Concorde operational history
The US Congress had just banned Concorde landings in the US, mainly due to citizen protest over sonic booms, preventing launch on the coveted North Atlantic routes.
[10] Despite complaints about noise, the report noted that Air Force One, at the time a Boeing VC-137, was louder than Concorde at subsonic speeds and during takeoff and landing.
A dispute with India prevented Concorde from reaching supersonic speeds in Indian airspace, so the route was eventually declared not viable and discontinued in 1980.
On 1 April 1989, on an around-the-world luxury tour charter, BA implemented changes to this routing that allowed G-BOAF to maintain Mach 2.02 by passing around Florida to the east and south.
[22] The aircraft were registered in both the United States and their home countries; the European registration was covered while being operated by Braniff, retaining full AF/BA liveries.
[23][24] In its early years, BA's Concorde service had a greater number of "no-shows" (passengers who booked a flight and then failed to appear at the gate for boarding) than any other aircraft in the fleet.
[41] On a transatlantic flight, having a cruising speed of more than double a B-707, Concorde required less than half the number of block hours per trip.
This illustrates that these two aircraft types were designed for entirely different flight regimes (subsonic versus supersonic) and different markets, so a direct comparison is not possible.
[55][56] Over the next twenty years, BA's Concordes earned over half a billion pounds in profit with (typically) just five aircraft operating and two in various maintenance cycles.
[58][59] About 30,000 to 40,000 East Germans showed up at and around the aeroport along with many employees stopping their jobs to witness the momentous event of first Concorde landing on 18 March 1986.
[58][59] Between March 1984 and January 1991, BA flew a thrice-weekly Concorde service between London and Miami, stopping at Dulles International Airport.
From 1987 to 2003, BA flew a Saturday morning Concorde service to Grantley Adams International Airport, Barbados, during the summer and winter holiday season.
[71] They cited low passenger numbers following the 25 July 2000 crash, the slump in air travel following the September 11 attacks, and rising maintenance costs: Airbus, the company that acquired Aérospatiale in 2000, had made a decision in 2003 to no longer supply replacement parts for the aircraft.
[72][73][74] Concorde was technologically advanced when introduced in the 1970s, and while in 2003, its analogue cockpit may have appeared outdated, an upgrade was not necessary or a regulatory requirement, as it was still contemporary with other aircraft such as the Boeing 747-300 in service at the time.
[77] On 11 April 2003, Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson announced that the company was interested in purchasing BA's Concorde fleet "for the same price that they were given them for – one pound".
[86] Other reasons why the attempted revival of Concorde never happened relate to the fact that the narrow fuselage did not allow for "luxury" features of subsonic air travel such as moving space, reclining seats and overall comfort.
[87] In the words of The Guardian's Dave Hall, "Concorde was an outdated notion of prestige that left sheer speed the only luxury of supersonic travel.
"[87] Air France made its final commercial Concorde landing in the United States in New York City from Paris on 30 May 2003.
[90] An auction of Concorde parts and memorabilia for AF was held at Christie's in Paris on 15 November 2003; 1,300 people attended, and several lots exceeded their predicted values.
[94] In 1989, AF signed a letter of agreement to donate a Concorde to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. upon the aircraft's retirement.
This aircraft was the first AF Concorde to open service to Rio de Janeiro, Washington, D.C., and New York and had flown 17,824 hours.
On 23 October 2003, the Queen consented to the illumination of Windsor Castle, an honour reserved for state events and visiting dignitaries, as Concorde's last west-bound commercial flight departed London.
[4] G-BOAG left New York to a fanfare similar to that given for AF's F-BTSD, while two more made round trips, G-BOAF over the Bay of Biscay, carrying VIP guests including former Concorde pilots, and G-BOAE to Edinburgh.
[103] The final Concorde flight worldwide took place on 26 November 2003 with G-BOAF carrying 100 BA cabin crew members and pilots out over the Bay of Biscay and going supersonic over the Atlantic followed by a fly-past over Bristol Filton Airport before landing there in front of a crowd of more than 20,000 people.
Jock Lowe, ex-chief Concorde pilot and manager of the fleet, estimated in 2004 that it would cost £10–15 million to make G-BOAF airworthy again.
[105] On 1 December 2003, Bonhams held an auction of British Airways Concorde artefacts, including a nose cone, at Kensington Olympia in London.
