Though Audrey Hepburn didn’t actually deliver that line in her 1954 film Sabrina, it’s widely attributed to her, and having lived in Paris for three years, I couldn’t agree more. To this day, I never need an excuse to go. I’d happily hop the pond to La Ville-Lumière for the opening of an envelope.

But on one day in April 2000, Paris became a great idea, an incredible idea, une très, très bonne idée—no, that’s not hyperbolic enough. On one April day, Paris became the best idea ever, as I booked myself on Air France Flights AF001 and AF002 aboard Concorde for a round trip from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport (LFPG).

To say a flight on Concorde (not “the” Concorde) was unlike one on any other commercial aircraft is an understatement. The delta-winged Concorde was a truly unique airplane and an extraordinary feat of aeronautical engineering, especially for its time. Incorporating groundbreaking technologies like fly-by-wire, it was as stunning and graceful as it was swift, scorching the stratosphere at altitudes high enough to make a flat-earther blush. On my particular flights, we got up to FL580 and Mach 2.02—faster than a bullet and high enough to plainly see the curvature of the Earth.

• READ MORE: Tripping the Light Fantastic

From its first flight a few months before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon to its first commercial flights in 1976—G-BOAA, London to Bahrain and F-BVFA, Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar, Senegal—to its final flights 27 years later, Concorde captured hearts, minds, and dreams around the world. Coincidentally, F-BVFA is also the airplane I flew on from New York City to Paris. It is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. 

Tuesday, October 24 marks the 20th anniversary of the final scheduled commercial flights of Concorde. On that day, British Airways Concorde G-BOAG, as BA002, took off from JFK, with chief pilot Mike Bannister at the controls, and landed at London’s Heathrow Airport (EGLL) a scant few hours later, but not before “Alpha Golf” formed up with two other Concordes for a low formation pass over London.

Alpha Golf is now on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. On its way to retirement—because of course it did—G-BOAG set a New York-to-Seattle speed record of 3 hours, 55 minutes, 2 seconds, flying supersonic over Canada along the way. As one would expect, Concorde holds many speed records, including the fastest Atlantic crossing and New York to London in 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds.

The final scheduled passenger flight for an Air France Concorde came earlier in 2003 on May 31. That morning, Concorde F-BTSD, as AF001, departed JFK at 8:15 a.m. and landed at 4:30 p.m. local time in Paris. That airframe is on display near Paris at the National Air and Space Museum of France, located at Paris Airport-Le Bourget (LFPB) .

There are just three Concordes on display in the U.S. In addition to the two mentioned earlier, British Airways G-BOAD is preserved at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

I recently caught up with both Bannister and John Tye, another British Airways Concorde captain, and asked them both what they thought about this anniversary. 

“I was fortunate enough to fly that last flight from New York to London,” said Bannister. “Every time I go to Brooklands [Museum near London] and look at the stylish lines of our Concorde there, she still looks like she was designed only a few years ago, very 21st century. I also still find it difficult to get my mind around just how technically advanced she was—an aeroplane that could carry 100 passengers 1,350 miles per hour across the Atlantic in great safety. We did something then that can’t be done now.

“When we look at Concorde, there is nothing like it today. It’s amazing to think that the last flight was 20 years ago. It seems like yesterday, both literally and metaphorically.”

Tye wasn’t flying any of the final flights.

“I was at a beach bar in Barbados, rum and coke in hand and tears streaming down my face as I watched Mike land that last airplane,” Tye said. “On October 24, there will be a big crew reunion at Brooklands. All flight crew, cabin crew, ground staff, 196 people coming together. Concorde is an aluminum tube. It’s the people who brought her alive, made her so special. We were just the privileged ones who got to fly Concorde and get paid for it—absolutely astonishing.”

Look for more in 2024 from FLYING Media Group on Concorde. I will detail not only my own experiences flying on the airplane but also bring you along as we meet the pilots who flew Concorde and get into the weeds with them about what she was really like to fly.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.

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As the U.S. home base for Amazon Air and DHL Express, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (KCVG) moves large volumes of express shipments. Now the airport is positioning itself to attract general cargo carried by passenger and freighter operators interested in bypassing crowded international gateways for faster turnarounds.

Officials have arranged to process significant amounts of cargo to be carried by a new British Airways (LSE: IAG) passenger service and recently struck a deal with a private company to develop an air cargo warehouse facility with airside access on 4.5 acres of airport property.

British Airways is scheduled to launch nonstop service between London Heathrow and KCVG on Monday. Flights will operate five times a week utilizing Boeing 787-800 Dreamliners, switching to four times weekly on Boeing 777-200 aircraft during the winter season. Airline officials were drawn by the fact that Dayton’s population bleeds into the Cincinnati area and there are millions of people within a two-hour drive of KCVG.

British Airways selected Miami-based Alliance Ground International, a fast-growing airport services company backed by private equity, to provide warehousing and pallet buildup/breakdown and sorting. AGI is occupying a 15,000-square-foot building where staff will bring cargo offloaded from British Airways flights and send out exports. 

The only other carrier that provides trans-Atlantic service from KCVG is Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), which flies to Paris.

Although the route is ostensibly for passenger business, cargo opportunities likely factored into British Airways’ decision too. The 787-800 has room in the lower hold for more than 16 tons of cargo. Larger 777-200s can carry 22 tons of cargo and baggage. Stakeholders anticipate the new service will draw substantial interest for goods movement.

GE Aviation, aircraft engine maker Safran, Procter & Gamble, and drug and medical device research company Medpace Holdings all have headquarters and manufacturing sites in the Cincinnati area. Crane Worldwide Logistics has a 1 million-square-foot distribution center about 2 miles from the airport and is building another 600,000-square-foot facility nearby. Amazon Air and DHL Express have superhubs at KCVG, where they process millions of packages each week.

“While DHL Express maintains its own dedicated air network … the expanded commercial space that British Airways brings with its new service to [KCVG] will offer additional capacity to our express shipping network. This enhancement will benefit our customer shipments moving in both directions between the Americas and European regions,” said Joe Reusch, vice president of Americas network management at DHL Express, in a statement to FreightWaves. “It also facilitates more direct connectivity for the benefit of management teams that need to travel between our largest hub in the Americas region at [KCVG]and the extensive British Airways network.”

KCVG is a new location for Alliance Ground International, which has expanded its U.S. airport footprint over the past two years through a series of acquisitions. 

“The way Cincinnati is growing and with the freight forwarders in that area there are a lot of opportunities. So we’re very excited to be getting into that market,” said Warren Jones, AGI’s vice president of business development. 

Having a cargo agent with a large customer list and national footprint is a drawing card as the airport authority pursues other cargo airlines, said Simon Wood, director of air service development at KCVG. 

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky is the seventh-largest cargo airport in North America by tonnage, according to Airports Council International. More than 70 percent of the throughput is domestic freight, thanks to the Amazon facility.

In mid-May, KCVG officials struck a deal with Burrell Aviation on a master lease under which the Aspen, Colorado-based firm will invest a minimum of $20 million to develop an 80,000-square-foot air cargo transfer facility. Last year, the airport demolished old cargo facilities to make way for a new air logistics center on the northern end of the property. Construction planning is underway. 

“We’re expecting a lot of general air freight to take place in that new area. It’s got a huge apron on that side for large freighters. We’ve got great courier business but the missing piece here has been general airfreight and maximizing the belly freight that comes through here,” said Wood. 

Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population is within a day’s truck drive of KCVG. A new $3 billion bridge span between Covington, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, made possible by the 2022 federal infrastructure law, is designed to alleviate congestion on Interstates 71 and 75 crossing the Ohio River. The current bridge handles a large volume of daily truck traffic.

Many logistics companies are looking for alternatives to Chicago O’Hare and other major airports where it often take two or more days to retrieve cargo because of labor shortages, poor truck access, limited storage capacity and other factors.

Wood said there was room for KCVG to gain air cargo without detracting from cargo-focused Rickenbacker airport, less than two hours northeast in Columbus, Ohio.

IAG Cargo, the consolidated cargo business for British Airways and IAG Group airlines, declined to comment for this story.

For more coverage on air cargo, go to FreightWaves.

The post British Airways Brings Belly Cargo to Cincinnati/N. Kentucky Airport appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court, Comair, which was a licensee for British Airways, alleged that Boeing “misrepresented and concealed material facts concerning the 737 Max,” and refused to return the advanced deposits of more than $45 million for aircraft it did not deliver.

A spokesperson for Boeing declined to comment.

• READ MORE: Boeing Facing Criminal Charges for 737 Max Accidents

In a statement released Tuesday, Comair said it paid in full for one 737 Max and took delivery of the aircraft, but the worldwide grounding of the 737 fleet after two fatal accidents put the airline at a loss of more than $83 million.

Comair alleges that Boeing has a “conceal culture” as the company tried to downplay issues created by the position of the engines that resulted in uncommanded pitch issues. Rather than initiating a costly redesign of the aircraft, “Boeing tried to combat it with a new software called the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (“MCAS”), which automatically applied downward stabilizer trim,” it said in a statement.

Boeing has been criticized for not providing adequate information or training on the use of MCAS to the pilots of the 737 Max.

• READ MORE: NTSB, Ethiopian Investigators Clash Over 737 Max Accident Report

The malfunctioning MCAS was cited in two 737 Max crashes. The first was on October 28, 2018, when Lion Air Flight 610 went down 11 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 souls on board. 

The second accident was March 10, 2019, when Ethiopian Air Flight 302 crashed six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing all 157 souls on board. In both cases the MCAS put the airplanes into dives from which the crew could not recover.

The post Comair Claims Fraud In Boeing 737 Max Lawsuit appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

A British Airways Boeing 747, which was grounded back in 2019, was sold to the highest bidder for a whopping $1.30. After purchasing the aircraft in October 2020, Suzannah Harvey, chief executive of the privately owned Cotswold Airport (GBA) in the United Kingdom, decided to make the plane a one-of-a-kind entertainment venue. 

The Renovation 

The first step in the 747’s $671,000, 14-month transformation was to gut the inside. By removing the luggage compartments and economy seating, Harvey made room for a bar, cocktail tables, and a dance floor with a disco ball.

“It’s been a lengthy process to actually make it safe for public viewing, because these aircraft are designed to be in the air,” Harvey told CNN.

Most of the renovation costs funded a secure $268,000 concrete pad for the Boeing’s forever home at the airport and $107,000 for electrical hookups. The inside of the venue was left mostly to look like the inside of an airline to give an “aviation chic” aesthetic. 

Party like a Rockstar

The plane already has bookings, though it does not officially open until March 1. Some of the events include TV show recordings and a plethora of parties. Starting rates for parties are $1,300 an hour. 

For soon to be newlyweds, the aircraft also has a wedding license. Some wedding planners may even say $16,000 for 24 hours is a steal.

While partying in a Boeing 747 may seem like a dream, there is one shortfall to the new venue. 

“One problem that we still haven’t managed to solve is to get the toilet system working,” Harvey expressed to CNN. “We’re hopeful that we’ll nail that problem in the next six months or so. But at the moment, we’ve got very posh loo units that are positioned outside.”

The post A Retired Boeing 747 Becomes a New Party Venue appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

British Airways flight BA001—a flight number previously reserved for Concorde—and Virgin Atlantic flight VS3, both operating on A350 aircraft, departed from London’s Heathrow (EGLL) airport bound for New York’s John F. Kennedy International (KJFK) in a synchronized take-off at about 8:30 a.m. local time.

It marked the first flight to the U.S. from the U.K. since the lifting of restrictions for the majority of British travelers that went into effect in March 2020.

British Airways’ chairman and CEO Sean Doyle, who was aboard flight BA001, said, “Today is about celebrating the U.K.-U.S. reopening of the transatlantic corridor after more than 600 days of separation, and it was fantastic to be able to mark this by synchronizing the take-off of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights for the first time ever.”

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Shai Weiss said that while the two airlines are rivals, Monday’s historic event is a perfect reason to set that aside.

“Today is a time for celebration, not rivalry,” Weiss said. “Together with British Airways, we are delighted to mark today’s important milestone, which finally allows consumers and businesses to book travel with confidence.

“The U.S. has been our heartland for more than 37 years, and we are simply not Virgin without the Atlantic. We’ve been steadily ramping up flying to destinations including Boston, New York, Orlando, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and we can’t wait to fly our customers safely to their favorite U.S. cities to reconnect with loved ones and colleagues.”

Reopening the transatlantic travel corridor will provide a significant boost for the aviation industry. In 2019, before the pandemic, 22 million people traveled between the two countries, along with 900,000 tons of cargo.

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