It was exactly 20 years ago. On October 24, 2003, British Airways officially said goodbye to Concorde, a few months after Air France. This plane will have made the French dream for half a century. A look back at the history of the only supersonic aircraft that has established itself as an alternative to the classic long-haul aircraft of Boeing and then Airbus.
In 1956, the Concorde still existed only on paper. French and British engineers toiled for eleven years before a first prototype left the Sud Aviation factories in Toulouse. It is May 27, 1966. Some French people are already reserving their place to be among the first to fly to break the sound barrier. Two years later, in 1969, Concorde made its first test flights. And it keeps its promises: it can fly at Mach 2, twice the speed of sound, or almost 2,200 km/h.
The feat of Christmas 1989: New York-Paris in less than 3 hours
Six years later, Air France obtained its first copy. The first commercial flight will serve Rio via Dakar. But the real challenge for Air France is convincing US authorities to provide services to New York. The national airline will have to fight for more than a year to finally obtain authorization to land at JFK airport. The connection lasts three and a half hours. On the return, when the winds are favorable, the trip can even be shortened even more.
On December 24, 1989, taking advantage of the low congestion of the airspace and the good weather conditions, the Concorde that operated the New York JFK-Paris-CDG connection even achieved a feat never repeated later: traveling the 6,140 kilometers that separate the two airports in 2 hours 59 minutes and 40 seconds. A nice Christmas gift given to the thirty passengers present that day by the captain, his co-pilot and the engineering officer. In fact, the presence of three crew members in the cabin is the norm aboard Concorde.
Air France, the only company that serves a gourmet meal at 18,000 meters of altitude
In the cabin the staff takes great care. The service began in a lounge dedicated to Concorde where passengers waited, drinks in hand, before boarding. They took their coats and bags. Their belongings, carefully labeled, were stored in the plane’s seven changing rooms. Because on board not only time is limited, but also space. Air France is proud to be the only company in the world that serves a gourmet meal at 18,000 meters of altitude. This marks the difference with British Airways, the only other company that has trusted Concorde.
Here is an example of lunch served on board Air France flights: canapes, fresh caviar, Parisian lobster, Franche-Comté beef medallion accompanied by a subric of carrots and mushrooms sautéed with herbs, Bavarian cream with vanilla on biscuit raspberry , fresh fruit and Colombian coffee. All this accompanied, for champagne lovers, by a Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame. The plates are Limoges porcelain and the cutlery is provided by the venerable Christofle house.
The Paris-New York round trip during the day.
Air France was also then the only company that allowed a Parisian businessman to go to New York to sign a contract and return home that same night. The company offers its most enthusiastic passengers the opportunity to travel to Manhattan by helicopter.
However, most customers prefer to return at night and sleep in first class on the 747. The return Concorde flight is rarely full. The same as the weekend. Air France then fills its supersonic plane with passengers who will not cross any ocean but will live a unique experience: a supersonic flight over the English Channel.
Guessing the curvature of the earth from the porthole
Of course, we didn’t really feel the phenomenal speed of the plane. But it is displayed on screens visible from every seat on the plane. There is no one else aboard the Concorde. Movies cannot be shown on board. But the flight offers a beautiful spectacle from the portholes, where we can guess the curvature of the earth.
A show that Air France will stop offering in 2003. The terrible Gonesse accident three years earlier, the September 11 attacks, the price of kerosene and some technical incidents led the company to anticipate the departure of the Concorde from its fleet. .
The adventure lasted a quarter of a century. They are still the memories. And all of these Concordes are now on the ground. The one that can be seen when landing in Roissy and those that can be visited in France, at the Bourget Museum and the Toulouse Aeroscopia, but also in Germany, in Sinsheim and in the United States, at the National Air and Space Museum , in Washington. Rare American tribute to this technological flagship of France.
Source: BFM TV
