The world's only supersonic passenger aircraft, Concorde, is set to come out of service permanently at the end of next week (24th October) leaving many luxury travellers looking for alternative ways to reach their destination in style. Although this is seen as the end of an era it was not necessarily a perfect one and has been greeted with a variety of reactions. Cheapflights.co.uk, the number one guide to travel deals, has chosen to celebrate this piece of aviation history by offering its viewers deals on top class alternatives.
Although the Concorde has been a technological success- breaking the sound barrier, flying at more than 50,000 ft and at speeds of 1350 mph-, it was also a commercial failure due to its extortionate running costs, consuming an incredible 5,638 imperial gallons of fuel every hour and having a capacity for only 100 flyers. Despite the fact that Concorde has attracted the 'thrill-seeking' rich and famous since it first started its commercial flights in 1976 (BA Concordes have been making 1,700 flights a year), it has suffered from other drawbacks including noise, crammed conditions, no on-board films and being less reliable than the alternatives. However, such achievements as crossing from Europe to New York in less than half the normal flying time for other jets (less than three and a half hours) is worth celebrating and so Cheapflights.co.uk has released the following deals on Business and First Class flights:
Cheapflights Business & First Class Deals:
Heathrow to Bahrain* = £986, 01 April 'O3-31 March '04, Flight Choice
Belfast City to NYC = £1476, 15 December '03- 01 January '04, American Airlines
Edinburgh to St Lucia= £2262, 25 December'03-31 March '04, British Airways
Gatwick to Dubai= £1670, 23 September '03 to 31 March '04, Benz Travel
Manchester to NYC= £1827, 01 June '04 to 29 June '04, British Airways
Cardiff to Dubai= £1381, 1 Jan '04 to 31 March '04, KLM Airline Networks PLC
Heathrow to NYC= £1359, 26 September '03 to 31 March '04, Benz Travel
*The first BA Concorde commercial flight was from London Heathrow to Bahrain on 21 January 1976.
David Soskin, CEO Cheapflights.co.uk, commented 'It is important to mark the great Anglo-Franco achievement of the creation of Concorde and more than 20 years of its services. We thought that releasing First class and Business class deals to great destinations on the Cheapflights web site would be a good way of marking the occasion and offering luxury travellers an alternative way of making their journey in style.'
