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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 25, 2003

Concorde planes make final flights

Three Concorde planes, the world's only supersonic airliners, will arrive at Heathrow at around 16:00BST (1500 GMT) after making their final flights on Friday, ending 27 years of supersonic travel.


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Three Concorde planes, the world's only supersonic airliners, will arrive at Heathrow at around 16:00BST (1500 GMT) after making their final flights on Friday, ending 27 years of supersonic travel.

The sleek, needle-nosed plane took off from New York's John F. Kennedy airport in brilliant autumnal sunshine for a historic flight that brought an end to the supersonic era.

Another plane took off from Heathrow airport at 2:20 this afternoon to make a supersonic loop over the Atlantic and the third would return from Edinburgh, Scotland after it departed from Heathrow at 10:35 BST (11:35 GMT) for a return flight.

Thousands of celebrities gathered in the airport to experience the last of three flights on the day.

The last leg of a return flight to New York carrying about 100 people, includes a businessman who booked his ticket a year ago before the plane's retirement was announced.

Heathrow airport operator BAA has built a 1,000-seat grandstand for spectators. But the company, together with police and Highways Agency staff, warned other would-be spectators to stay away from the Heathrow area and watch from other positions, or see the final landings on television.

British Airways chief executive officer Rod Eddington said there was a "mixture of sadness and celebration" about the retirement.

"It is a wonderful plane, an icon, but its time has come. It's an old plane - it doesn't look it - but it was designed in the 50sand built in the 60s," he told BBC One's Breakfast.

He said one of the reasons for retiring Concorde was because economic conditions had meant the "vast majority" of Concorde's regular customers had not been flying on the plane over the past two years.

Although it is not known yet exactly what will happen to the decommissioned planes, some will be given to museums.

Eddington said a decision would be made in the next few weeks about whether a "heritage plane" would be kept flying.

The downturn in the world economy left the plane struggling for business, with top corporate executives taking fewer flights. The fleet also never really recovered from the crash of Air France's Concorde aircraft outside Paris in July 2000.

The French planes retired in May and British Airways said the high cost of spare parts meant it could not continue.


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