The aircraft operating Flight BE 548 was a Hawker Siddeley Trident Series 1 short- to medium-range three-engined airliner. This particular Trident (s/n 2109) was one of twenty-four de Havilland D.H.121s (the brand name "Trident" was not introduced until September 1960) ordered by BEA in 1959 and was registered to the corporation in 1961 as By the time of the aircraft's first flight on 14 April 1964, de Havilland had lost their separate identity under Hawker Siddeley Aviation, and "Papa India" was delivered to BEA on 2 May 1964. The Trident I was equipped with three interconnected high-lift devices on each wing leading edge—two leading-edge droop flaps outboard and a Krueger flap on the section closest to the fuselage.