Concorde elite inspect refit

By ROBERT LEA
Updated:

 

A CLUTCH of Britain's top financiers and businessmen will be chauffered to Heathrow on Saturday to see the £30m refit of British Airways' Concorde fleet in a major step forward in the carrier's plans to get the supersonic aircraft back in service by summer.

BA is staging a day of presentations for its most valuable Concorde travellers to unveil the refit of the 30-year-old delta-wing aircraft grounded by aviation authorities since an Air France Concorde crashed near Paris last July, killing 113 people.

Keeping its seven-strong Concorde fleet idle has cost BA about £50m in operating costs and lost revenues, and Saturday's programme is the strongest signal yet that BA is ready to get the aircraft back in the air.

Passengers pay more than £6,000 for a return transatlantic ticket on the aircraft which, depending on their internal configuration, carry about 100.

Chief executive Rod Eddington recently wrote to each of BA's 50 most-valued customers - said to include bankers, lawyers, politicians and rock stars - inviting them to the event.

The hush-hush list of visitors is expected to include many City chiefs who fly Concorde between 20 and 30 times a year - such as Sir Martin Sorrell of the WPP advertising empire, Sir Win Bischoff, European chairman of Citibank, and Sir Roger Hurn, chairman of Marconi and Prudential.

BA is spending £17m in safety modifications, including the new Kevlar bullet-proof compound lining in its fuel tanks. It is spending a further £14m on refitting the cabin and seats and other service improvements.

In a letter to BA's executive club members last month Eddington said: 'We will only resume Concorde services once we are convinced we can do so safely. We are confident that the modifications now under way will enable us to do so and while no date has yet been set, we are hoping our supersonic flagship will fly again this spring.'

Earlier this week Eddington told City analysts at a Heathrow briefing that top BA customers 'are badgering the hell out of us to get it back in the air.'

BA will hold a similar presentation for leading American customers in New York next month. An Air France Concorde was back in the air last month when one of the French fleet returned to Paris after two weeks of testing at an air base near Marseilles.

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