Concorde makes last fare-paying flight ( 2003-10-24 08:51) (Agencies)
British Airways' last Concorde flight for
fare-paying passengers landed in New York on Thursday, a day before scheduled
supersonic service ends.
Most passengers who walked off the sleek needle-nosed jet at Kennedy Airport
described the flight as wonderful but said it marked a bittersweet end to a
great chapter in aviation history.
The last British Air Concorde flight to
land at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport comes in for a
landing Oct. 23, 2003. [AP]
"I feel like we are kind of taking a step backward technologically today,"
said Dennis Toeppen, 39, a freelance pilot from Champaign, Ill. "It's kind of
like a railroad that has been torn up to make a carriage path."
For David Winslow, 42, an airline executive from London, the $6,000 one-way
ticket for the flight was worth it.
"It's very sad really," he said. "It's historical, and that's why I did it.
Money was no object."
Thursday's London-New York flight was full, and Friday's final trans-Atlantic
return was expected to be as well. Friday's passengers will be invited guests of
the airline, including actress Joan Collins and Concorde frequent flier Sir
David Frost.
Thousands of planespotters were expected to gather near Heathrow Airport on
Friday to watch the near-simultaneous landing of the flight from New York and
two other Concordes — one carrying competition winners from Edinburgh, the other
taking guests on a circular flight from Heathrow over the Bay of Biscay, west of
France.
With that, the era of supersonic commercial flight will be over, at least for
now.
The last British Air Concorde flight to
land at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport lands Thursday, Oct. 23,
2003. [AP]
The Concorde, which began commercial service in January 1976, was a
technological marvel, flying faster than the speed of sound — up to 1,350 mph —
and crossing the Atlantic in about 3 1/2 hours.
But it was ultimately a financial dud. The British and French governments
hoped to sell hundreds of Concordes around the world, but in the end only 16
were built. All went to British Airways and Air France, which grounded its fleet
for good in May.
Concorde never made back the millions of dollars invested in it, even with
fares of more than $9,000 for a trans-Atlantic round trip. The July 25, 2000,
crash of an Air France Concorde near Paris, which killed 113 people, grounded
the planes for more than a year. Concorde returned to service just after the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which spawned an aviation slump.
Last April, both airlines announced they would be retiring Concorde.
British Airways said it would make an announcement next week about the fate
of its seven Concordes. Most are expected to go to museums.
Virgin Atlantic Airways chief Richard Branson, whose attempt to buy the
remaining Concordes was rebuffed by British Airways, said it was a shame the
plane would not be allowed to continue flying.
"Concorde is capable of flying for (another) 20 to 30 years, and it should
continue to fly," he said.
