Concorde's Last Flight

The End of Thirty Years of Supersonic Air Travel

Aug 9, 2008

On October 23rd 2003, Concorde completed its last ever flight, taking off from New York and landing at Heathrow Airport, London.

This last flight of British Airways' historic supersonic aircraft carried 100 celebrities from New York, and it touched down at Heathrow at 16.05 British Summer time on a Friday afternoon, watched by millions of onlookers.

History of Concorde

The famous supersonic plane was developed in the early 1960s. It was a huge project worked on by France and Great Britain - a masterpiece of aeronautical co-operation. It was designed to carry passengers at more than twice the speed of sound, at a cruising altitude of 50,000 feet. The first flight eventually took place in 1969. But it would be several years before Concorde started regular commercial flights, partly owing to safety fears, and also complaints about the costs involved and the amount of fuel Concorde used, to say nothing of the noise of the sonic boom!

Eventually most of these problems were overcome, and the aircraft flew successfully for three decades, particularly on the London-New York route, where its speed meant that passengers could arrive in New York at an earlier time than they had taken off from London! But Concorde never really recovered after a horrific crash near Paris in 2000, and three years later the decision to retire the historic aircraft was made. British Airways and Air France made a joint announcement in April 2003, and the French Concorde’s final flight took place in May.

Events of Concorde’s Last Day

In addition to the flight out of New York, two other Concordes flew on that last day. One took off in Edinburgh, and another completed a loop over the Atlantic, via the Bay of Biscay. They all arrived at Heathrow within five minutes of each other, at around 4 pm local time, for a ceremony with British Airways staff.

Details of the Last Flight

The very last flight of Concorde took off from John F Kennedy Airport, New York, at 0735 local time. Among the passengers were actress Joan Collins, British broadcaster Sir David Frost, and model Jodie Kidd. Before entering the cockpit for the last time, the pilot, Captain Mike Bannister said that he was “proud and privileged” to make this final flight. British Airways Chief CEO Rod Eddington said that there was a “mixture of sadness and celebration” concerning Concorde’s retirement. He said that Concorde was a wonderful plane, but it was old and it was time to move on.

There were tears and cheers among the passengers when the plane landed. It was truly the end of an era.

Sources

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