Branson unveils =A31 rescue bid for unwanted Concorde By Michael Harrison Business Editor 11 April 2003 Sir Richard Branson intervened to try to prevent the demise of Concorde l= ast night – saying he was interested in taking over supersonic serv= ices when British Airways retires its fleet of seven aircraft this autumn= =2E Virgin Atlantic, Sir Richard's long-haul airline, said that when the Cons= ervative government sold Concorde to BA for =A31 in the 1980s, the agreem= ent stipulated that if another British company ever wanted to operate the= fleet it could. He said that since BA had confirmed the retirement of Concorde, Virgin ha= d been inundated with calls from the public and BA staff asking if it cou= ld keep the aircraft flying. "As a result of the public's response today,= I will be asking British Airways to provide me with the full operating f= igures," he added. "If, having examined the figures, Virgin Atlantic, wit= h it lower cost base, believes it can make a success of it, we will be as= king BA to give us the planes for the same price that they were given the= m together with the slots and other facilities that they use." But Rod Eddington, BA's chief executive, ruled out the idea of Virgin or = any other airline flying Concorde. "After 27 years' service, we intend to= retire Concorde with dignity. It is an aeroplane which is part of the fa= bric of our company. We are not going to sell it to someone else." Mr Eddington said BA had decided to retire Concorde because of falling pa= ssenger revenues and higher maintenance costs that meant the service was = now losing millions of pounds a year. Since the crash of an Air France Co= ncorde near Paris in July 2000, bookings had dipped sharply and the fall = in revenues had been made worse by the economic downturn and the 11 Septe= mber attacks. Bookings by business executives, who used to account for 70= per cent of traffic, were down by 80 to 90 per cent. Some valuable custo= mers such as City and Wall Street investment banks had abandoned Concorde= altogether after the collapse in share markets. BA nevertheless pledged that Concorde would go out "on a high" and announ= ced a series of special fares. Passengers who book within the next week w= ill be able to fly return from London to New York for half the standard =A3= 8,000 fare. A range of other fares is on offer including a =A31,999 return trip flyin= g out by Concorde and returning ordinary economy class. The offers only a= pply, though, to about 10 of the 100 seats on each flight. Sir Richard said his intervention might come to nothing but he added: "I = believe that every effort should be made to keep Concorde flying as it is= such an important symbol of British innovation." If the rescue bid fails, then two of the seven Concordes in the BA fleet = are expected to find new homes in air museums in the UK. The remainder wi= ll be sold or donated to overseas museums. Mr Eddington said he had been = flooded with calls from museums since the announcement. The retirement of Concorde will result in a one-off =A384m write-down in = BA's books to cover the value of spares it still carries. That is likely = to plunge the airline into an accounting loss for the financial year that= has just ended. BA had already cuts its service to New York from two to one a day in resp= onse to the economic downturn. It will now cease services entirely from t= he end of October. Separately, Air France announced that it would retire its Concorde fleet = at the end of May in an attempt to stem annual loses running at €30= m to €50m (=A320m to =A334m). A supersonic journey 1956: Creation of the Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee at the Roya= l Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough. 1962: Britain and France join forces to build the supersonic airliner. 1968: First public appearance at the Paris air show. 1976: First commercial Concorde flight leaves Heathrow. Immediate backlas= h from nearby residents over sonic boom. 1980: Concorde flies from London to New York in record 2 hours, 59mins, 3= 6 seconds. 1989: First sign of engineering problems as section of rudder falls off d= uring take-off from Christchurch. Two more rudder failures in the next tw= o years. 2000: July: Air France Concorde crashes in Paris, killing all 109 passeng= ers and crew. 2001: Flights resumed after safety precautions are introduced. 2003 April: British Airways and Air France announce end of commercial fli= ghts. = Roger EWROPS