British Airways to Withdraw Concorde from Service

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 10, 2003

British Airways to Withdraw Concorde from Service

British Airways is to withdraw its Concorde supersonic from service permanently later this year due to the drop in demand, the airline announced on Thursday.

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British Airways is to withdraw its Concorde supersonic from service permanently later this year due to the drop in demand, the airline announced on Thursday.

Spokeswoman Sara John said the retirement of the service "will be permanent as of October this year."

The decision came after the airline carried out a review of the service, including examining the number of passengers taking Concordes and the price they would accept.

British Airways is now running seven London-New York round-trip flights a week with Concordes. The Concordes servicing in the airline have been certified to fly until 2009.

Air France, the only other carrier to fly the supersonic jets, said earlier this year that it was not carrying out a similar review.

The Concorde supersonic jet, developed by researchers from France and Britain in the 1960s, was put into service in 1976. The aircraft can fly from Paris to New York in three and a half hours while a Boeing 747 needs about seven hours. But the 100-seat luxury aircraft is also famous for its high price, with a round-trip ticket from London to New York usually costing 7,000 British pounds (about 11,000 US dollars).

In July 2000, a Concorde of Air France crashed in Paris, killing 113 people. It was the only crash of Concorde in history.

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