I always dreamed of flying on the Concorde and a meager two years before my promised flight on one, it crashed and was taken out of service. It still to this day after many takeoffs on other planes and watching many videos of it sends a chill through my spine to see it take off and land.
2007-04-09 12:54:22 · 14 answers · asked by Tyler 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Aircraft
The primary reason Concorde was grounded was money. The plane was a constant "losing" operation, it cost them money to fly the plane in the first place. The only way to assure safety would have been a complete redesign of the fuel systems etc. Due to the price of a seat on the plane it was already hard to keep flights full, and they weren't making any money at those price levels. The cost of tickets to offset the huge cost of improving the plane's safety would have shrunk further the pool of people who could afford to fly on it. They flew it losing money for prestige as much as anything, but once they were faced with spending millions to make them airworthy again they chose to end the planes life in the air. I agree its an unfortunate loss, but the reasons for it are clear, the plane was commercially unsustainable.
2007-04-09 13:01:21 · answer #1 · answered by y2bmj 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
The Concord was taken out of service because it was unable to be profitable. However, I suggest you don't feel too dissapointed about never flying on it. Passing through the sound barrior is not a noticable experience to the passengers, and truth be told, you probly wouldn't have felt any difference than flying in any other commercial airliner. I suggest that you put that money into a charter for a private jet sometime if you want a truely breathtaking experience.
2007-04-09 14:41:04 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Concorde was to expencive to run and the bloody french were too lasy to clear their runway . Another reason is because people lost confidence in concorde after the crash so they were flying empty planes and because of this they couldent run concorde's flying and maintenance cost. I always dreamed of flying concorde but i gess i wil just have to do with the 747.
2007-04-13 10:20:41 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
nerris121: 1 Concorde crashed, not 2.
In that single accident Concorde went from the least dangerous to the most dangerous commercial aircraft in service. The Tu-144 was much worse, but that' because the Russians weren't good enough at copying.
It went out of service for perceived safety and because BA wouldn't allow the aircraft to be transferred to Virgin Atlantic where Richard Branson was keen to opperate them.
A more cynical view is that they went out because the French were too smug to accept the findings of the AAIB so they operated without the fixes that had been applied to British aircraft.
2007-04-10 04:34:13 · answer #4 · answered by Chris H 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It cost way too much to operate. You can see a Concorde on a stick at the Charles de Gualle International Airport! It was indeed a sad day though when it quit flying.
2007-04-12 16:08:34 · answer #5 · answered by super_friendly_aviator 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
After the Air France Flight 4590 crash on June 25, 2000 killing 100 passengers and 9 crew members, British Airways and Air France made a critical decision to withdraw the Concorde from service. They cited low passenger numbers and also because of rising maintenance costs. To see a real Air France concorde, you could go to the Intrepid Air, Space and Sea museum in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
2007-04-09 13:09:57 · answer #6 · answered by ghetto_star100 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Money infaltion of gas and the fact it was limited to fly only over the ocean plus for those willing to pay the 8-12000 dollor price for concorde per person might but then they see it was only limited to fly from pot a to b but not b to c so after inflation in gas 9/11 and the aging concorde it was finally decided that Concorde would have but one last flight before fianlly being taken out of service and the skies
2007-04-09 14:20:43 · answer #7 · answered by Concorde 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I would say the main reason was money. They drank alot of fuel and with the price of fuel on the rise, they couldn't justify the end result.
I only got to see it in person one time at JFK and it was a magnificent sight. I miss it also.
2007-04-10 10:36:16 · answer #8 · answered by IFlyGuy 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Why doesn't this question go away?????????????
It didn't make sense logistically. The upgrade to prevent future mishaps, coupled with the cost for airframe, APG and electronics systems upkeep became too high to manage.
The SR71 pretty much went the same route.
2007-04-10 06:46:05 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think the crash just shook them out of their complacency. They took a look at what it would take to make their remaining, well-worn Concordes safe by contemporary standards, and it just didn't add up.
Maybe in the future we'll see a more advanced SST.
2007-04-09 13:07:01 · answer #10 · answered by Wolf Harper 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋