A British Airways VC.16 pictured from above.
The Vickers VC.16 is a long-range wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. The VC.16 is powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, seats 255-345 passengers and has a range of 6,200-7,500 nm depending on variant. The VC.16 features light-weight construction-Vickers-Armstrongs lists its materials by weight as 50 percent composite, 20 percent aluminum, 15 percent titanium, 10 percent steel, and 5 percent other. The VC.16 has a "fly-by-wire" control system. The flight systems replaces bleed air and hydraulic power sources with electrically powered compressors and pumps, while completely eliminating pneumatics and hydraulics from some subsystems, e.g., engine starters or brakes. The VC.16 flight deck includes two head-up displays (HUDs) as a standard feature.
Vickers began development of the VC.16 in the early 2000s as a replacement for the aging VC.14. The VC.16 made its first flight on July 18th, 2009 and entered service in October 2010 with British Airways. As of June 2017, Vickers has sold 600 VC.16s.
Variants[]
- Vickers VC-16-8: With a typical capacity of 248 passengers and a range of 8,406 miles, the Vickers VC-16-8 is the base model of the Vickers VC-16 family and was the first to enter service in 2011. The VC-16-8 is targeted to replace the Vickers VC-14-200ER as well as expand into new non-stop markets where larger planes would not be economically viable. As of January 2023, approximately 26% of VC-16 orders are for the VC-16-8 with 386 delivered. In 2018, Vickers-Armstrong said it would change the VC-16-8 manufacturing to raise its commonality with the VC-16-9 above the current 30% to be more like the 95% commonality between the VC-16-9 and VC-16-10, as it will benefit from learning from those. When it was launched, a new 787-8 was to cost only slightly more than the VC-14-300ER, valued new for $85 million at its 1990s peak, but it ended being 20% more costly. It competes with the Airbus A330-200 and Airbus A330-800.
- Vickers VC-16-9:
- Vickers VC-16-10:
- Vickers VC-16CJ:
Accidents and incidents[]
- On June 2nd 2025, Air India Flight 171, an 11-year-old Vickers VC.16-8 registered as VT-ANB, operating from Ahmedabad Airport to London Gatwick Airport, crashed into the hostel building of B. J. Medical College killing 241 of the 242 aboard, the accident is under investigation.