In May 1983, British airline Dan-Air became the first carrier to launch services using British Aerospace's new 146; the first revenue-earning service was flown between London Gatwick Airport and Bern Airport.[35] On 1 July 1984, the first of 20 BAe 146s ordered by Pacific Southwest Airlines was officially delivered.[36] Air Wisconsin was another major US operator of the 146, replacing their fleet of turboprop Fokker F27 Friendships with the type.[37] In 1985, Aspen Airways inaugurated the first scheduled jet service into Aspen, Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains of the western U.S. with a BAe 146-100 operating from an airfield with an elevation of 7,820 feet. The BAe 146 was announced in January 1987 to have been selected to launch the first jet services from London City Airport; it was chosen due to its unmatched flying characteristics and ability to operate from so-called STOLports.[38]

The 146 was introduced into the Royal Air Force service in 1986 as a VIP transport and is operated by 32 (The Royal) Squadron.[39] According to Flight International, at least 25 executive aircraft have been produced for various customers; many of these had undergone conversions following airline operations.[40]

From the late 1980s until the early 2000s, the 146 was widely used for passenger services in Australia, where the type was suited to long-distance, low-volume routes; 18 were in service with Ansett Australia in 1999. The BAe 146 was also operated by East-West, taking delivery of eight from 1990, until the company was absorbed into Ansett. National Jet Systems began operations under the Airlink brand on behalf of Australian Airlines (and later Qantas) in 1990, with Airlink's successor QantasLink continuing to use the type until 2005. In 2005, National Jet Systems transferred operations of the BAe 146 and Avro RJ fleet to its subsidiary National Jet Express, which continued to operate 15 aircraft of the type in varying specifications for scheduled charter operations, and whose fleet included the second production airframe, a -100 model converted to QT specification, which first flew in January 1982 as part of the testing and certification program.[42] National Jet Express ceased BAe 146 and Avro RJ passenger operations in June 2022 after 32 years[43] and having operated 33 different aircraft of the type.[44]

  
The three main variants
The initial customer for the BAe RJ85 series was Crossair, which took delivery of its first aircraft on 23 April 1993.

Several major cargo operators have operated this type. As of 2012, the BAe 146 QT is the most numerous aircraft in TNT Airways's air freighter fleet. In 2012, the Royal Air Force (RAF) announced it would acquire the BAe 146M as an interim transport aircraft between the retirement of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules and the introduction of the larger Airbus A400M Atlas, to supplement its air transport activities in Afghanistan. In 2013, the RAF acquired two converted BAe146-200s, designated BAe146C Mk3, capable of carrying 10.6 tons of load and fitted with a large 3.33- × 1.93-m side door. The RAF also operates the BAe146 CC Mk2 in No. 32 Squadron RAF.

At present, Pionair Australia, operates a mix of -200 and -300 BAe-146 aircraft, in both freight and passenger variants, on scheduled freight charters, ad-hoc passenger charters, and pre-booked air tours around Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. National Jet Express also continues to operate a fleet of BAe 146-300QT freighters on behalf of Qantas Freight, providing overnight services to and from curfew-restricted Sydney Airport under a type-specific exemption.

On 3 May 2017, an Airlink Avro RJ85 made the first commercial airline flight in history to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, a charter flight from Cape Town, South Africa, via Moçâmedes, Angola, to Saint Helena Airport to pick up passengers stranded when the island's only link with the outside world, the British Royal Mail Ship RMS St Helena, suffered propeller damage. The flight returned to Cape Town the same day with a stop at Windhoek, Namibia. It was the only commercial flight ever made to Saint Helena until Airlink began the first scheduled commercial airline service in the island's history in October 2017.