DC-10 Levo From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 3432 posts, RR: 5 Posted (10 years 3 months 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 1893 times:
Hi everyone!
I remember when Concorde came into EMA a few years back, and wondered when it will return. Is there a date planned for EMA every year?
Does anyone know when it will come back to East Midlands Airport?
Crosswind From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2000, 2572 posts, RR: 59 Reply 1, posted (10 years 3 months 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 1883 times:
British Airways have suspended their Concorde charter programme to extend the lives of the aircraft, so Concorde visits to EMA, and most other airports that once got an occasional charter are out of the question...
Bellerophon From United Kingdom, joined May 2002, 574 posts, RR: 60 Reply 2, posted (10 years 3 months 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1823 times:
DC-10 Levo
BA were already considering cutting back on their charter program, prior to the Paris tragedy, in order to conserve aircraft cycles for their scheduled flights, which at that time were envisaged to be likely to continue until around 2010-2015.
In the aftermath of Paris, BA suspended all Concorde charter flights whilst the engineering modifications in the return-to-service program were being carried out, because as soon as aircraft were modified, they were required for scheduled services. The priority was to get a daily JFK service back, then the BGI service, and then, when sufficient aircraft had been modified, the second daily JFK service. Only once sufficient aircraft had been modified to operate all their scheduled services, would BA even consider running any sort of charter program.
Then came 9/11, another tragedy, which, coupled with the general economic downturn that followed it, and now the possibility of war in Iraq, have all helped to degrade the future prospects for Concorde.
As a consequence, the re-introduction of the second daily JFK service has been delayed, and a much earlier end-of-service date for Concorde than 2010-2015 is now being discussed within BA. The various dates being discussed are so much earlier than anyone had previously envisaged, that, if confirmed, there will no longer be a need to save aircraft cycles, BA will have more than enough available!
Let me stress that nothing has been decided or announced officially, but, if an early end-of-service date is confirmed, then - and this is only my own personal opinion, for whatever that is worth – I would hope to see Concorde back in the charter market for the last couple of years of her life, to generate as much profit as possible out of the spare aircraft cycles, before she finally goes out of service.
Sadly, any future charter flights will probably only operate out of LHR or JFK, due to the engineering cover already in place at those airports.
I would be delighted to be proved wrong, but the days of Concorde charter flights out of airports like EMA, hugely enjoyable though they were, are probably gone.
ConcordeBoy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (10 years 3 months 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1811 times:
On a brighter note...
AF has no such qualms about whoring *oops, meant "chartering"* out her Concorde fleet even now:
ALS will continue to operate dinner flights on Saturdays this year, and REX Travel is currently in negotitations with AF about a resumption of the famous Concorde RTW trips.
GDB From United Kingdom, joined May 2001, 12715 posts, RR: 80 Reply 4, posted (10 years 3 months 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 1749 times:
AF aircraft have much lower cycles than BA, but are flying less scheduled services anyway, only OAF and OAG has comparable cycles to the AF average.
If you want to fly on a BA Concorde, do it soon.
BA777 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2001, 2139 posts, RR: 8 Reply 5, posted (10 years 3 months 3 days ago) and read 1719 times:
This all can't be good, especially for us who are just discovering what a major engineering masterpeice Concorde is, and now it seems she will disappear :'(
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From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 3432 posts, 
Hi everyone! 
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