For many years, the Scottish division of British Airways, and its predecessor British European Airways (BEA), was under tremendous financial pressures to operate a sustainable service within Scotland and its outlying islands. In the mid-1970s, plans were in place to find an economically attractive successor to the Vickers Viscount, which had previously served these routes but was nearing the end of its service life with the airline. By 1974, three aircraft had been submitted by their respective manufacturers as potential replacements for the Viscounts: the Hawker Siddeley HS 748, the Fokker 50, and the de Havilland Canada Dash 7. Although the trio fitted the specifications for short-field landing and sensible economics laid down by BA, the board of directors in London chose the HS 748, a long-standing design that had repeatedly proved its reliability in areas similar to the Scottish Highlands.
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