Why concorde grounded

Twenty Concorde planes were built in France and the UK - six prototype and development aircraft and 14 service planes which were operated by Air France and British Airways. Concorde number was moved to its new home by engineers from British Airways and Airbus, who towed the iconic aircraft across Filton Airfield and up a ramp into the new purpose-built hangar. Two development aircraft built for testing, numbers and , can be seen at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, and the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge.

Branson later wrote that Virgin Atlantic had wanted to run the fleet for many years to come, but no agreement was reached. Earlier this year it was announced that Club Concorde has raised the funds to purchase and restore a Concorde aircraft with the aim of returning it to service by , to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the aircraft's inaugural test flight.

In Sir Richard Branson announced plans to launch a new supersonic passenger jet dubbed Concorde II , which it is claimed will be able to speed from London to New York in just three-and-a-half hours.

Find out all about it here. The final flight of the Concorde occured in October of The Concorde was designed well before the oil-price shock of the 's, so even though it was a masterpiece in engineering, it was effectively a fuel to speed converter. Its high energy consumption simply made it unprofitable in an era of high fuel prices. The Concorde put prestige over efficiency, a principle that was possible in an era when passengers were willing to pay for it.

From a modern-day business point of view, the whole project should probably have been grounded well before the s. The aircraft had a total passenger capacity of but consumed the same amount of fuel as a Boeing , while the could fly twice as far and had four times the passenger capacity.

The Concorde was also incredibly noisy. For some though, the grounding of the Concorde was a tragedy. Ben Lord of the Save Concorde Group said, "it was probably more advanced than Apollo 11, which put the first men on the Moon.

The longest-serving Concorde pilot Jock Lowe, also the former president of the Royal Aeronautical Society, said "no military plane came anywhere close. It was so maneuverable and there was so much spare power, even ex-fighter pilots weren't used to it. I'll never forget that sight.

Lowe recalled a time when air traffic controllers instructed the pilots of an SR71 Blackbird, a high altitude spy plane, to get out of the way because a Concorde was coming through for a landing. The two spacesuit-clad pilots were made to give way to a passenger jet full of celebrities and champagne-sipping businessmen.

Such was the esteem given to the Concorde, a plane who had fewer pilots than the United States has had astronauts. Contact us Sign up for newsletters. Log In Register now My account. Why did Concorde stop flying?

How the tragic Air France crash marked the beginning of the end for the iconic aircraft Concorde made its first British flight 50 years ago today, but a tragic crash eventually led to the end for the iconic supersonic jet Concorde ran flights jointly with British Airways and Air France for 27 years before the fleets were grounded in Getty Images. By David Hughes. April 9, pm Updated October 7, pm. The freshest exclusives and sharpest analysis, curated for your inbox Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing!

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