Amid this intense competition, sales of the ATP were limited, leading British Aerospace to terminate production after only eight years, during which a total of 65 aircraft were completed.

Recognising these trends, British Aerospace decided that it would assign a design team to produce an airliner, suitable for short- to medium-haul operations, that would be both more fuel efficient and quieter than the prior generations of aircraft.

Various other minor modifications were performed across the airframe, such as the reshaping of areas such as the more pointed nose, the tail unit's swept fin and rudder, and revised wingtips.

Each engine drove a custom-designed six-blade propeller jointly developed by British Aerospace and the American specialist Hamilton Standard.

[7] On 6 August 1986, the prototype ATP performed its maiden flight from Manchester Airport, flown by test pilot Robby Robinson.

[10] Assembly of the type was largely undertaken at BAe's Woodford and Prestwick facilities, while the manufacture of both the airframe and wings was performed at the Chadderton plant.

During mid 1997, BAe announced that production of the ATP was permanently terminated; work at the Prestwick was promptly shifted to the aerostructures sector.

During July 2000, a project was announced that resulted in the conversion of existing aircraft into the ATP Freighter (ATPF) configuration, which was promoted to cargo operators.

[12] Outfitted with a modified freight door derived from that of the HS 748, the ATPF can carry 30% more cargo than its predecessor with a 10% increase in running costs.

[20] Around the same timeframe, the Spanish operator Air Europa Express became a sizable user of the type; in August 1998, it announced its intention to double its ATP fleet from six to 12 aircraft.

Carl Albert, President and Chief Executive of Wings West, stated that the ATP was superior to its closest competitors, such as the De Havilland Canada Dash 8 and the Fokker 50, and claimed it offered the lowest seat-mile costs of any turboprop airliner.

This was a variant for use in military naval operations, with a surveillance radar under the forward fuselage, nose-mounted FLIR and internal sonar buoys.

The AEW was a 1986 proposal for an Airborne Early Warning aircraft for Australia, with two EMI Skymaster radars in nose and tail radomes, similar in appearance to the Nimrod AEW.3.

These airframes had all been placed in storage by their previous operators, West Air Sweden (7) and NextJet (1) and have been re-introduced to service between March 2018 and February 2024.