Fw: [SOC] Concorde

[Paul Bartlett]

Ooops,

I thought Bill's was a SOC post.

Paul :-)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Bartlett" <paul@fulking.freeserve.co.uk>
To: "Bill Cunningham" <k4ksr@qsl.net>
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 10:48 AM
Subject: Re: [SOC] Concorde


> You're right of course, Bill. There were many reasons why Concorde was not
a
> commerical success. The 1973 oil crisis was a major factor but the
American
> attitude didn't help.
>
> And Nick, apart from a few occasions Concorde only ever flew supersonic
over
> water.
>
> I'm just sad to observe the end of an era.
>
> Paul
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bill Cunningham" <k4ksr@qsl.net>
> To: "Paul Bartlett" <paul@fulking.freeserve.co.uk>; "Chris Redding"
> <chris.redding@g4pdj.freeserve.co.uk>
> Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 5:38 AM
> Subject: Fw: [SOC] Concorde
>
>
> > Big news about Concorde on TV tonight.  Clearly end of an era.
> >
> > Not sure I can agree about blaming US for lack of commercial success.
The
> > bird is elegant, without question.  But no matter what you do, the fuel
> > costs are huge and that means that any flight winds up in the luxury
> > category with no economy of scale.  There is something about the
American
> > psyche that resents the elites who can afford such luxury, so the bulk
of
> > the traffic will go steerage---but many more people will travel because
> they
> > can.  The airlines currently use a somewhat movable bulkhead to
> distinguish
> > between first class and ordinary passengers, guaging the market.  Empty
> > first class seats are common.   I suspect the market, if any, would be
> > something like a supersonic Gulfstream IV.  This would be a small
capacity
> > private aircraft for  corporate  or charter use.  BTW, a lot of
corporate
> > exec travel is from shared ownership aircraft.  Dunno about the cost of
> > building, but that kind of market might work.  It would especially work
if
> > you had special gating or other arrangements to allow the priveleged
class
> > to pass without all the security delays.
> >
> > What knowing Americans are jealous of is not Concorde, but rail
transport
> > from the airport.  LHR does well.  Frankfurt is awesome.  Brussels is a
> > little odd, but works well enough with the line into main station.  US
> ports
> > of entry are a dog's breakfast with respect to internal travel and rail
is
> > virtually gone.
> >
> > FWIW
> >
> >
>