Re: Concordes last flight.

[sft42]

Have I missed something here or is richard branson in the form of Virgin not going to buy BA's fleet and keep the old bird flying then? If so isn't this all a little premature?

[gilf]

Branson Orginally offered �1 per plane to BA as thats what they cost them in the first place as the development was paid by UK and French Tax Payers. He then upped the offer to �1 Million per plan (5 in all) but BA have refused and given no convincing answer. Cant find any more recent reference's to it past August when Branson was launching a campaing after our wonderfull government failed to support him, but would guess BA are unwilling to sell. Its a sad state of affairs.

[PaulB]

Yep. RIP Concorde :o(

[pezza.......]

Apparently something to do with BA not making money from them and returning them to the British Taxpayers! My a+++, more like BA not wanting anyone else (especially Mr Branson) getting their hands on Concorde.

[Cetti]

The news so far is: Out of the 7 Concordes, 3 are going to museums abroad. 1 to New York, 1 to Seatle, and the 3rd to Barbados.

The world's final ever Concorde flight is November 17th when the last Concorde to be built is being retired to Filton.

[sft42]

So it's all a load of bullsh!t all round then.....the aircraft are more than viable as they weren't heavily used and there are many civil machines in use before them that are still used daily....as for the economics of it then why not lease them to another carrier? Load of tosh all round....Does anyone know if the Tupolev TU144 is still in service anywhere in the world then seeing as it was the first supersonic passenger aircraft?

[jakesi]

I do think Richard Branson would make Concorde a profitable success again and as for it being BAs flagship for the last 27 yrs it would leave them with egg on there faces. More about RB bid here. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3005705.stm

[gilf]

Richard Branson was on question time last night, he said he has given up hope of flying them commercially but is keen to preserve them and keep them flying in air shows etc, he wants the Government to help him set up a trust fund so they can be kept opperational.

[darth vader]

Saw this on the news this morning. Apparently the problem is that he cannot get a safety certificate to fly them commercially (post Paris disaster problems and age i presume - but then the yanks still use B-52s!!!)

[Harley]

Without wishing to use the site as a forum are Mr Bransons entirely clear? He wanted the Lottery,bought a real train set, sells motorbikes out of the crate,offers credit, owns an ISP, sells pensions,drinks,books and holidays.He knew that Concorde would never be sold to him or anyone else but hey it's free publicity!

[incitatus]

the tu 144 no longer flies.

[lisaj]

It's really very simple to make them profitable: invest to redesign the engines from their current 1950s technology to a 21st century design, making them quieter, more eco-friendly and... more efficient. As a result the range will increase and make all important Tokyo-LA transpacific route a possibility. Japanese businesses will certainly have no problem parting with �10,000 a ticket to get to LA in a few hours.

[-jc]

Weren't Lockheed or someone going to pay the Russians $$$ for the design details etc. of the TU 144 so that they could bring it up to date and then have their own supersonic aircraft? This must have been about 5 years ago, and I think they were expecting results in about 2010 - anybody know more?