Air Wisconsin Launches the First US BAe-146 Services

Jets were relatively unusual at regional airlines in the early 1980s and Air Wisconsin's launch of BAe-146 jet service marked an important moment in the history of regional jet operations.

Air Wisconsin launched the first US services of the BAe-146 on 27 June 1983 starting with Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Chicago O'Hare, in what became a 13-leg day that perfectly exemplified what the BAe-146 was designed to do- multiple short hops in a single day. Air Wisconsin's BAe-146 operations that first year had an average stage length of only 145 miles. The aircraft proved immensely popular with passengers.

The operating economics pleased Air Wisconsin and went beyond what BAe had expected- it cost just as much to fly the BAe-146 as the Dash 7, but because of its larger capacity and higher speed, it quickly displaced the Dash 7 in Air Wisconsin's fleet. In that first year of operations, the break-even load factor was only 36%.

Air Wisconsin CEO Preston Wilbourne was so impressed with the BAe-146's economics and performance he got a personalized license plate that said "BAE146" and one of the jets, N606AW, was named "Kitty" after his wife.

It certainly was a feather in BAe's cap to break into the North American market with an airline like Air Wisconsin that was a recognized leader in the regional airline industry. In fact, the prototype BAe-146-200 made its first flight in Air Wisconsin's livery with the British registration G-WISC.

The upper image is from "Fighting to be Heard: How the British Aerospace 146 Started the Regional Jet Revolution" by Brian Wiklem.