Post by Salem6 on Oct 24, 2003 8:04:17 GMT
Concorde will leave New York's John F Kennedy airport on Friday morning on its final flight - back to London.
It will be carrying 100 people - all invited celebrity guests or frequent passengers.
Concorde symbolises an age of scientific promise
But there will also be one British businessman who booked his ticket a year ago, before Concorde's retirement was announced.
Water cannons will spray concorde with jets of red, white and blue water to evoke the colours of the British, American and French flags in a symbolic farewell on the runway at JFK airport.
Invitations to be on board have been at a premium as most acknowledge there is unlikely to be another such aircraft flying any time soon.
The passenger list will be dominated by celebrity names and the aim is for a party atmosphere onboard.
"Once you had decided to start, to cancel would have been mad, a quarter of million jobs were at stake"Tony Benn
On his battle to build Concorde
But there will be top corporate executives too, the premium-paying passengers whose absence has helped force Concorde into its early retirement.
The downturn in the world economy left the plane struggling for business.
BA's Concorde fleet never really recovered from the crash of Air France's aircraft outside Paris in July 2000.
The French planes retired in May and BA said the high cost of spare parts meant it could not continue.
For the plane's outward journey to New York, over 1,000 people gathered at Heathrow airport to watch it take off.
Its swansong journey to New York took around three and a half hours.
Trio land
The £9,000-per ticket plane reached 1,350 mph and 60,000ft over the Atlantic Ocean shortly after it took off at 1920 BST on Thursday.
A trio of Concordes will land in quick succession at Heathrow airport at 1600 BST on Friday, 27 years after the first Concorde flew.
Thousands are expected to gather to watch the planes land and airport officials have ordered netting to be installed around the runway's perimeter to stop traffic grinding to a halt.
One of the planes will carry competition winners, BA staff and celebrities from Edinburgh, while another will be a round trip over the Atlantic from Heathrow.
Flight BA002, the return leg from New York, will be the final Concorde to land.
Although it is not known yet exactly what will happen to the decommissioned planes, some will be given to museums.
Veteran British politician Tony Benn, who held technology and industry posts in government in the 1960s and 1970s and who will be on the final flight, said the Concorde project was born out of political expediency.
'Very symbolic'
He said Harold Macmillan had agreed to the project in the early 1960s to ease entry into Europe and that subsequent politicians and civil servants had often wanted to cancel it because of the cost, something Mr Benn had fought against.
He insisted: "It is very beautiful and when people look at it they are very proud. It's its beauty and the people who built it. The end of Concorde is very symbolic.
"The Americans never produced one that worked. The Russian one crashed at the Paris air show
"People are really inspired by it. It's like the Royal Family or the space programme. It is, once you had decided to start, to cancel would have been mad, a quarter of million jobs were at stake.
"I fought to keep it going and succeeded.
"But I wouldn't have started the Concorde, if I'd been there in the 1960s I would have gone with the Airbus. But once you started you just don't cancel it."
It will be carrying 100 people - all invited celebrity guests or frequent passengers.
Concorde symbolises an age of scientific promise
But there will also be one British businessman who booked his ticket a year ago, before Concorde's retirement was announced.
Water cannons will spray concorde with jets of red, white and blue water to evoke the colours of the British, American and French flags in a symbolic farewell on the runway at JFK airport.
Invitations to be on board have been at a premium as most acknowledge there is unlikely to be another such aircraft flying any time soon.
The passenger list will be dominated by celebrity names and the aim is for a party atmosphere onboard.
"Once you had decided to start, to cancel would have been mad, a quarter of million jobs were at stake"Tony Benn
On his battle to build Concorde
But there will be top corporate executives too, the premium-paying passengers whose absence has helped force Concorde into its early retirement.
The downturn in the world economy left the plane struggling for business.
BA's Concorde fleet never really recovered from the crash of Air France's aircraft outside Paris in July 2000.
The French planes retired in May and BA said the high cost of spare parts meant it could not continue.
For the plane's outward journey to New York, over 1,000 people gathered at Heathrow airport to watch it take off.
Its swansong journey to New York took around three and a half hours.
Trio land
The £9,000-per ticket plane reached 1,350 mph and 60,000ft over the Atlantic Ocean shortly after it took off at 1920 BST on Thursday.
A trio of Concordes will land in quick succession at Heathrow airport at 1600 BST on Friday, 27 years after the first Concorde flew.
Thousands are expected to gather to watch the planes land and airport officials have ordered netting to be installed around the runway's perimeter to stop traffic grinding to a halt.
One of the planes will carry competition winners, BA staff and celebrities from Edinburgh, while another will be a round trip over the Atlantic from Heathrow.
Flight BA002, the return leg from New York, will be the final Concorde to land.
Although it is not known yet exactly what will happen to the decommissioned planes, some will be given to museums.
Veteran British politician Tony Benn, who held technology and industry posts in government in the 1960s and 1970s and who will be on the final flight, said the Concorde project was born out of political expediency.
'Very symbolic'
He said Harold Macmillan had agreed to the project in the early 1960s to ease entry into Europe and that subsequent politicians and civil servants had often wanted to cancel it because of the cost, something Mr Benn had fought against.
He insisted: "It is very beautiful and when people look at it they are very proud. It's its beauty and the people who built it. The end of Concorde is very symbolic.
"The Americans never produced one that worked. The Russian one crashed at the Paris air show
"People are really inspired by it. It's like the Royal Family or the space programme. It is, once you had decided to start, to cancel would have been mad, a quarter of million jobs were at stake.
"I fought to keep it going and succeeded.
"But I wouldn't have started the Concorde, if I'd been there in the 1960s I would have gone with the Airbus. But once you started you just don't cancel it."
