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Last paying Concorde flying from London to New York
London, Oct 23: The last fare-paying passengers on British Airways` Concorde took off for New York today, a day before scheduled supersonic service ends for good.
London, Oct 23: The last fare-paying passengers on British Airways' Concorde took off for New York today, a day before scheduled supersonic service ends for good.
Both today's London-New York flight and tomorrow's final Trans-Atlantic return are expected to be full, but tomorrow's passengers will all be invited guests of the
airline, including actress Joan Collins and supersonic frequent flyer Sir David Frost.
Thousands of plane spotters are 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 and 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. British Airways' announcement last April that it was retiring its seven Concordes spurred an outpouring of affection for the sleek needle-nosed jet.
But airport authorities asked people not to travel to Heathrow tomorrow for the finale, fearing traffic gridlock in the area west of London.
Bureau Report
Thousands of plane spotters are 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 and 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. British Airways' announcement last April that it was retiring its seven Concordes spurred an outpouring of affection for the sleek needle-nosed jet.
But airport authorities asked people not to travel to Heathrow tomorrow for the finale, fearing traffic gridlock in the area west of London.
Bureau Report