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CNN Live At Daybreak
Concorde Flies Into Aviation History
Aired October 24, 2003 - 06:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, she is sleek and fast. She can spread her wings and fly at twice the speed of sound, but lady Concorde will fly no more after today. She may be high-tech, but she's too high-maintenance.
Paula Hancocks joins us live at Heathrow Airport, just outside of London.
And I know you are awaiting the Concorde from New York with Richard Quest aboard.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, yes, Carol. He will be coming here in about four hours' time. The last Concorde -- the last trans-Atlantic Concorde will be landing here at 4:00 p.m. local time, 11:00 a.m. your time. It will be leaving JFK in New York in about 20 minutes' time or so. There will be a lot of VIPs on there, 100 very lucky passengers, of which one of them will be, as you say, the VIP Richard Quest.
We are also expecting a supermodel on there, but British Airways has been fairly tight-lipped about who exactly will be on there. We're expecting a couple of actresses as well.
A couple of interesting facts for you that are very little known. Apparently, BA served 583,000 bottles of champagne since Concorde has been flying, since 1976. So, 27 years' worth of champagne, and that's quite substantial.
And also, maybe on the plane will be the most traveled Concorder. It's an oil company executive who makes 17 round trips a year. And when you consider it's $8,000 a pop for those tickets, he's got to have a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) penny to his name.
COSTELLO: Man, you're not -- oh, we're just getting word of celebrities boarding the Concorde in New York at the airport there: Joan Collins and Christie Brinkley. Could that have been the supermodel you were speaking of -- Paula?
HANCOCKS: That could well have been, yes. Richard Quest was mentioning there was a supermodel, so he's certainly mixing with the rich and famous at the moment. These tickets were so sought after. Everybody wanted to be on the very last Concorde to reach that mach 2 speed, twice the speed of sound, faster than a speeding bullet literally. And Richard Quest, I'm sure, will be telling us all about it a little later on.
COSTELLO: I wonder who his seatmate will be. I'm sure he's hoping it's Christie Brinkley.
A question for you: The tickets, some people -- I guess two people paid as much as $60,000 apiece to ride aboard the Concorde's last flight. What will happen to those planes after they land?
HANCOCKS: Well, this is what everyone is wondering at the moment. There are supposed to be a couple of them going to museums. British Airways may keep one just for ceremonies, fly-pasts, things like that. And there's also talk that one might be flown to the USA on the 17th of December to mark the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first manned aircraft.
So, that's probably what's going to happen. Parts of Concorde as well are going to be sold off. Air France has already sold off some of their Concorde bits and pieces. They stopped their flights back in May.
British Airways will be selling off bits and bobs later on next year. I spoke to the chief executive this morning. He would not tell me exactly what would be sold. He wouldn't tell me whether the nose would be sold or not, but he said there would be things for collectors to buy.
COSTELLO: All right, Paula Hancocks, many thanks to you. We'll get back to you throughout the day here no CNN, as we watch the Concorde take off from JJK and land at Heathrow Airport.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 24, 2003 - 06:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, she is sleek and fast. She can spread her wings and fly at twice the speed of sound, but lady Concorde will fly no more after today. She may be high-tech, but she's too high-maintenance.
Paula Hancocks joins us live at Heathrow Airport, just outside of London.
And I know you are awaiting the Concorde from New York with Richard Quest aboard.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, yes, Carol. He will be coming here in about four hours' time. The last Concorde -- the last trans-Atlantic Concorde will be landing here at 4:00 p.m. local time, 11:00 a.m. your time. It will be leaving JFK in New York in about 20 minutes' time or so. There will be a lot of VIPs on there, 100 very lucky passengers, of which one of them will be, as you say, the VIP Richard Quest.
We are also expecting a supermodel on there, but British Airways has been fairly tight-lipped about who exactly will be on there. We're expecting a couple of actresses as well.
A couple of interesting facts for you that are very little known. Apparently, BA served 583,000 bottles of champagne since Concorde has been flying, since 1976. So, 27 years' worth of champagne, and that's quite substantial.
And also, maybe on the plane will be the most traveled Concorder. It's an oil company executive who makes 17 round trips a year. And when you consider it's $8,000 a pop for those tickets, he's got to have a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) penny to his name.
COSTELLO: Man, you're not -- oh, we're just getting word of celebrities boarding the Concorde in New York at the airport there: Joan Collins and Christie Brinkley. Could that have been the supermodel you were speaking of -- Paula?
HANCOCKS: That could well have been, yes. Richard Quest was mentioning there was a supermodel, so he's certainly mixing with the rich and famous at the moment. These tickets were so sought after. Everybody wanted to be on the very last Concorde to reach that mach 2 speed, twice the speed of sound, faster than a speeding bullet literally. And Richard Quest, I'm sure, will be telling us all about it a little later on.
COSTELLO: I wonder who his seatmate will be. I'm sure he's hoping it's Christie Brinkley.
A question for you: The tickets, some people -- I guess two people paid as much as $60,000 apiece to ride aboard the Concorde's last flight. What will happen to those planes after they land?
HANCOCKS: Well, this is what everyone is wondering at the moment. There are supposed to be a couple of them going to museums. British Airways may keep one just for ceremonies, fly-pasts, things like that. And there's also talk that one might be flown to the USA on the 17th of December to mark the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first manned aircraft.
So, that's probably what's going to happen. Parts of Concorde as well are going to be sold off. Air France has already sold off some of their Concorde bits and pieces. They stopped their flights back in May.
British Airways will be selling off bits and bobs later on next year. I spoke to the chief executive this morning. He would not tell me exactly what would be sold. He wouldn't tell me whether the nose would be sold or not, but he said there would be things for collectors to buy.
COSTELLO: All right, Paula Hancocks, many thanks to you. We'll get back to you throughout the day here no CNN, as we watch the Concorde take off from JJK and land at Heathrow Airport.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
