During the 1960s, European aircraft manufacturers such as Hawker Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation, based in the UK, and Sud Aviation of France, had ambitions to build a new 200-seat airliner for the growing civil aviation market.
Durante os anos 60 fabricantes aeronáuticos europeos como Hawker Siddeley e British Aircraft Corporation, baseados no Reino Unido, e Sud Aviation de Francia, tiñan ambicións de fabricar un novo avión sde pasaxeiros de 200 asentos para o crecente mercado da aviación civil.