Concordes Good for another 15 Years?

davetheflyer

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from avweb.com

Branson Wants Virgin Concordes

By Russ Niles
Newswriter

On the off chance that the flamboyant owner can turn a profit in the supersonic market, British Airways (BA) is saying "No, thank you" to Virgin Atlantic Airways owner Richard Branson's offer to take seven Concordes off its hands. BA announced last week it was retiring the Concordes by October due to falling revenue and increasing expenses and planned to turn the aircraft over to any museum that wanted one. That riled Branson's patriotic sensibilities and aroused his entrepreneurial spirit. Branson said the aircraft were developed with a healthy infusion of taxpayers' pounds (and francs) and if need be, he would appeal to the government to decide their fate. (more)Branson has already dashed off a letter to BA saying there was plenty of room in his hangars for the Concordes. "At the moment I've had a negative response and so I think our next move is to go to the government and ask them if they can intervene on our behalf," he said. "I hope by September-October you will see Concorde in Virgin colors, not British Airways colors. The Concorde has another good 15 years of flying to go," Branson told Fox News.
 
Mr. Branson is known for doing and saying anything for free publicity. BTW he offered BA 1 GBP for each aircraft; the price they paid! I am sure this is more to ruffle feathers, and get some attention then is a real plan.

Concord has actually been seen in Virgin colors. When Virgin won slots to fly out of LHR, Mr. Branson put a cloth Virgin tail on the model concorde (which measures 30-40 foot in length)
that sits on a round-a-bout just outside LHR.
 
What is 1 GBP?

It seems to me that if BA is just going to retire the Concordes, they would probably be wise to take whatever they can get for them. Branson would probably pay more than the scrap value.
 
[ QUOTE ]
What is 1 GBP?

[/ QUOTE ]

one pound i.e. £1

Every currency has an internationally accepted three-letter abbreviation:

US dollar = USD
Euro = EUR
Japanese Yen = JPY
 
Letting Virgin have them would cause great embarrassment for BA. BA would do anything and everything to prevent VS from one-upping them!
 
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