Avro RJ100 / BAe 146-300

Updated: October 2026 – A high-set wing, four small engines, a T-tail and a tail that opens like a clamshell on touchdown: so far, the Avro RJ100 resembles its smaller siblings. But it is the long one in the family. At almost 31 meters, it was the biggest Jumbolino ever built – and for many spotters in Zurich and Brussels the epitome of this aircraft. Here you’ll read how to tell it from the RJ85 and RJ70, who flew it and where you still have a chance of a sighting today.

What is the Avro RJ100?

The Avro RJ100 is the modernized version of the BAe 146-300, the longest version of the British four-engine regional jet. The basic design comes from British Aerospace, which developed the 146 for short routes, short runways and quiet approaches. The family started in 1981 with the 146-100, followed later by the longer -200 and finally the once more stretched -300. Compared with the -200, the fuselage grew by a good 2.3 meters. The first 146-300s went to their customers in December 1988.

In the early 1990s, British Aerospace reworked the whole series and marketed it under the name Avro RJ (“Regional Jet”). Fuselage and wing stayed; new were the LF 507 engines (now supported by Honeywell) and a modernized cockpit. The 146-300 thus became the RJ100. The number in the name roughly stands for the typical seat count: the most common seating was 100 seats; depending on the cabin layout it was about 97 to 112.

The Avro RJs were built at Woodford near Manchester. Swiss Crossair got things started, taking over its first RJ85 on April 23, 1993 as the launch customer of the Avro series. According to standard counts, around 70 RJ100s were built. Avro RJ production ended in 2003 after BAE Systems decided at the end of November 2001 to exit the regional aircraft business. You will find more on the manufacturer and its history on the page for BAE Systems.

RJ100 compared across the family

All members of the family share wing, tail, engine layout and fuselage cross-section. Differences exist in length – and in the engines, depending on whether it is a BAe 146 or an Avro RJ.

BAe 146 version	Avro version	ICAO code	Length	Seats by name
146-100	RJ70	B461 / RJ70	approx. 26.2 m	around 70
146-200	RJ85	B462 / RJ85	approx. 28.6 m	around 85
146-300	RJ100	B463 / RJ1H	approx. 31.0 m	around 100

Because the wingspan is the same at 26.34 meters for all three lengths, the proportions shift on the RJ100: the fuselage is longer than the wings are wide. That makes it look immediately somewhat slimmer and more stretched in photos than the compact RJ70.

A more densely seated RJ115 with the same fuselage length, a higher takeoff weight and modified emergency exits was offered but never made it into production. The next generation, the RJX with new Honeywell engines, also got no further than three aircraft flown. Among them was the RJX-100 prototype G-IRJX, which was last on display at the Runway Visitor Park at Manchester Airport – a worthwhile detour if you are around Manchester Airport. You will find tips for the spots there in the Manchester guide.

How to recognize the RJ100

You recognize the family in seconds. The real task is to separate the RJ100 cleanly from the RJ85.

A few details help additionally: the main landing gear disappears into fairings on the sides of the fuselage because there is no room in the high-mounted wing. There are no thrust reversers. Instead, the RJ100 brakes with the large tail airbrake and spoilers on the upper surface of the wing. If you want to read up on engine shapes in general, Recognizing engines will help.

Risk of confusion: RJ100 or another jet?

Outside its own family there is hardly any risk of confusion – as long as you can count engines. At long distance or in backlight, this quick check helps.

If you are just starting out, you will find the most important recognition features in the introduction Recognizing aircraft types for beginners.

The Jumbolino in Switzerland

No airline is as closely tied to the Avro RJ as Crossair. The Basel-based regional carrier was the launch customer of the Avro series and built up a large fleet of RJ85s and RJ100s. In Switzerland the aircraft got its nickname Jumbolino, still common today – four engines like the Jumbo, but in regional format.

After the end of Swissair and the founding of Swiss in 2002, the Avros passed to the new company. Over the years, Swiss operated around 20 RJ100s, which thus became the airline’s most important Avro version. It served mainly short European routes from Zurich Airport and Geneva Airport and also flew to London City, where the 146 family was at home for a long time thanks to its short-takeoff abilities.

A dark chapter is also part of the history: on November 24, 2001, the Crossair RJ100 HB-IXM, on the flight from Berlin Tegel to Zurich, crashed on approach near Bassersdorf. 24 of the 33 people on board died. The Swiss investigation classified the accident as controlled flight into terrain and named, among other things, descending below the minimum descent altitude without sight of the runway as the cause.

With the Bombardier CS300, now the Airbus A220-300, the replacement began in 2017. On August 15, 2017, HB-IYZ flew as LX7545 from Geneva to Zurich – the last scheduled flight of a Swiss Jumbolino. If you visit Zurich today, you mainly see A220s there instead of Avros. Where the best places at the fence are is explained in the Zurich guide.

Brussels, Turkey and other operators

The second big focus in central Europe was Brussels. Delta Air Transport (DAT), the regional subsidiary in the orbit of Sabena, ordered RJ85s and RJ100s. Via SN Brussels Airlines, the Avros later came to Brussels Airlines, which flew a large part of its European network with them out of Brussels Airport for years. In early 2014, the airline announced its farewell to the RJ100. It was replaced by A320 family aircraft and, for a time, leased Superjets; in October 2017, Brussels Airlines officially said goodbye to its Avros. For spots around Zaventem, the Brussels guide is worthwhile.

Other well-known RJ100 operators:

• Turkish Airlines used the RJ100 on its domestic network. On January 8, 2003, TC-THG crashed on approach to Diyarbakır.
• BA CityFlyer – then still Cityflyer Express – ordered the RJ100 for its network out of London.
• Mahan Air of Iran was among the biggest users of the 146 family and also flew RJ100s.
• BRA Braathens Regional Airlines was among the last larger Avro operators in Europe and gave up the aircraft in March 2020.

Important for spotters in Germany: Lufthansa CityLine chose the shorter RJ85 for its Avros, not the RJ100. Long RJ100s were therefore seen here mainly in Swiss and Brussels colors – both airlines of the Lufthansa Group and the Star Alliance.

An RJ100 as an electric-flight lab

The type played an unusual role in the E-Fan X project. At the end of November 2017, Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens presented the plan to use an RJ100 as a flying test bed for hybrid-electric propulsion. The aircraft with the registration G-WEFX was intended for this, and one of the four engines would have been replaced by an electric motor. The four-engine jet was suited to this because one engine can be swapped while the other three provide safety reserves. In April 2020, the partners stopped the project before the test bed took off in this configuration. You will find more on the manufacturer behind the project at Airbus.

Where you can still see an RJ100 today

As of October 2026, the RJ100 has practically disappeared from European scheduled service. Even in early 2020, only some of the aircraft built were still flying, and further operators have retired theirs since. As with all four-engine aircraft in the short-haul segment: four engines mean more maintenance and more fuel burn than two modern large ones. The post The end of the four-engine jets explains the bigger picture.

Your most important tool is flight tracking: set filters in your tracking app for RJ1H and B463, and for the siblings additionally for RJ85, B462, RJ70 and B461. How ADS-B data comes about is explained in Flight tracking with ADS-B. For ferry flights of retired aircraft in particular, there is the guide Tracking delivery and ferry flights.

Retired Avros often end up at storage sites – more on that in Aircraft graveyards and boneyards. And you can gauge how rare your sighting really is with the post Gauging the rarity of a sighting. Basic strategies for rarities are in Spotting rare aircraft.

Photo tips for the RJ100

When an RJ100 shows up, you often have only one chance. These points help you make use of it.

How to plan light and runway direction in detail is explained in Planning the sun position for your photo spot and Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport. If a special farewell or ferry flight is coming up, Spotting farewell and final flights will help. And before you stand at a fence: Is plane spotting allowed?

So that the encounter doesn’t fall into oblivion, you will find tips for capturing it in the post Documenting sightings in a logbook.

Conclusion

The Avro RJ100 is the long Jumbolino: the same wing, the same four engines and the same clamshell tail as the RJ85 and RJ70, but with almost 31 meters of fuselage and around 100 seats. At Crossair and Swiss in Zurich and at Brussels Airlines in Brussels, it was an everyday sight for years, and in 2017 it vanished from scheduled service there. Today every sighting is a small event – but with the right filters and some patience, not an impossibility.