frb98mf
...Make it land on 2500m of runway?...
It already has, can and does. EMA, EWR, GLA, ORY and YHZ are all airports with runways under 2,500m, on which Concorde can land on at MLW, and BOS, BDL and LGW are all airports with runways under 2,150m which Concorde can land on at typical landing weights.
The shortest ever used is - probably - R/W 14 at LBA, with a promulgated LDA of 1,802m (5,912 ft) when Concorde last visited.
...they have to keep adequate seat cover in Club and 1st 747's in case they cock up, meaning artificially lowering yields...
Interesting theory, but wrong. Quite the reverse in fact.
There was (most days) a standby Concorde available, in case either of the front line Concordes went unserviceable, but there was never any seat cover reserved on the subsonic flights.
One of the benefits of Concorde was that it allowed the overbooking profiles in First and Club, on some JFK flights, to be raised, thus maximising corporate yield.
Any overbooked passenger in First, say on the BA179, could expect to be put on the late Concorde, BA3, and still arrive in JFK earlier than they had planned, usually with a big grin on their face.
...BA's inability to use this as a neat loss-leader (or even break-even if they managed it better) - must reflect appallingly on the strategists at Watership Down...
Ah, well, you may think that, I couldn't possibly comment!
Regards
Bellerophon