British European (BE) plans to sell its four Bombardier CRJ200 regional jets and acquire four more Dash 8 Q400 turboprops. This move, which will bring its total fleet of Dash 8 Q400s to eight, comes as a result of a major boardroom re-shuffle and aircraft fleet review. The company remains committed to larger RJs, however, and said it finalized negotiations with BAE Systems/Avro for 12 RJXs in late June, with options for eight more. The RJXs will replace the airline's BAe 146s one-for-one as the new aircraft come online from spring 2002.

The British government plans to commission a major study of aircraft noise -- the first since the Aircraft Noise Index Study was undertaken in 1985. The investigation will focus on the perceived relationship between noise levels and annoyance, sleep disturbance at night and the value of lower noise levels relative to other environmental factors. Three recent government-sponsored studies on sleep disturbance also will be taken into account within the new study.

Charter broker Air Partner has begun providing a worldwide executive jet service specifically for British Airways passengers. The new business will complement BA's flight network, the airline said, enabling customers to charter an aircraft onto their final destination, wherever that may be. The company claims that booking a business jet is as ``easy as renting a car.'' Four categories of aircraft -- turboprops and small, medium and heavy jets -- are available at daily rates for a block of miles to keep pricing simple.