Last Fare-Paying Concorde Flight Ends

NEW YORK - 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 plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport described the flight as wonderful but said it marked a bittersweet end to a great chapter in aviation history.

"I feel like we are kind of taking a step backward technologically today," said Dennis Toeppen, 39, a freelance pilot from Champaign, Illinois. "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, however, 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 New York flight 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.

With that, the era of supersonic commercial flight will be over, at least for now.

British Airways chairman Lord Marshall said Concorde's final day would bring mixed emotions.

"Everyone has enormous pride in all that she has achieved, but there is inevitable sadness that we have to move on and say farewell," he said. "The decision to retire Concorde was a tough one, but it is the right thing to do at the right time."

British Airways' announcement last April that it was retiring its seven Concordes spurred an outpouring of affection for the sleek needle-nosed jet.

The Anglo-French Concorde, which began commercial service in January 1976, was a technological marvel and the ultimate symbol of jet-set glamour. It flew up to 11 miles above the Earth, at up to 1,350 mph, crossing the Atlantic in about 3 1/2 hours. With the five-hour time difference, passengers arrived in New York earlier than they had left London.

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 BA 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.

Maintenance costs also were growing for the aging jets. 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 BA, said it was a shame the plane would not be allowed to continue flying.

"Concorde is capable of flying for 20 to 30 years, and it should continue to fly," he said. "We should all make an enormous effort to make sure that Concorde is kept flying in air displays and jubilee events so that future generations can actually see Concorde fly and not in a museum."

The last British Air Concorde flight to land at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport comes in for a landing Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003. British Air is retiring the Concord and the last flight will leave for London on Friday. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen, pool)

beautiful bird ... wish America had deployed the SST ... and the B-70 Valkyrie ... and I wish prototype 2 of the -70 had not been lost in that photo-op accident ...

yes, but that's the military bomber ... high-altitude ... 70,000 feet ... until they realized the Russian missiles could hit them at that altitude ... even at max airspeed the margin for escape wasn't what it should be ...

that's why the SR-71 can go higher and faster if it needs to ...

Flew it once in the early 80's. Almost claustrophobic. The airspeed indicator mounted on the front bulkhead was a neat touch (IAS of 1270kts. as I recall westbound).

Took it in an effort to get across in a hurry. Major screwup as I had to wait for the next flight to the West Coast for 3 hours. I saved a grand total of maybe 90 minutes as opposed to taking a 747 direct.

Still, flying that high, it was neat to see the curvature of the earth. The ride was unbelievably smooth being some 10,000 feet above normal weather effects.

I always wanted to ... but won't get the chance now ... unless Airbus realizes the free money and sells them to Virgin Air ...

I haven't been on a 747 either ... never been across the pond ... DC-10 and L-1011 ... if I was a billionaire, I'd have to have my own refurbished L-1011 ... love that plane ...

Anybody see the show on the Concorde mishap on the History Channel last night? Very interesting. Looks like there was a lot more going on beside a piece of metal from the Continental jet.

Missing parts on the landing gear that might have caused the tire failure prior to hitting the metal strip. Pilot rotating 15kts earlier than normal because he was drifting well left on the runway. Not sure if that was due to assymetric thrust or the tire. The engineer secured the number two engine prior to the aircraft reaching engine out flyaway speed. Captain electing to use a runway with a strong tailwind. All these causal factors were disregarded by the mishap board.

I imagine the yaw was produced by losing number 2(? IIRC) ... I remember they said he was past V-1 when the fire was noted to him so he had no choice (and he reported no choice) but to rotate ... unfortunately too much damage to land at Le Bourget ...

in my (cheesy, no pun intended) video of "Airport '79: The Concorde" the damaged Concorde lands short of Paris at Le Bourget ... (I think this is after the F-4 Phantom II pilot tries to shoot them down ... and the target drone early on in the film was a Phantom II) ...

I haven't flown in an L1011 in years. But, as I recall, these acircraft had the smallest economy seats I ever flew in.

In '84 I was flying to Japan. Had a hard time getting a seat and was on the outboard port side seat. These were three abreast. Opposite me, on the aisle seat was this very scrawny old man. They were about to close the hatches and I started to believe in a superior being who looks after air travelers.

Too soon. I heard a hearty Excuse me Mates! I think I'm in the middle. I looked upo to see this Aussie bloke with biceps that had to be 26" in diameter witha barrel chest to match.

This was when the Aussies had sold a couple of 'also ran' America Cup challengers to the Japanese. He was part of a crew that was going to teach them how to sail.

The seats were so narrow that I was pressed against the window and the old guy was pushed into the aisle. Whenever the young Aussie sat forward, we had to sit back and vice versus.

Yet, we had the best time in that ten-and-a-half hours imaginable. Learned a tremendous amount about competitive sailing at that level.

sounds like he was a nice guy ... that at least makes it bearable ...

my story isn't quite as good ... but on a Southwest flight, I decided to sit up front facing the rear so I could get off the plane quickly on touchdown ... in those there were 2 seats facing rear to 3 seats facing forward ... me, 3 ladies and one other guy ... to sit comfortably, everybody has to alterate legs ... it was only a 75min hop so no big deal ... after some chatting, the ladies picked up their books/novels and I started reading the Southwest monthly rag I'd read umpteen times in my twice-weekly flights ...

then the guy across from me pulls out a skin magazine and starts flipping pages ... and I'm thinking "uh, DUH!" ... after about 3 minutes he suddenly realizes what he's doing and puts it away post haste ...

ah, cattle-car seating ...

I haven't been on a 747 either ...

,,, twelve and a bit hours on one of those sometimes makes you wish you'd stayed home [LOL]. You know the biggest surprise I ever had for comfortable seating? A DC-9 of all things. Brilliant!

The documentary seemed to blame the drift on the blown tire. They didn't say whether the number two engine had lost thrust or not, just mentioned the fire light. It was concluded that the pilot rotated early because he thought the plane was going off the runway. I don't recall when the fire light came on.

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