A DIGNIFIED RECEPTION AS A CONCORDE IS ESCORTED LAST WEEK BY THE ROYAL AIR FORCE UPON APPROACHING THE ENGLISH COASTLINE ON HER LAST COMMERCIAL FLIGHT.

A CONCORDE ON IT'S MAIDEN COMMERCIAL FLIGHT, 1969.
(Look closely in the background. Two Boeing 707's one each from Pan Am and TWA on the taxiway. I believe this pic was taken at London, Heathrow-LHR)

The first commercial flights took place on 21 January 1976 when British Airways flew from London Heathrow to Bahrain and Air France from Paris to Rio.

Concorde was launched at the height of the fuel crisis and a combination of its heavy fuel consumption and small tanks, which meant it could not enter the lucrative trans-Pacific market, made it uneconomic.

AIR FRANCE'S BVFA ON IT'S LAST TAKEOFF FROM PARIS BOUND FOR WASHINGTON D.C. AND THE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM.

For those of you who haven't read my previous update from June '03 about the Concorde and it's demise, I encourage you to do so before reading this update.

Officially the demise of The Concorde was announced in April of this past year by British Airways and Air France. Air France has already retired it's fleet, and now BA is saluting the SST as an era ends in commercial aviation history. A dinosaur of sorts, but still an engineering success born of the Apollo age and when Americans in particular were very curious about Space Exploration.

Today marks the day of THE LAST scheduled commercial flight on British Airways utilizing the Concorde-SST; Flt. #1 from JFK-LHR and Captained by Brit Mike Bannister. I can understand that many won't care, but for me, I'm saddened. I had the opportunity to fly from JFK-LHR on the Concorde back in 1995, but due to work constraints, was unable to take advantage of a trip that would have been a milestone in my personal travels. The best I can do is visit the Smithsonian in D.C. and admire what will become an aircraft much written about in history books.

Following is the retirement schedule of all 5 BA Concordes. Some to the dates are still tentative, but locations set. I suppose it's bittersweet in that one aircraft will be housed in Seattle.

1) 27th Oct Concorde G-BOAD is retired to the Intrepid Air and Space museum in New York.

2) Nov. '03, Concorde G-BOAC is retired to the Manchester Airport viewing park.

3) Nov. '03, Concorde G-BOAE is retired to the Museum of Flight Seattle.

4) Nov. '03, Concorde G-BOAG is retired to Grantley Adams Airport, Barbados.

5) Nov. '03, Concorde G-BOAF is retired to Filton, her place of birth.