BAe has announced it is stoping the production of short haul aircraft, announced yesterday(28th November 2001) brings the production of the Avro Regional Jet to an end. The Avro is also the last mass-produced comercial passenger plain to be produced in Britain. 1700 jobs will be lost. Its really sad to see this magnificent aircrafts production being stopped. It is and will remain my favourite regional jetliner. Very comfortable, low on noise etc.
regards
Kabir
By: Eiran - 7th January 2002 at 09:51
RE: Avro Shutdown!
The RJ is economically competitive in running costs, but it seems that the most airlines were not willing to pay the initial outlay, even for the better performance that it offered over the cheaper competitors. For the prices that the airlines were willing to pay BAE SYSTEMS would have incurred a ‘significant loss’ for each airplane that they produced.
Maybe overlooked is the recent entry into the recent rollout of the Airbus A318, which has simmilar capacity to the RJX100, is it coincidence that as one program gathers momentum, the other is cancelled?
Maybe.
By: 1333sl - 30th December 2001 at 15:50
RE: Avro Shutdown!
The shutdown of AVRO triggers the same feelings with me when Fokker went out of business.
Here in West-Europe we no longer can compete with Bombardier and Embrear who mass-produce their planes.
As passengers, we should not be to happy with the new Regional flying barrels, it is true that they do provide economics to their operators, offer shorter slots compared to equally sized ATR’s and Fokker 50’s. However, they do not provide the same level of comfort to the passengers like the 6-abreast AVRO RJ or 5-abreast Fokkers.
Fortunately, we will see many RJ’s around in the coming years.
By: Eiran - 17th December 2001 at 14:26
RE: Avro Shutdown!
Here here, I quite agree.:D
By: PhantomII - 15th December 2001 at 21:29
RE: Avro Shutdown!
I am not sure that Embraer or Bombardier have better aircraft than the Avro RJ series. The RJ is very economical. Very comfortable, very quiet. What more can you ask for? Performance wise, it isn’t that bad, although not at the top of the charts. I would take an Avro RJ or 146 over Embraer or Bombardiers products. I wonder if the orders for those aircraft will be affected. They might do better now that the Avro RJ (the main competition) is out of the picture. The Avro RJ was outselling the other two aircraft by a fairly large margin. BAe had a winner, and look what they did….
By: Matilainen - 6th December 2001 at 15:59
RE: Avro Shutdown!
It will be interesting to see what happens with the Embraer, Bombardier and Dornier, will they find enough customers for their 80 seat regional jets.
What about the Starliner (or what it was…?), does anyone knows how things are going there?
By: Eiran - 6th December 2001 at 09:56
RE: WHY?!
Go poke yourself you painfully rational person.
By: rdc1000 - 5th December 2001 at 14:34
RE: WHY?!
There are a lot of arguments about subsidies. But I think the point is this, BAe have been flogging a dead horse with this one. Their 4-engined Avro RJs are simply not as economical as the new proposals from Embraer and Canadair (Bombardier). This has long been a problem and it was the aircrafts field performance that was a major selling point. Embraer have made guarantees to Crossair that their RJ170 will be able to operate on London City’s runway and so their aircraft is meeting field performance needs. As a result the more inefficent RJX family cannot compete, it’s only real advantages are noise (I’m not sure what the Embraer aircraft is like in this area) and the earlier availability of their aircraft. I have been a fan of the 146/RJ family, but can see logically why it has come to an end.
People get hung up on nostalgia and personal preference for an aircraft, but if there is no commercial benefits then you cannot expect a company to manufacture or use them on the basis that they look “nice.”
By: Eiran - 4th December 2001 at 12:41
RE: WHY?!
I was talking to a senior manager from BAE SYSTEMS at the weekend, and apparently Sir Richard Evans was almost in tears at the due to the situation that had to be made.
The reason for cancellation was the cancellation of many orders due to market conditions, conditions in which the RJX could not compete with Bombardier and Emraer’s aircraft due to the subsidies received by them from their respective governments. BAE SYSTEMS has no such financial support, and the Brittish Government has no such attractive financial packages to offer prospective customers.
The outcome of such factors is nothing short of tragic, but, sadly, nothing much can be done about it. :'(
By: PhantomII - 4th December 2001 at 04:49
WHY?!
Doesn’t anyone know or even care? Please provide me with some info.
By: PhantomII - 2nd December 2001 at 05:30
No!
Why did this happen? The Avro RJ was my favorite regional airliner and next to the 707 and DC-9 series, my favorite airliner overall. WHY?! I love this airplane. I have been looking on the progress of the RJX for some time. What happened? This makes me very sad.
By: Rabie - 30th November 2001 at 13:52
RE: Avro Shutdown!
now BAe has approx 20%income from airbus stake and 70% from defence sales.
this was in an article in the daily telegraph and is wriiten form memory.
its a real shame they are getting out of plane making but the regional jet market is crowded and it can’t be so profitable.
rabie :9
By: KabirT - 29th November 2001 at 12:06
RE: Avro Shutdown!
Yes…the wing devision is still un-affected.
By: Comet - 29th November 2001 at 12:02
RE: Avro Shutdown!
I agree Kabir – the Avro RJ was a wonderful aircraft to fly short haul on, I flew on a Sabena one once and it was a great flight. I only hope that the British airliner industry will one day recover from these setbacks and that this closure will only be temporary. This will spell the end for the Avro RJX which, I think, was still in development. I think that the Airbus wings division is still unaffected though?
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November 29, 2001 at 11:48 am