After the collapse and closure of Handley Page Limited in 1970, Scottish Aviation took on the design authority for the Jetstream, a small turboprop-powered commuter aircraft, with a pressurised cabin and a passenger capacity of 12 to 18, and continued the manufacture of the Jetstream 200 range of aircraft. These saw a modicum of success with the RAF in particular, who ordered 26 aircraft into production. With a healthy order book, Scottish Aviation were later merged with British Aircraft Corporation and Hawker Siddeley in the 1977 privatisation that led to the creation of British Aerospace (BAe). BAe recognised the value of the Jetstream design and produced 386 examples of a new version, the Jetstream 31 / 32, which first flew on 28 March 1980.
The BAe Jetstream 41, a larger stretched version of the Jetstream 31/32 design, followed. Although notionally an evolution from the Jetstream 31 / 32, the airframe was of a completely new design and featured a fuselage which was stretched by 16 feet, by means of an 8 ft 3 in plug forward of the wing and a 7 ft 9 in plug to the rear. The design also demanded a wing of greater span, with revised ailerons and flaps, which was mounted to pass below the fuselage, allowing increased baggage capacity in the larger wing root fairings. The result was a twenty-nine seat commuter / feeder-line aircraft, powered by two Allied Signal TPE331-14 1,650 shp engines, driving five-blade propellers.
From a sales perspective, the aircraft was intended to compete directly with 30-seat aircraft like the Embraer Brasilia, Dornier 328 and the Saab 340. The prototype BAe Jetstream 41 (G-GCJL) was rolled out on 27th March 1991 and first flew at Prestwick on 25th September 1991. Within 2 months the first aircraft destined for passenger service was delivered to Manx Airlines (25th November 1992).
In January 1996, the BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft became part of the Aero International (Regional) (AI(R)), a marketing consortium consisting of ATR, Aérospatiale (of France), Alenia (of Italy) and British Aerospace. Initial sales were strong, but despite this, in May 1997, BAe announced that it was terminating BAe Jetstream 41 production, with 100 aircraft delivered. The final number built is actually recorded as 104 with the last BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft (G-4-104) leaving Prestwick for completion at Hurn (Bournemouth) on 19th February 1998. This aircraft was eventually delivered to the Hong Kong Government in February 1999.
The type remains in service world-wide, with 29 examples remaining operational as of January 2025. UK-based Eastern Airways is the largest operator, with a fleet including nine BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft.