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Thursday, April 10, 2003
posted by gbarto at 12:24 PM:
Supersonic ShutdownBritish Airways, Air France to stop flying Concordes, cite lack of demand
A sad day for aviation. The unfortunate thing is there might be demand for the speed the Concorde offers, but neither of these airlines (nor many of the others, given their existence primarily as entrenched bureaucracies) is likely to develop a reasonable program for delivering it at an affordable cost.
The big problem with the Concorde is that was it. One plane that they spent years developing and then tried to make fit a market when it was designed not for the market but for the headlines and for giving the impression of progress. Part of what keeps the airlines going in spite of themselves is that you can pick an DC-10, a 707, a 727 or 747 or even a puddle jumper as appropriate for the length of the route and the number of passengers that typically fly a route. The one-size-fits-all Concorde program meant either flying a lot of empty seats, hacking fares, or only flying enough routes to fill the plane. The first two are commercial suicide. The third is idiotic, since the practical application of speed - getting people across the ocean fast - becomes a novelty, not a service, if you have to wait six hours for the next flight instead of getting on the 747 that's leaving in two.
Still, I guess they were pretty incredible birds. My grandfather, a private pilot for much of his life, adored his trip. He and my grandmother had taken the QE2 to England, spent a week in London and flew back on the Concorde (this would have been in the early-mid 80's). I don't think he ever mentioned the QE2 or London when discussing the trip. Alas, as I say, a novelty trip. I'm glad he got to do it. It doesn't look like I will.
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