UK’s Royal Air Force ends BAe 146 operations

The Royal Air Force (RFR, Brize Norton) says it has completed the retirement of all four of its remaining BAe 146s quadjets, with two VIP-configured BAe 146-100s set to become museum exhibits while two BAe 146-200(QC)s have been sold to Pionair Australia (PH, Bankstown).

“The BAe146 aircraft have served the UK proudly over many decades, including during numerous operations including Iraq and Afghanistan. After four decades of service, the aircraft have now reached the end of their service lives, and I am delighted that the 146s are going to good homes and joining the collections of two fantastic aviation museums,” Air Vice-Marshal Suraya Marshall said of the VIP-configured aircraft.

ZE701 (msn E1029) was ferried to the British Airliner Collection at Duxford airport on January 25, 2022. Sistership ZE700 (msn E1031) remains in service for the time being but will be ferried to the South Wales Aviation Museum at St. Athan airport in the coming weeks for display. The two aircraft have been operated out of Northolt airport as government transports since 1986 by 32 (The Royal) Squadron.

In turn, the RAF’s BAe146-200(QC)s are former commercial jets acquired from TNT Airways (3V, Liège) in 2012 to support troop movements in Afghanistan. The British air force did not reveal the identity of the next operator, but Flightglobal reported that they would shortly redeliver to Pionair, an Australian carrier that is already a prolific BAe 146 operator with two BAe 146-200s, two -200(QC)s, three -200(QT)s, and two -300(QT)s in its fleet. It also operates a single E190 but is currently trying to sell the aircraft, and two E190-E2s that have yet to be operated on behalf of Air Kiribati (IK, Tarawa).

The BAe Systems quadjet retirement was announced a year ago as part of budgetary cuts in the UK. Although initially, the Ministry of Defence was not planning to replace them, the RAF has said it is now in the process of selecting replacement aircraft and will soon make an announcement in this regard.