Adieu, Concorde
A final tribute was paid to the supersonic Concorde passenger plane on Saturday at the 45th Paris air show.
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| Air France’s Concorde had its last flight on 31 May from New York to Paris |
French President Jacques Chirac, along with hundreds of spectators, gave a boisterous applause as one of Air France’s Concordes performed a final flight of honour over Le Bourget airport.
Saturday’s arrival of the Concorde marked the grand finale of an air display that began with a flyover by the Patrol of France, streaming trails of the French tri-colours of blue, white and red and featured 360-degree loops and death-defying dives by French-made Mirage and Rafale fighter jets.
The Concorde’s last commercial flight was on 31 May from New York to Paris.
It will now take its place at the nearby Air and Space Museum.
“It is an honour for Air France to officially donate the F-BTSD, an aircraft with multiple records, to the Air and Space Museum,” Air France chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta told museum director Marc Alban at a ceremony.
Air France retired its fleet in May and also donated one of its aircraft to the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum in the United States.
British Airways has announced that it will pull out its Concordes from service by October.