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Concorde Retirement Day

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Information is from many sources including personal visits and may no longer be accurate. Updates welcomed by e-mail to Steve. Please note I am an airline pilot, not a travel agent and cannot provide any travel services. Last Update 05May05

On the 24th of October 2003, after 27 years of British Airways service, Concorde finally retired from passenger operations forever. I was lucky enough to be on one of the 3 final flights that day that landed at London Heathrow airport at 4pm.

The flight I was on (G-BOAE) took off from Edinburgh under the command of Captain Les Brodie and flew towards Aberdeen and out over the North Sea where it climbed to 60000 feet and reached Mach 2 before routing south towards London. It entered a holding pattern North East of London to await the other 2 Concorde flights, so that they could all arrive in sequence on Heathrow's runway 27R.

The Second flight (G-BOAF) had taken off earlier from Heathrow with Captain Paul Douglas at the controls, and flew supersonically over the Bay of Biscay before returning to join the landing sequence at Heathrow. The 3rd flight (and the first to take-off) came from New York JFK flown by Chief Concorde Pilot, Mike Bannister.

Once all 3 were in the London area, ATC vectored them into a line of 3 astern, for a spectacular exit from airline service. The landings were watched by many many people, including thousands who swarmed all over Heathrow and its approaches.

The atmosphere on board my flight was excited, but with a great deal of Sadness too. A commentary by Concorde Captain Chris Norris was at times filled with emotion, at the loss of such a wonderful aircraft.

Pictures of the day below: