Walk through New York’s Times Square and at three and a half hours contemplate the Eiffel Tower from any corner of Paris. This feat was possible between 1969 and 2003 thanks to the Concorde, a supersonic plane that reached incredible speeds and offered the greatest luxuries that only those with a high purchasing power could achieve.
There they flew personalities like Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Redford, Sean Connery, Pope John Paul II and even political figures like Margaret Thatcher, the Queen of England Elizabeth II and Duke Philippe of Edinburgh. Also, musical stars such as Mick Jagger, Elton John y Phil Collins, who were not deprived of getting on the ship. The latter, in fact, was able to play on the same day on two different continents: he participated in just one day of the concerts of Live Aid both from London and Philadelphia, USA.
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The Concorde was jointly developed by the companies Air France y British Airways. In total, 20 units of this model were built: six worked as prototypes, another seven were destined for the French airline and the rest were kept by the English company.
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It was quite a novelty for the time. Its advanced technology allowed it to fly at 2179 kilometers per hour and, in this way, double the speed of sound. However, it consumed a high level of fuel, 25,680 liters per hour, four times what a traditional commercial airplane needs.
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Meanwhile, for a time it was prohibited from flying over some North American cities due to the noise pollution it generated. Reaching such speed had its adverse effects. However, it achieved a height of between 15,000 and 18,000 meters, which allowed, on board, to observe the curvature of the Earth.
Luxury and elegance
In its last year of circulation, a single ticket on the Concorde was worth $ 7,600. It is that, in addition to the speed it provided to reach the destination, the airlines offered an experience surrounded by luxuries. Supersonic ships were two economic banners of which England and France were proud. Indeed, its name was due to the good relations between both countries at the time of launching it.
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Each vehicle had a different design. The one in charge of bathing them in style was the famous designer Terence Conran, who once said, “Don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that the Concorde is the most important piece of design in my long life.”
Its seats were rounded and had blue and gray colors, which gave it a futuristic touch, although many passengers thought otherwise, as they expected more striking tones. In turn, the travelers taking off in New York had the possibility of passing the flight beforehand in a waiting room with luxury furniture and even Bauhaus lamps.
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As for the food that was served, the canapés, the lobster and truffle salad, the smoked salmon, among other high-level dishes stood out. To enjoy the menu, industrial designer Raymond Loewy devised a series of cutlery from the well-known company Christofle. “They are a work of art,” Andy Warhol once commented on the pieces he stole every time he traveled to Europe.
On board they also offered a diverse list of vintage wines. But the quintessential drink at the Concorde was champagne. In the 5000 total flights that the model airplane carried out, one million bottles of sparkling wine were consumed.
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To this day, the crew that travels in the different airlines of the world usually maintain a neat and elegant image, but probably none resembles the one worn by the flight attendants and flight attendants of the supersonic plane, since they wore uniforms designed by Edwin Hardy Amies, who was Queen Elizabeth II’s official couturier.
The passage through Argentina
The ship that carried a total of 2.5 million passengers also left its trail in Argentina. Were three occasions in which the Concorde stepped on Argentine soil, with a difference of seven and 21 years.
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The first time was in 1971, when he landed in Ezeiza nine years after his first flight. The supersonic plane arrived in Buenos Aires to undertake an experimental adventure to Rio de Janeiro in just 95 minutes.
The feat was carried out on September 13 of that year and was attended by representatives of the French Aerospatiale, British Aircraft, directors of Aerolineas Argentinas and two journalists, one of The Press and another from THE NATION.
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The next landing in the country was in 1978, to bring the French soccer team on the occasion of the World Cup that was being held in Argentina during the military dictatorship.
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The last time he Concorde passed through the local airport was in January 1999. Some 88 people were traveling, each having paid the exorbitant sum of $ 52,500 for a tour of eight cities in Latin America that would last 21 days. The section included a passage through Ushuaia and, later, through Santiago de Chile. Before, it had landed at the Iguazu Falls for passengers to enjoy the scenery.
That January day in Buenos Aires, Ezeiza accumulated about 200 people who came to admire the ship the world was talking about.
A tragic ending
But Concorde It also stood out for the complications it generated: it had a high maintenance cost and if an airline wanted to manufacture a model, it had to invest three times what a Boeing 747 was worth. consumed.
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It is public knowledge that Air France never made a profit on this plane And while British Airways claimed otherwise about its experience, many specialists are wary of it.
In addition, the vehicle had a particular detail in its shape, which made everything a little more difficult for the drivers. Its elongated tip prevented them from seeing beyond the ship, so they had to incline its nose in the aspects of taxiing, takeoff and landing.
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The July 25, 2000, the Concorde, on Air France Flight 4590, took off from Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Paris, bound for New York. On board were 100 passengers and nine crew members. Everything was normal until, during taxiing, one of the wheels passed over a sheet of metal that had detached from a Continental Airlines company aircraft.
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The tire exploded and part of it hit the left wing, where the fuel tank was located. Everything got worse when the liquid began to spill on the wing, until it began to catch fire. They were barely 118 seconds of flight.
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The pilot tried to maneuver to land at the nearest airport, Le Bourget, but failed and crashed into the Hotelissimo hotel. The accident left no survivors and even killed four people who were staying at the establishment.
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Three years later, the Concorde would see its end. With the economic difficulties that it generated, plus the competition from the executive classes of conventional airlines, added to the fall of the aeronautical sector after 9/11, the supersonic plane that fascinated the whole world said goodbye in 2003 and never again soared the skies.
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