USA/FRANCE: AN AIR FRANCE CONCORDE HAS FLOWN FROM NEW YORK TO PARIS FOR THE LAST TIME
Record ID:
648477
USA/FRANCE: AN AIR FRANCE CONCORDE HAS FLOWN FROM NEW YORK TO PARIS FOR THE LAST TIME
- Title: USA/FRANCE: AN AIR FRANCE CONCORDE HAS FLOWN FROM NEW YORK TO PARIS FOR THE LAST TIME
- Date: 31st May 2003
- Summary: (EU) NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 31, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/PAN OF AIR FRANCE CONCORDE AIRCRAFT ON TARMAC AT NEW YORK'S JOHN F. KENNEDY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AS IT PREPARES TO FLY FOR THE LAST TIME FROM NEW YORK TO PARIS (3 SHOTS) 0.18 2. SLV PASSENGERS WAITING IN LINE AT AIR FRANCE CHECK-IN TERMINAL 0.22 3. SV CONCORDE PASSENGER CHECKING IN 0.26 4. SV FRENCH TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY CHECKING IN 0.32 5. MCU (French) DOMINIQUE BUSSERAU, FRANCE'S TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY, SAYING: "It is a plane that corresponded to an era where people around the world wanted to travel very fast, so engineers designed a supersonic aircraft, but these days, air travel has changed. Passengers fly from various hubs, they travel overnight on reclining seats, so (the Concorde) belongs to a certain, rather extraordinary era in aviation, one full of success, of technological achievements. But today, airlines and their clients have developed different aspirations. This plane is no longer quite in step with its time, but it certainly remains for everyone as the most beautiful plane in the world, at least as far as civil aviation is concerned." 1.08 6. LV OF CONCORDE TAKING OFF 1.38 (W7) CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT, ROISSY, FRANCE (MAY 31, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 7. SLV CONTROL TOWER 1.40 8. SLV OF FANS WATCHING WITH BINOCULARS (2 SHOTS) 1.48 9. CU MAN LOOKING AT MAP 1.57 10. MCU YOUNG BOY LOOKING AT CONCORDE IN SKY 2.01 11. LV CONCORDE APPROACHING TARMAC AND LANDING 2.37 12. SV WOMAN APPLAUDING 2.40 13. SLV/SV CROWD IN FRONT OF AIR FRANCE WAVING (2 SHOTS) 2.44 14. SV/MCU (French) AIR FRANCE PRESIDENT DIRECTOR GENERAL AND PASSENGER PIERRE HENRI GOURGEON WALKING/SAYING: "We are happy but at the same time sad. Happy because Concorde is a marvellous object for Air France, it is something very important. Sad also because the plane has reached a certain age. It is out of the question, on an economic point of view, to consider its extension. So, we are putting an end, with as much dignity as possible, to an extraordinary epic." (2 SHOTS) 3.16 15. MCU (English) UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGER SAYING: "Very sad, very emotional. They did a great job, good service. They took care of us, three hours and twenty-seven minutes from New York." 3.27 16. MCU (French) PASSENGER FRANCOIS SAYING: "The landing of Concorde is spectacular, it is a noise, a braking of a unique strength. We went round all the infrastructures and people as well as firemen and gendarmes and airport staff were everywhere, were on trucks holding banners and flags. 3.48 17. SLV FANS WITH BANNERS READING GOODBYE CONCORDE AND CIAO CONCORDE 3.54 18. LV CONCORDE ON TARMAC 4.02 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th June 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT, ROISSY, FRANCE
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA5MNCVGVXO3CF17BKL5IQHEQH6
- Story Text: An Air France Concorde has flown from New York to Paris
for the last time. The sleek, needle-nosed supersonic aircraft
was forced to retire due to flagging demand and rising costs.
It was the end of an historic era in international
travel on Saturday (May 31) as Air France Concorde waited at
New York's John F. Kennedy Airport for it's final commercial
flight to Paris.
The unique, needle-nosed plane soared into retirement
where it will join the rest of its fleet now destined for
museums.
"It is a plane that corresponded to an era where people
around the world wanted to travel very fast, so engineers
designed a supersonic aircraft, but these days, air travel has
changed. Passengers fly from various hubs, they travel
overnight on reclining seats, so (the Concorde) belongs to a
certain, rather extraordinary era in aviation, one full of
success, of technological achievements. But today, airlines
and their clients have developed different aspirations. This
plane is no longer quite in step with its time, but it
certainly remains for everyone as the most beautiful plane in
the world, at least as far as civil aviation is concerned,"
said France's Transportation Secretary Dominique Bussuerau, in
New York.
At 8:17 a.m. Air France Concorde took off on its final
flight to Paris where it will be greeted by thousands of
Parisians at Charles De Gaulle Airport.
Passengers paid $12,000 (U.S.) for a round-trip fare
aboard the last flight on the aircraft which began service in
1976.
The plane touched down at Paris's Charles de Gaulle
airport, bringing 34 years of French aviation history to a
close.
Seventy-nine passengers arrived from New York on the
three-hour trip on the graceful drop-nosed jet. The only
passenger jet able to fly at twice the speed of sound rolled
to a stop on the tarmac shortly before 1600 GMT.
Planespotters and fans flocked to the airport to catch a
glimpse of the legendary plane, a victim of rising costs and
falling demand.
Concorde, a joint British-French venture, first took off
in 1969 and has become a symbol of France's aviation industry.
"We are happy but at the same time sad. Happy because
Concorde is a marvellous object for Air France, it is
something
very important. Sad also because the plane has reached a
certain age. It is out of question, on an economic point of
view, to
consider its extension. So, we are putting an end, with as
much dignity as possible, to an extraordinary epic," said
Pierre Henri Gourgeon, Air France President Director General.
But the passengers were as sentimental as the president
director general.
"Very sad, very emotional. They did a great job, good
service. They took care of us, three hours and twenty-seven
minutes from New York," said one passenger who had flown from
New York.
"The landing of Concorde is spectacular, it is a noise, a
braking of a unique strength. We went round all the
infrastructures and people as well as firemen and gendarmes
and airport staff were everywhere, were on trucks holding
banners and flags," added another.
For more than 30 years, the rich and famous spent
thousands of dollars to cross the Atlantic at a cruising speed
of 1,350 miles (2,173 kilometres) per hour.
But Concorde was dealt a heavy blow by a crash shortly
after take-off in Paris nearly three years ago, which killed
113 people. The planes were grounded for over a year
afterwards.
Flagging demand and rising costs forced the Air France to
put an end to the flight of the legendary aircraft.
Four of the French aircraft will be displayed at museums
around the country and the fifth will go on show at Charles de
Gaulle airport.
British Airways' -- the only other airline to operate
Concorde -- has scheduled its last commercial Concorde flight
for the end of October.
Concorde was first proposed by French engineers in 1957
and Britain and France signed an agreement in 1962 to launch
the Concorde project.
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