British Aerospace has realised, like Boeing, Airbus and Fairchild, that there is a market for its airliners as business jets. Both newly built aircraft and retiring airliners are being sought by buyers for corporate and executive duties. Some 220 BAe 146s were built between 1982 and 1993 and about half of these remain on the books at BAe Asset Management. Most are on long-term leases to airlines, but the earlier versions are coming to the end of their contracts, according to David Dorman, spokesman for BAe Asset Management, and the company predicts difficulty in placing these aircraft with airlines. \r"We thought the BAe 146 might make a useful addition to the corporate aircraft fleet, but we've got to be realistic," affirmed Dorman. "This is not an aircraft that will compete directly with Gulfstreams or Challengers. We are only going to have at most one or two of these aircraft per year that will be suitable for corporate use." \rThere are currently eight BAe 146s, now to be known as Avro Business Jets (ABJs), serving corporate or head of state roles. One BAe 146 travels the Formula One circuit, transporting Bernie Ecclestone and his entourage in executive style, while still having enough room for 50 airline-style seats for the press and television crews. \rA second is in service as the Amiri Royal Flight of Abu Dhabi, and a third operates in a pure corporate role with the Montex Oil Company of the USA. The 146 has also been used by number 32 Squadron of the RAF - the British Queen's personal jet. BAe has linked up with two completion centres - one in north America and one in Europe - that are keen to work on converting ex-airliner BAe 146s into corporate or corporate shuttle configurations. In Britain, Trace Aircraft completions division of Biggin Hill, Kent, has worked on the Formula One aircraft and has recently designed and costed an interior for another prospective corporate customer. \rBritish Aerospace is currently manufacturing the Regional Jet (RJ), the successor to the BAe 146, for the airline market, and will continue to do so until July 2001, when the RJX will take over. The RJ's production is allocated until mid-2000. The RJ and the RJX are both open to corporate buyers, although no slots are being allocated specifically for business jet production, according to sources at BA Regional Aircraft. \rThe BAe 146, RJ and RJX executive versions are not being marketed aggressively: BAe is adopting a pragmatic approach and finding buyers through industry contacts. "Because we are in the transitional phase from RJ to RJX, we are not pushing the business jet version particularly hard," said David West, director of product marketing at BA Regional Aircraft. \r"We see our core market as airlines, and are confident of placing the majority of our production with them, although we are negotiating for a handful of RJX business jets." \rThe ABJ will benefit from a support system that has grown to service the 400 or more BAe 146/RJ aircraft flying with operators around the world. According to sources at the company, a low utilisation maintenance programme (LUMP) for the business jet variants is under negotiation to reduce operating costs and downtime. This is expected to become available by the end of the summer, and will be marketed to existing operators. New operators will automatically be enrolled on the programme. \rAccording to British Aerospace, with extra fuel tanks the ABJ could be capable of 2,800 miles, and the exceptionally spacious cabin and ability to get into airfields which are inaccessible for other comparable business jets make it "a beautiful candidate for the corporate market". The company estimates that new aircraft will sell for about US$30 million completely outfitted for executive use, and used BAe 146-200s for about $12-15 million without an interior.