Concorde pax - what are they doing now?

[brabazon]

Anyone know what the passengers who used to fly Concorde are doing now? Are they flying first class on a scheduled flight or using corporate jets? I guess some were just flying Concorde for the novelty value so they won't be travelling at all now!

[PaperTiger]

I read somewhere (a BA spokesman IIRC), that a large proportion of Concorde's clientelle were killed in the WTC attack.

[Oshkosh George]

That was a good one! Any more funnies?:D :D

[WHBM]

I'm afraid it's true, not funny. One of the greatest losses any one company sustained was finance house Cantor Fitzgerald, with offices in London and on the top floors of one of the WTC buildings. They were a significant Concorde user by the nature of their business and lost most of their New York staff. Other businesses were affected to a lesser extent.

http://www.cantor.com/heritage/

[Gonzo]

Even if it wasn't true, it's hardly funny, is it? :rolleyes:

[Globaliser]

Oshkosh George: That was a good one! Any more funnies?Before you get too carried away, some more to add to WHBM's post.

The figure is believed to have been about 40 Cantor Fitzgerald regulars lost that day. And "regulars" were pax who would typically fly a couple of Concorde sectors a week. (Not for nothing did many Concorde cabin crew know their regular customers by name, on sight.) These pax also had the clout to authorise Concorde flights by others. It was a very serious blow to the commercial viability of BA's Concorde operation, and one of the main reasons why it never went back to a double-daily operation after the restart.

If Osama bin Laden is ever captures, he deserves the death penalty for the damage he did to the Concorde operation alone, let alone everything else.

(OK, I really am only kidding there.)

[Oshkosh George]

OK,didn't really mean it was funny,I just found it hard to believe that concorde's operation depended on the occupants of two towers. Still hard to believe in this day of instant communication worldwide.

Didn't mean to offend.

[CargoOne]

Oshkosh George

If "instant communication worldwide" would be able to solve the questions normally requiring people to meet each other, British Airways will face buncrupcy within few weeks time due to the lost of its most C and F pax.

Back to your initial question, I know one guy who used to fly Concorde more or less regularly (say 4 to 15 times a year), he is now flying LHR-JFK in F on BA. The ticket cost on Concorde was nowhere close to the price of transatlantic jump on a business jet.

[TimS]

One of the key factors - not often mentioned - was the introduction of flat beds, which enable a true 'rested' days work at a reduced cost.

[PAXboy]

There are many reasons why Concorde could not return to service and they have all been detailed here, so we do not have to spell them out again. Her regular pax will find other ways of getting to their destination and these could cover several methods. As time moves along, the new generations will be used to doing biz without her and so it will seem as if she was never here. No, I don't like it but that is the way it is. As for this particular pax? My trip was a special in the closing months and remains a treasured boyhood dream come true.

[WHBM]

From the high-tech world (in the IT, not the aviation sense) I can assure you that electronic communications are not all they are cracked up to be. Anyone who has attempted a video conference will have a good idea of what I am referring to, in terms of not quite understanding, the amount of times you have to ask for the question to be repeated, the inability to read body language, hiccups with the technology, etc.

It's all very well to have such meetings for admin chit-chat, but for serious stuff (read the sort of pax in F or J) it just doesn't work and if you attempt you will be beaten by your competitors who work conventionally.

E-mails have however dealt business letters by post a real death blow. Must be something for the overnight express carriers to consider.

[PAXboy]

WHBM: I agree 100%. I have been in telecommunications for 27 years and have seen video conferencing from when it was just audio!

I always advise that they are useful for quick catch-up meetings as long as you already know the people at the other end. There are many shortcomings of the technology. For my money, it is better to have a PC based 'whiteboard' conference, where all can see the same vitual 'whiteboard' and can draw on it, couple with an audio conf. This is cheaper and more productive.

[LGS6753]

Since the demise of Concorde, there has been a massive expansion in trans-atlantic biz jet operations, especially into Luton. On one day last summer some 100 different 'executive jets' visited or were parked at Luton. The number often exceeds 60. So that's where some of the Concorde people are...