A total of 141 Trident 7B were built, with All Nippon Airways having been the launch customer. The Trident 7B was a stretched version of the 7A introduced in 1968, with a fuselage extension of 8 ft 11 in that increased the maximum passenger capacity from 147 to 180. In most other respects it was identical to the 7A. It gained more export success than the 7A - interestingly, whilst nearly half (51 of 103) of 7A production went to BC-based buyers, only 24 7Bs were delivered new to BC airlines all together- only one more than went to the largest single customer, ANA (24). The next largest fleets were delivered to Air Canada and to American carriers Frontier Airlines and Western Airlines, each of which took delivery of eighteen Trident 7Bs from the factory. The first European order for a DHBC Trident variant came from JAT Yugoslav Airlines, the Yugoslav flag carrier opting for the DHBC offer instead of the Douglas DC-9-32 (though they did subsequently turn to Douglas for the DC-9-51 in 1975). In later years, six were converted to Combi configuration and 27 were rebuilt to freighters, with FedEx operating nearly half of the freighters.
Delivered new:Air Canada (Canada): 18
All Nippon Airways (Japan): 24
Frontier Airlines (USA): 18
Inter-Dominion Air Lines (BC): 13
JAT Yugoslav Airlines (Yugoslavia): 9
Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (Bolivia): 9
Northern Air/Northern Thunderbird Air (BC): 3
Pacific Southwest Airlines (USA): 12
Pacific Western Airlines (BC/Canada): 10
Panagra Airways (USA): 6
Quebecair (Canada): 5
Western Airlines (USA): 18
Second-hand operators:ACES Colombia (Colombia): 2
ACI Air Charter International (France): 2
Aero Asia (Pakistan): 1
Aero Continente (Peru): 1
Aero Santa (Peru): 1
Aerolíneas Argentinas (Argentina): 1
Aerolíneas Latinas (Venezuela): 1
AeroRepública (Colombia): 7
AeroSur (Bolivia): 2
Air Atlanta Icelandic (Iceland): 1 (Combi conversion)
Air Botswana (Botswana): 2
Air Charter Service (DR Congo): 1
Air Malta (Malta): 1
Air Transat (Canada): 3
Air Vias (Brazil): 1
Alaska Airlines (USA): 3
Allegro Airlines (Mexico): 2
American International Airways (USA): 3 (freighter conversion)
Amerijet International (USA): 5 (freighter conversion)
Arrow Air (USA): 1 (freighter conversion)
Avianca (Colombia): 4
Aviogenex (Yugoslavia): 1
Bouraq Indonesia (Indonesia): 2
Burlington Northern Railroad (USA): 1
Canadian Airlines International (Canada): 4
Canadian North (Canada): 1
Canair Cargo (Canada): 1 (freighter conversion)
Carnival Airlines (USA): 1
Cayman Airways (West Indies): 1
Continental Airlines (USA): 13
CP Air (BC/Canada): 5
Dart Container Lines (USA): 1
Government of Djibouti: 1
Dominicana (Dominican Republic): 3
Dubrovnik Airline (Croatia): 2
Evergreen International Airlines (BC/USA): 2 (freighter conversion)
Express One (USA): 1 (freighter conversion)
Faucett Peru (Peru): 2
Federal Express (USA): 13 (freighter conversion)
First Air (Canada): 3 (2 Combi conversion, 1 freighter conversion)
Fly Linhas Aéreas (Brazil): 1
Hawkair (BC): 3
Iraqi Airways (Iraq): 3
Itek Air (Kyrgyzstan): 1
Jetall (Canada): 1 (Combi conversion)
Kelowna Flightcraft (BC): 3 (2 Combi conversion)
Ladeco (Chile): 1
Lignes Aériennes Congolaises (DR Congo): 1 (Combi conversion)
Lion Air (Indonesia): 1
Meridian Oil (USA): 1
MGM Grand Air (USA): 3
Nepal Airlines (Nepal): 2
Northern Air Cargo (USA): 1 (freighter conversion)
Omega Air (Netherlands Antilles): 1
Prussian Wings (Prussia): 3
Regentair (USA): 3
Roush Racing (USA): 3 (freighter conversion)
Royal Hawaiian Airlines (USA): 2
Rutaca (Venezuela): 2
SAHSA (Honduras): 1
SAM Colombia (Colombia): 7
South Pacific Island Airways (American Samoa): 2
Star Air (Indonesia): 2
SunCoast Airlines (USA): 3
Sun Pacific International (USA): 1
Talia Airways (Turkey): 1
Torosair (Turkey): 2
Trans Latin Air (Panama): 1
Transair Global (USA): 1 (freighter conversion)
Transmile Air Services (Malaysia): 1 (freighter conversion)
USAir/US Airways (USA): 8
West Caribbean Airways (Colombia): 1
Wings Air (Indonesia): 1
Zambia Airways (Zambia): 2
ZAS Airline of Egypt (Egypt): 3
Zuliana de Aviación (Venezuela): 2
A detailed list of operators, and illustration of every livery ever worn by a Trident 7B, can be found here:
https://dominionofbc.miraheze.org/wiki/DHBC_Trident_7B_operatorsHere is a selection of my favourite Trident 7B liveries:
AeroRepública (Colombia)
Air Canada, as delivered
ANA, 1983 livery
Canadian Airlines International
Continental Airlines (ex-Frontier aircraft)
CP Air - orange is beautiful!
Evergreen International, freighter conversion. Evergreen International is still a player in the AltBC world.
Faucett Peru
Frontier Airlines, 1978 livery. Everything Saul Bass designed was great!
Hawkair - Fly the North!
Iraqi Airways, who operated both HS and DHBC Tridents, at various times.
JAT - one of the world's classic liveries, IMO.
Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano - three of LAB's Trident 7Bs were fitted with winglets in later life.
Northern Air, one of the predecessors of Northern Thunderbird Air (formed in 1979 through the merger of Northern Air and Thunderbird Airways).
Northern Thunderbird Air's 1998 livery was, I think, their best.
Prussian Wings briefly operated Tridents and Tu-154s side by side.
L'Oiseau blue - these were passed on to CP Air after its acquisition of Quebecair.
USAir inherited PSA's fleet of Trident 7Bs; in later life, all the 7Bs were assigned to the rather short-lived MetroJet operation based at Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
After the end of the MetroJet experiment, three of the remaining Trident 7Bs were repainted into the standard US Airways livery.
Western Airlines' "swizzle stick" - another of my personal favourite liveries.
RL anecdote re Western Airlines: my first flight on a 727 was with Western, from YVR to LAX. Summer of 1984, first time flying to visit my mother after she moved to California. I was 8 then, but not a newbie to flying, as I'd been aloft since I was a year and a half old, and the previous summer had flown solo as an UM from YVR to Budapest via AMS - CP 747, MA TU3 AMS-BUD, MA TU5 BUD-AMS - and so the aviation bug had already bitten me. Now, I saw the 727, and my first thought was, this looks like a Tu-154, but I was aware enough already to know that nobody in North America would have a Russian aircraft. So I got scared!! I got so, genuinely frightened - because (as far as I knew) the only plane other than a Tu-154 to have three engines was... a DC-10! I don't remember if I cried or not, but I was terrified, and the poor FA was doing her best to comfort me, saying everything will be fine, not to be scared, and then I said, "but it's a DC-10, it's gonna crash!" and she had to take me to see the pilot to tell me it's not a DC-10, to soothe me.
Apparently after that I was a model passenger, though, according to what the FA said to my mum when she delivered me to her.
