This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx Nostalgia Abounds as the Concorde's End Is Set April 11, 2003 By ALAN COWELL LONDON, April 10 - After 27 years of supersonic travel lofting rock stars, executives and the rest of the Champagne set across the Atlantic, British Airways and Air France said today that they would retire their fleets of Concordes this year. The announcement brings the end of an era when the delta-winged jet stood for the ascendancy of technology and economic hope. Today, hard-nosed executives vied for the lyrical edge in mourning its demise. "Concorde changed the way people traveled," said Rod Eddington, British Airways' chief executive. "With its going, we must lose some of the romance from aviation." Air France's chairman, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, said: "Never has such a beautiful object been designed and built by man. This aircraft is not going to stop, because it continues to live on in the human imagination." Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways, who has a history of tweaking British Airways, raised the possibility today that Virgin would take over its rival's castoffs. Since the announcement, "we have been flooded with calls from the public, including B.A. staff, asking us to see if we can keep Concorde flying," he said. "This might come to nothing, but I believe that every effort should be made to keep Concorde flying, as it is such an important symbol of British innovation." If that unlikely effort fails, though, the Concorde is dead. The airlines ascribed their decision to falling passenger demand and steadily increasing costs of maintaining the fleet. But in recent years, Concorde's status has been battered, first by safety fears after a crash outside Paris in 2000 that killed 113 people and then by the broader slowdown in air travel since the Sept. 11 attacks. Successive years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, moreover, have further dented the mood of business confidence that once made Concorde an emblem of worldly success. Airlines across Europe and the United States have been reporting steady declines in passenger numbers, especially on long-haul flights to and from America. In recent months, Air France's Concordes have regularly flown with 80 of the 100 seats empty, the airline said. Sara John, a spokeswoman for British Airways, said the withdrawal of Concorde would be "permanent as of October this year" but did not say when the last flight would take off. British Airways said it would sell 1,000 discounted tickets costing up to $6,200 for round-trip Concorde flights until the end of August - less than half of the top price of $13,500 that a round-trip ticket normally costs. Air France set May 31 as the date for its last scheduled Concorde flight. With global economies slowing and stock markets falling, Concorde has come to stand as an emblem of high-rolling luxury at a time when many people are experiencing layoffs and declining fortunes. That, too, has inhibited the high-rolling business set. "If you're laying people off and telling people in your business to tighten your belt, senior executives then find it inconsistent to go to the airport and get on Concorde rather than subsonic aircraft," Mr. Eddington of British Airways said. But many who flew on it were nostalgic, recalling its particular blend of spartan seating, delicate canapés, noisy take-offs and ineffable speed. "It was the best travel experience anyone could ever have," said Tyler Brûlé, founder of Wallpaper, a style magazine. "It gave you the ultimate luxury, which is time." "It's not the most comfortable flight," he said, "but it was the most incredible feeling. You felt as though you were hurtling through the air in a missile." British Airways and Air France insisted that the retirement of the planes was not related to the crash on July 25, 2000, when an Air France Concorde burst into flames on take-off and crashed close to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. After the disaster, the plane was grounded in Britain and France while safety modifications were made. Supersonic flights were reintroduced in November 2001. "We have complete safety at Concorde, complete confidence in its ability to fly safely," Mr. Eddington said. "This is the end of a fantastic era in world aviation, but bringing forward Concorde's retirement is a prudent business decision at a time when we are having to make difficult decisions right across the airline." Air France said: "This decision is motivated by deteriorating economic results observed over the past months and which accelerated since the beginning of the year." Concorde has been flying in commercial service since January 1976. Its first test flight took place in 1969. At that time the British-French Concorde was also part of the cold war competition between East and West, spurred by the first supersonic test flight in late 1968 by the Soviet Union's larger and faster Tupolev TU-144. That plane crashed at the Paris Air Show in 1973 and a later model crash-landed in 1978, ending Moscow's brief romance with supersonic passenger flight. Since the British Airways Concordes went into service in 1976, the airline said, they have carried 2.5 million passengers - not in the same great comfort as in the first-class cabin of a subsonic airliner but at great speed, crossing the Atlantic at 1,350 miles an hour at an altitude of up to 60,000 feet. A routine crossing takes less than four hours and the fastest was just under three hours. The airlines say 12 of the original 20 Concordes are still in service; British Airways has seven and Air France has five. The airplane was not a commercial success but stood as an emblem of prestige for British Airways and Air France and for the top-end travelers like celebrities and corporate bosses. Its four fuel-guzzling engines made so much noise that Concorde could not be used on regular flights over populated areas and, carrying only 100 passengers, it was not as cost-effective as wide-aisle subsonic planes flying at slower speeds. Not only that, the aging fleet seemed prone to alarms even with the modifications after the Paris crash. As recently as February, passengers were alarmed by a series of engine, rudder and nose-cone problems. Air France said Concorde flights produced losses of around $50 million in the year ended March 31. For all that, passengers judged that their time - or their image - was worth the price of the ticket. "It really felt like you were a member of an extraordinary club, the last real travel club," Mr. Brûlé said. "Every time you flew there'd be at least 10 people you knew to say hello to, and there'd be another 10 who you recognized. You could have Madonna in the seat in front of you, John McEnroe behind you and Joan Collins diagonally opposite you. In the days before Sept. 11 there'd be at least three or four people up in the cockpit with a glass of Champagne." Closing the service will cost British Airways $132 million, Mr. Eddington said. Mr. Spinetta of Air France said it would cost $65 million to retire the five Air France Concordes. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/business/worldbusiness/11CONC.html?ex=1051069332&ei=1&en=e690205f957cfd88 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company