Economic Woes Bring End to Flights of Supersonic Jets

British Airways and Air France announced today that they would end their Concorde flights in October after 26 years of supersonic jet travel. The carriers pointed to falling passenger demand, rising maintenance costs and the resulting poor financial results on the jets’ transatlantic routes.

British Airways said it would retire its seven Concorde jets at the end of October. Citing poor economic conditions, Air France said it would stop flying its Concordes on May 31 and definitively retire the fleet on Oct. 31.

“Such an investment cannot be justified in the face of falling revenue caused by a global downturn in demand for all forms of premium travel in the airline industry,” British Airways said in a statement. Tickets on the Concorde cost several thousand dollars.

The chief executive of British Airways, Rod Eddington, told British Broadcasting Corp. that the decision to retire Concorde was not connected to safety fears arising from the Air France Concorde crash that killed 113 people in Paris in 2000. Concordes were grounded for 16 months after the crash.

Since the jets resumed flying in November 2001, slowing economies have crimped corporate travel spending. The market in North America was also hurt by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“Concorde has never really recovered from the crash and the terrorist activities,” said WestLB Panmure analyst Gert Zonneveld.