Concorde - Celebrating twenty-seven supersonic years

Retirement

A downturn in commercial transtlantic passenger numbers followed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11th September 2001 and at the same time maintenance costs for the thirty-year old fleet were escalating. On 10th April 2003 both Air France and British Airways announced the end of commercial operations for their Concorde fleets, a pragmatic decision taken by both airlines in conjunction with the original equipment manufacturers. After twenty-seven years of supersonic commercial flight, Air France would cease operating Concorde in May 2003 while British Airways would end its Concorde flights in October 2003.

Initial optimism indicated that a single Concorde could be kept flying for ceremonial duties, and that another airline could keep the Concorde fleet in profitable service. However, these dreams came to nothing faced with opposition from the manufacturers and Concorde owners. Both the Air France and British Airways fleets conducted farewell tours to allow as many people as possible to bid farewell to Concorde. The British Airways fleet visited North America and major cities in the United Kingdom.

Her final years prior to retirement from commercial service in 2003 are marked by the tragic events of 25th July 2000, the loss of Concorde F-BTSC, Flight AF4590, and one-hundred and thirteen lives. On the retirement of the Air France fleet, the company chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta remarked "Twenty-seven years of achievement, records broken, passion shared, and a tragedy on 25 July 2000 which will remain forever in our minds, as will the memory of the crew members and passengers of Flight 4590 which crashed just after take-off. The homage we wish to pay to the victims of this crash, which we know had a profound effect on the people of Germany, naturally led Air France to donate one of its Concordes to the Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim."

With the retirement of the Concorde fleet in 2003 the remaining twelve production aircraft were placed with aviation museums and Concorde-related installations around the world. Today, the aircraft still generates great affection from her former pilots and crew; those engineers who designed, built and maintained her; former passengers, enthusiasts and the general public; young and old alike.