Design and Development
The airframe of the HS 748 was redesigned with a lengthened 26.01 m body and a 30.62 m wing span. Minor modifications were made to the nose and tail shapes, as well as smaller windows on a shorter pitch. The twin Rolls-Royce Dart engines were replaced with Pratt & Whitney Canada PW126 fuel efficient engines. A custom-designed, slow-turning, six-blade propeller was developed by Hamilton Standard.
The aircraft first flew in August 1986 and entered service with British Midland in 1988. The type has an advanced EFIS Flight Deck, and has a good short-field performance. In addition to these virtues, it is also very quiet upon take off.
In total 64 aircraft were assembled at BAe's Woodford and Prestwick facilities with the manufacture of the airframe and wings undertaken at Chadderton. Production ended at Prestwick in 1996. The plane can accommodate between 64 and 72 passengers depending on the seat configuration. The biggest operators of the aircraft are British Airways CitiExpress and West Air Sweden.
In 2001 the ATP Freighter project allowed six ATPs to be converted in to cargo aircraft for West Air Sweden. Using a modification of the HS 748 freight door, the ATPF can carry 30% more cargo than its predecessor with a 10% increase in running costs. The ATPF made its first flight from West Air Sweden's facility in Lidköping on 10 July 2002.
As of November 2011 a total of 40 ATP aircraft remain in airline service with West Air Sweden (12), Atlantic Airlines (12), NextJet Sweden (4), Deraya (2) and Air Go Airlines (1). The only airline operating passenger flights in the ATP is NextJet Sweden.
Read more about this topic: British Aerospace ATP
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