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.
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