British Aerospace Jetstream


The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the Jetstream 31 from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream.

Development

had taken over production of the original Jetstream design from Handley Page and when it was nationalised along with other British companies into British Aerospace in 1978, BAe decided the design was worth further development, and started work on a "Mark 3" Jetstream. As with the earlier 3M version for the USAF, the new version was re-engined with newer Garrett turboprops which offered more power and longer overhaul intervals over the original Turbomeca Astazou engines. This allowed the aircraft to be offered in an 18-seat option, with an offset aisle, and with a water methanol option for the engine to allow the ability to operate at maximum load from a greater range of airfields, particularly in the continental United States and Australia.
The result was the Jetstream 31, which first flew on 28 March 1980, being certificated in the UK on 29 June 1982. The new version proved to be as popular as Handley Page hoped the original model would be, and several hundred 31s were built during the 1980s. In 1985, a further engine upgrade was planned, which flew in 1988 as the Jetstream Super 31, also known as the Jetstream 32. Production continued until 1993, by which time 386 31/32s had been produced. Four Jetstream 31s were ordered for the Royal Navy in 1985 as radar observer trainers, the Jetstream T.3, but were later used for VIP transport.
In 1993, British Aerospace adopted the Jetstream name as its brand name for all twin turboprop aircraft. As well as the Jetstream 31 and Jetstream 32, it also built the related Jetstream 41 and the unrelated, but co-branded BAe ATP/Jetstream 61. The Jetstream 61 name was never used in service, and retained its "ATP" marketing name. The company also proposed but never built the Jetstream 51 and Jetstream 71.
In July 2008, a BAE Systems team that included Cranfield Aerospace and the National Flight Laboratory Centre at Cranfield University achieved a major breakthrough in unmanned air systems technology. The team flew a series of missions, totalling, in a specially modified Jetstream 31 without any human intervention, This was the first time such an undertaking had been achieved.

Variants

In July 2019, 70 Jetstream 31s were in airline service : 49 in Americas, 15 in Europe, 5 in Asia Pacific and 1 in Africa. Airline operators with five or more aircraft were: