Vickers VC10 aircraft from

18560-611: The national flag-carrying airline in the broadest sense. Early publicity emphasised its role in alleviating famines and flooding, in the supply of medicines and in the transportation of athletes and explorers. More than this, BOAC strove to embed itself in the cultural fabric of the nation. By taking pressurised oxygen canisters to climbers on Everest, transporting a 7,000 year-old skill from the British School in Jerusalem or flying astronomers as close as possible to an eclipse over

18720-584: The need to refuel at Las Palmas). BOAC's flying-boat base for Britain was shifted from Southampton to Poole , Dorset , but many flights used Foynes in Ireland, reached by shuttle flight from Whitchurch. Use of Foynes reduced the chance of enemy interception or friendly fire incidents over the English Channel . BOAC had large bases at Durban , Asmara , Alexandria and a pilots' school at Soroti , Uganda . Experimental flights had been made across

18880-428: The original five-abreast configuration. BEA planned to buy 10 1Fs, plus an option for 14 further aircraft. As work continued on the 1F the changes became so widespread that it was renamed the Trident 2E , E for Extended Range . Now powered by newer Spey 512s with 11,930 lbf (53.1 kN) thrust, it also replaced wing leading-edge droop flaps with slats, and extended the span with Küchemann -style tips. It had

19040-536: The passing of the Civil Aviation Act 1946 , European and South American services passed to two further state-owned airlines, British European Airways (BEA) and British South American Airways (BSAA). BOAC absorbed BSAA in 1949, but BEA continued to operate British domestic and European routes for the next quarter century. The Civil Aviation Act 1971 merged BOAC and BEA, effective 31 March 1974, forming today's British Airways . On 24 November 1939, BOAC

19200-505: The period required them to be housed in a large compartment beneath the Trident's flight deck; the compartment's size was among the factors dictating a distinctive nose undercarriage design, with the nose landing gear offset by 2 ft (61 cm) to the port side and retracting sideways to stow across the DH.121's longitudinal axis. BEA soon selected the DH.121 as the basis for detailed negotiations, but these talks were protracted due to multiple factors, including wider policy decisions of

19360-536: The planes. American planes were allegedly more comfortable and had superior flight decks than those produced in Europe. In 1936, the French Air Ministry requested transatlantic flying boats that could hold at least 40 passengers, leading to three Latécoère 631s introduced by Air France in July 1947. However, two crashed and the third was removed from service over safety concerns. The SNCASE Languedoc

19520-488: The press, British manufacturers and the unions accused BOAC management of only wanting American aircraft. Whilst the major world airlines abandoned flying-boats at the end of WWII, BOAC continued with theirs until 1950, and even introduced the new Short Solent on the leisurely Nile route to South Africa. In 1948, the unpressurised Yorks were still operating passenger services as far afield as Nairobi (Kenya), Accra (Gold Coast, later Ghana), Delhi and Calcutta (India), and

19680-423: The programme for its redesigning for their immediate situation. In 1959, BEA had a large fleet in operation and on order, and the issue of overcapacity was a critical concern. The airline's concerns reflected three factors - a short-lived airline recession in the late 1950s; the imminent arrival into service of a large fleet of turboprop Vickers Vanguards , which duplicated the DH.121's general payload-range area; and

19840-468: The project was abandoned due to a lack of customer demand and its high development costs. Rival planes include the Martin 2-0-2 and Martin 4-0-4 , but the 2-0-2 had safety concerns and was unpressurized, while the 4-0-4 only sold around 100 units. During the postwar years, engines became much larger and more powerful, and safety features such as deicing, navigation, and weather information were added to

20000-605: The prototype first flew on 4 December 1919, shortly after it was displayed at the 1919 Paris Air Show at Le Bourget . It was ordered by the Belgian firm Sabena , a further ten Type Ws were produced under license in Belgium by SABCA . In 1921 the Air Ministry ordered three aircraft, built as the W.8b, for use by Handley Page Transport , and later by Imperial Airways , on services to Paris and Brussels . In France,

20160-582: The recommendations of the 1969 Edwards Report that a new British Airways Board, combining BEA and BOAC, was constituted on 1 April 1972. This event coincided with the establishment of the Civil Aviation Authority , the UK's new, unified regulator for the air transport industry. BOAC would have become one of the first operators of the Concorde , had it not merged to become British Airways. BA's Concordes carried registrations of G-BOAA to G-BOAG . The first Concorde delivered to British Airways

20320-429: The revised Comet 4 were designed to be fail-safe: in the event of, for example, a skin-failure due to cracking the damage would be localised and not catastrophic. In October 1958 BOAC operated the first transatlantic jet service with the larger and longer-range Comet 4. In the 1950s turbine powered airliners were developing rapidly, and the Comet and the seriously delayed Bristol Britannia were soon rendered obsolescent by

20480-452: The specification, which had in turn harmed the Trident's competitiveness against the Boeing 727. The rival Boeing 727 had quickly established a lead over the Trident. The 727's early lead only strengthened it in subsequent competitions; one such example is Trans Australia Airlines , which had determined the Trident to be superior to the Boeing 727 from an operational standpoint, but it was also viewed as having been commercially risky to choose

20640-438: The success of the Viscount looked like being repeated". In March 1959, BEA, which had become concerned by a recent decline in passenger growth, concluded that the DH.121's payload-range capacity could be too great for their needs and petitioned de Havilland to reduce the scale of the design to suit their revised projections. Fearing that the proposed scale of the Trident was too large, the airline had elected to effectively tear up

20800-723: The support of postal or government subsidies. Long-haul flights were expanded during the 1930s as Pan American Airways and Imperial Airways competed on transatlantic travel using fleets of flying boats , such as the British Short Empire and the American Boeing 314 . Imperial Airways' order for 28 Empire flying boats was viewed by some as a bold gamble. At the time, flying boats were the only practical means of building aircraft of such size and weight as land-based aircraft would have unfeasibly poor field performance. One Boeing 314, registration NC18602 , became

20960-456: The tailwheel Avro Tudor , not what BOAC wanted. Since 1941, the advanced pressurised Lockheed Constellation had been under development, and in 1946 BOAC was permitted to use dollars to purchase an initial fleet of five for the prestigious North Atlantic route (there were no equivalent British types available). Throughout the whole of BOAC's existence, the argument over buying American or (often delayed) British products continued, and Parliament,

21120-432: The three engines would drive its own hydraulic system, offering triple redundancy in case of any of the other systems failing. The engines were to be 13,790 lbf (61.34 kN) Medway engines. The DH.121 was to have a gross weight of 123,000 lb (56,000 kg) or optionally, up to 150,000 pounds (68,000 kg), a range of 2,070 mi (3,330 km), and seating for 111 in a two-class layout (or for over 140 in

21280-598: The two airlines to negotiate air rights through the British colony of Cyprus . The chairman of BOAC, Miles Thomas , was in favour of the idea as a potential solution to a disagreement between the two airlines as to which should serve the increasingly important oil regions of the Middle East , and he had backing for his proposal from the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, Rab Butler . However, opposition from

21440-475: The type continued to operate freight schedules until late 1957. After its first six Lockheed 049 Constellations, BOAC had to use some ingenuity to increase its Constellation fleet. In 1947, Aerlínte Éireann in Ireland bought five new Lockheed 749 Constellations, and prepared to launch a transatlantic service with assistance and crew-training from Captains O. P. Jones and J. C. Kelly-Rogers of BOAC. The project

21600-417: The unsuitable Armstrong Whitworth Whitley "civilianised" bombers were also used between 9 August and 24 October 1942 ("Civilianised" meant that all the armaments and unnecessary guns and turrets had been removed, a legal requirement for operating a commercial civilian service to a neutral country). The much faster civilian registered de Havilland Mosquitoes were introduced by BOAC in 1943. The significance of

21760-520: The wartime loss of the route over Italy and France to Cairo these were replaced by the expatriate ' Horseshoe Route ', with Cairo as a hub, and Sydney and Durban as end destinations. Linking Britain to the Horseshoe Route taxed the resources of BOAC. Although Spain denied access, Portugal welcomed BOAC's civilian aircraft at Lisbon . However, the Mediterranean route from Lisbon or Gibraltar to Egypt via Malta risked enemy attack, so

21920-433: The wings and allows for a lighter wing structure. This factor becomes more important as aircraft weight increases, and no in-production airliners have both a maximum takeoff weight more than 50 tons and engines mounted on the fuselage. The Antonov An-148 is the only in-production jetliner with high-mounted wings (usually seen in military transport aircraft ), which reduces the risk of damage from unpaved runways. Except for

22080-511: The world, and seating configurations. The Beechcraft 1900 , for example, has only 19 seats. When the Wright brothers made the world's first sustained heavier-than-air flight , they laid the foundation for what would become a major transport industry. Their flight, performed in the Wright Flyer during 1903, was just 11 years before what is often defined as the world's first airliner. By

22240-486: The wreckage recovered from the Mediterranean sea-bed and observation of a sample fuselage in a pressurisation test-tank at Farnborough revealed that the repeated pressurisation / depressurisation cycles of airline operation could cause fatigue cracks in the thin aluminium alloy skin of the Comet leading to the skins ripping away explosively at altitude and disintegration of the aircraft. Later jet airliners including

22400-461: Was a jet airliner of all-metal construction with a T-tail and a low-mounted wing with a quarter-chord sweepback of 35 degrees. It had three rear-mounted engines: two in side-fuselage pods, and the third in the fuselage tailcone, with an S-shaped intake duct . One version, the 3B, had a fourth "boost" engine with a separate intake duct above the main S-duct. All versions were powered by versions of

22560-503: Was abandoned in February 1948, and BOAC were able to buy the almost new 749s without dollar expenditure four months later. This enabled BOAC to serve Australia with Constellations from 1949. A total of 25 Constellations passed through the BOAC fleet, including 12 749As obtained from Capital Airlines in the mid-1950s, with BOAC's older 049s in part exchange. BOAC was also permitted to spend dollars on six new Boeing 377 Stratocruisers for its key transatlantic routes from October 1949, offering

22720-622: Was based on the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, it had a double deck and a pressurized fuselage. Convair produced the Convair 240 , a 40-person pressurized airplane; 566 examples flew. Convair later developed the Convair 340 , which was slightly larger and could accommodate between 44 and 52 passengers, of which 311 were produced. The firm also commenced work on the Convair 37 , a relatively large double-deck airliner that would have served trans continental routes; however,

22880-682: Was created by the British Overseas Airways Act 1939 to become the British state airline, formed from the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd . The companies had been operating together since war was declared on 3 September 1939, when their operations were evacuated from the London area to Bristol . On 1 April 1940, BOAC started operations as a single company. Following the Fall of France (22 June 1940), BOAC aircraft kept wartime Britain connected with its colonies and

23040-427: Was cut by about a quarter to 75 or 80 (97 in a single-class layout). Wing span was reduced by roughly 17 ft (5.2 m), wing area by 30%, and overall length by 13 ft (4.0 m). The revised design retained some features of the original one, notably its fuselage diameter. It had a smaller flight deck and single-axis, two-wheel, four-tyre main undercarriage legs in place of four-wheel bogies. Woods summarised

23200-503: Was declared to have holdings in eighteen companies. In 1962, BOAC and Cunard formed BOAC-Cunard Ltd to operate scheduled services to North America, the Caribbean and South America. BOAC provided 70% of the new company's capital and eight Boeing 707s. The independent Cunard Eagle Airways , of which Cunard held a 60% shareholding, provided two more 707s. BOAC-Cunard leased any spare capacity to BOAC which could use it to supplement

23360-484: Was dosed with LSD when a BOAC stewardess put it in his drink, during a 1968 visit to the Copacabana nightclub. In Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, a BOAC aircraft is hijacked by the villain, Auric Goldfinger, and James Bond held captive upon it until he is able to retrieve the situation. One of the Concorde aircraft operated by British Airways was tail-named G-BOAC. Because of this coincidental reference to BOAC, it

23520-526: Was equipped with much more powerful engines. The main contribution that the Soviets made in regards to airliners was the Antonov An-2 . This plane is a biplane, unlike most of the other airliners, and sold more units than any other transport plane. The most common airliners are the narrow-body aircraft , or single-aisles. The earliest jet airliners were narrowbodies: the initial de Havilland Comet ,

23680-522: Was for 11 Boeing 747-100s . On 22 April 1970 BOAC received its first 747, but the aircraft did not enter commercial service until 14 April 1971 due to BOAC's inability to settle crewing and pay rates with the British Air Line Pilots' Association . BOAC's successor British Airways later became the largest Boeing customer outside North America. The first attempt at a merger of BOAC with BEA arose in 1953 out of inconclusive attempts between

23840-409: Was further adapted into an early bomber aircraft , preceding subsequent transport and bomber aircraft. It first flew on 10 December 1913 and took off for its first demonstration flight with 16 passengers aboard on 25 February 1914. However, it was never used as a commercial airliner due to the onset of the First World War which led to military applications being prioritised. In 1919, shortly after

24000-532: Was in Asia-Pacific with 8,808 (5% stored), followed by 8,572 in North America (10% stored), 7,254 in Europe (9% stored), 2,027 in Latin America, 1,510 in Middle East and 1,347 in Africa. Narrowbody are dominant with 16,235, followed by 5,581 Widebodies, 3,743 Turboprops, 3,565 Regional jets and 399 Others. By the end of 2018, there were 1,826 parked or in storage jetliners out of 29,824 in service (6.1%): 1,434 narrowbodies and 392 widebodies, down from 9.8% of

24160-443: Was in use. The Trident's autoland system pioneered the use of lower landing minima, initially with Category 2 (100 ft decision height and 400 metres RVR) and soon after "zero-zero" (Category 3C) conditions. Since Tridents could operate safely to airfields equipped with suitable ILS installations, they could operate schedules regardless of weather, while other aircraft were forced to divert. The Trident's advanced avionics displayed

24320-536: Was intended to offer autoland by 1970. In the event, it enabled the Trident to perform the first automatic landing by a civil airliner in scheduled passenger service on 10 June 1965 and the first genuinely "blind" landing in scheduled passenger service on 4 November 1966. The ability to land in fog solved a major problem at London Heathrow and other British airports. Delays were commonplace when Category 1 (Cat 1 = 200 ft (61 m) decision height and 600 metre runway visual range RVR) instrument landing system (ILS)

24480-660: Was named the C-54 Skymaster . Some ex-military DC-6s were later converted into airliners, with both passenger and cargo versions flooding the market shortly after the war's end. Douglas also developed a pressurized version of the DC-4, which it designated the Douglas DC-6 . Rival company Lockheed produced the Constellation , a triple-tailed aircraft with a wider fuselage than the DC-4. The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser

24640-435: Was registered G-BOAC. Flight was out of the financial reach of the vast majority of travellers in Britain. However as a nationalised industry , British taxpayers were funding BOAC’s operations overseas. As a result, in the immediate post-war period BOAC saw a need to promote their aviation services beyond traditional travel. Scott Anthony and Oliver Green described in their 2012 book: “New Elizabethan ambitions made BOAC into

24800-403: Was significantly smaller than the DH.121. At the time Boeing and Douglas were also downsizing their 727 and DC-9 projects. It was felt the original large DH.121 would have to compete against the Convair 880 and Boeing 720 some four years after their service entries, whereas a cut-back design would be more competitive against the then-projected 75–100 seat, twin-engined DC-9. Downsizing

24960-485: Was stretched by 5 m (16 ft) to seat 180 over 1,940 nmi (3,590 km; 2,230 mi), and had an additional RB.162 booster engine in the tail. In 1953, as British European Airways (BEA) introduced the world's first turboprop -powered civil airliner – the Vickers Viscount – into passenger service, the operator was already considering what would be required of a potential successor. Following

25120-425: Was the Airco DH.16 ; a redesigned Airco DH.9A with a wider fuselage to accommodate an enclosed cabin seating four passengers, plus pilot in an open cockpit. In March 1919, the prototype first flew at Hendon Aerodrome . Nine aircraft were built, all but one being delivered to the nascent airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel , which used the first aircraft for pleasure flying, and on 25 August 1919, it inaugurated

25280-452: Was the first French post-war airliner. Accommodating up to 44 seats, 40 aircraft were completed for Air France between October 1945 and April 1948. Air France withdrew the last Languedoc from its domestic routes in 1954, being replaced by later designs. First flying in February 1949, the four-engined Breguet Deux-Ponts was a double-decker transport for passengers and cargo. Air France used it on its busiest routes, including from Paris to

25440-568: Was the first purchase of aircraft direct from the Douglas Aircraft Company in BOAC's history. In May 1952 BOAC was the first airline to introduce a passenger jet into airline service. This was the de Havilland Comet which flew via Nairobi to Johannesburg and via the Far East to Tokyo. All Comet 1 aircraft were grounded in April 1954 after four Comets crashed, the second last being a BOAC aircraft at altitude. Examination of

25600-412: Was vetoed by the British government. BEA returned to Hawker Siddeley and chose a stretched version of the basic Trident, the Trident 3 . A fuselage stretch of 5 m (16 ft 5 in) made room for up to 180 passengers; Hawker Siddeley raised the gross weight to 143,000 lb (65,000 kg) and made modifications to the wing to increase its chord ; the engines remained the same. BEA rejected

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