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Concorde and the twin towers attack

The first flight after the modifications departed from London Heathrow on 17 July 2001, piloted by BA Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister.

 

During the 3-hour 20-minute flight over the mid-Atlantic towards Iceland, Bannister attained Mach 2.02 and 60,000 ft (18,000 m) before returning to RAF Brize Norton.

 

The test flight, intended to resemble the London–New York route, was declared a success and was watched on live TV, and by crowds on the ground at both locations.

 

The first flight with passengers after the accident took place on 11 September 2001, landing shortly before the horrific World Trade Center attacks in the United States. This was not a revenue flight, as all the passengers were BA employees.

One of the contributing reasons British Airways decided to abandon the Concorde was the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

 

Forty of the Concorde's best customers who travelled a minimum of 20 times a year worked at the World Trade Center, and were killed in the terrorist attack.

 

Following these attacks confidence in aircraft travel was at an all time low and the repecussions were felt across the globe with a downturn in customer confidence.

 

Some flights between the USA and UK/France were almost empty, when carrying a full load, Concorde achieved 15.8 passenger miles per gallon, post 9/11 the continuing costs of flying empty aircraft rocketed.

 Not to be deturred normal passenger operations resumed on 7 November 2001 by BA and AF (aircraft G-BOAE and F-BTSD), with service to New York JFK, where passengers were welcomed by then mayor Rudy Giuliani

 

The city of New York and indeed the entire world would be a different place to live following the tragic events that unfolded on 11/9/2001.

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