On March 11, 1965, Braniff International Airways' first new British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-11 203A/E Twinjet, registered as N1543, departed the BAC Hurn, England, plant for delivery to the Texas-based airline. Initially dubbed Braniff One-11 and The New Jet by Braniff, by the airline, the short-haul airliner arrived stateside two days later at Newark Airport, New Jersey, and then continued on to Dallas Love Field.
British United was the launch customer for the One-11 placing orders for ten Series 200s that featured 79-seat capacity on May 9, 1961. Braniff quickly followed with six orders for the 200 series on October 20, 1961, and quickly increased that order to six additional aircraft. The order was announced by Braniff President Charles Edmund Beard.
Braniff was the first US carrier to order the aircraft placing an order for a total of 26 of the aircraft. However, the Airline's shrewd change to the Boeing 727 in the mid-1960s resulted in the cancellation of the remaining 12 BAC orders that had not been built or delivered. Braniff's new management elected to move the carrier away from its image as the nation's largest short-haul carrier to the more profitable long-haul trunk routes. The bigger jets also enabled Braniff to operate multi-stop short to medium haul services and then operate a long haul segment at the end with a significant load of passengers. Although Braniff was the first US carrier to order the One-11, American Airlines eventually ordered thirty of the later Series 400 making it the largest operator of the BAC twin jet.
The initial cost of Braniff's One-11 order was $35 million USD, which included the original six firm orders and six optional orders. Spare parts and engines were also inclusive in the figure and an additional $1 million USD was spent on a One-11 Flight Simulator that was purchased on February 23, 1963, and installed at Braniff's Dallas Love Field Operations and Maintenance Base in September 1964. Braniff exercised its option for the additional six One-11s on March 6, 1963, for delivery beginning in the summer of 1965.
Two additional units were ordered on February 13, 1965, bringing the total of confirmed Braniff orders to fourteen. Options on twelve more One-11s were taken on October 29, 1964, which would have increased the total BAC Jets that Braniff ordered to 26. The One-11s were intended to replace Douglas DC-6 and DC-7 aircraft beginning in 1965 and 1966, and it was planned that the additional orders would retire some of the piston-powered Convair aircraft.
Braniff would have been all pure jet-powered by the end of 1966, however, the decision was appropriately made to move Braniff's business model over to longer-haul routes, and therefore, the additional twelve BAC Jets were not needed. A delay in becoming all Jet-Powered did occur but was as a result of waiting for new Boeing 727 orders to begin delivery in May 1966.
The One-11 was produced for a remarkable 26 years with a total of 244 built. A total of 56 units of the Series 200 such as Braniff flew were produced. The aircraft was constructed at the Hurn Plant until 1982, when production was moved to Romania, where it ultimately ended in 1989.
The famed Vickers Viscount was also produced at Hurn and was the aircraft that the One-11 was designed to replace. The merger of Vickers, Hunting, Bristol and English Electric formed BAC in 1960. Hunting Aircraft was the original creator of the general BAC One-11 design.
The BAC One-11 was the world's first jet specifically designed for short-haul routes such as the ones that Braniff operated throughout the US heartland. Braniff's first One-11 registered as N1543 departed BAC's Hurn, Bournemouth, England, plant on March 11, 1965, and arrived at Newark International Airport on Saturday, March 13, 1965. This marked the first time that a BAC One-11 had landed in the United States as well as the arrival of Braniff's first Twinjet stateside.
The BAC One-11 made the 5715 mile flight with ease in spite of several intermediate stops, a snowstorm, and holding at Newark. A full day of celebration at both Newark and Dallas Love Field welcomed the new Braniff Twinjet. Braniff's new jet entered regularly scheduled service on April 25, 1965.
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