|
CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
Concorde Flies Into Aviation History
Aired October 24, 2003 - 06:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: She is sleek and, oh, is she fast. And today, she will spread her wings for the last time -- the Concorde about to make its last flight.
Let's head live to JFK. None other than our own Richard Quest is there. He's set to get on board the Concorde for its final flight.
Lucky you -- Richard.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
I've looked. Look, there's my boarding pass: "12C, Quest, Richard." I tried to find Costello, Carol on the boarding list, but they told me you weren't on board. Not to worry. I'll tell you what it was like. I'll have a glass on your behalf.
COSTELLO: That's so nice of you.
QUEST: There she is. There she is, Speed Bird 002, Concorde that will go across the Atlantic.
If we can just zoom in, you'll see Captain Mike Bannister (ph), who is just now sitting in the left (UNINTELLIGIBLE) seat. He will be the pilot going across the Atlantic today, as we make our supersonic trip -- the last time that Concorde will carry commercial passengers.
Carol, you know, there are moments in one's career which you look forward to. I have to tell you, this is one of them.
COSTELLO: You're just such a crazy guy, Richard. So, did you have to pay to be on board? Of course, CNN probably paid. But I understand some people are paying up to $11,000 apiece to fly.
QUEST: What has happened is that basically it's all-invited flight. There are two passengers on board who have paid up to $60,000 for their ticket in a charity auction. There is actually one passenger who has paid the full price of about $7,000, and that's because he booked the ticket months ago. He didn't know it was going to be the last flight. British Airways offered to give him his money back, because he would be the only fare-paying passenger.
What we have to remember is that for 30 years, this plane has been the only supersonic transport. There is nothing truly in development at the moment, Carol. So, it will be years -- some would say decades -- before the economics of that sort of travel makes it worthwhile for anybody to build a replacement. COSTELLO: Yes. And it's sad that it's ending like that, because it is such a high-tech plane. I mean, no other plane can fly at, what, twice the speed of sound?
QUEST: The reason it's ending, of course, is that chief executives could no -- and there was a bread and butter at the end of the day. Forget the celebrities. It was the chief execs that paid the bills. But they could no longer justify being on board. Cutbacks, recession, layoffs. How can you sit on Concorde when everybody else is back in coach? No.
So, what happened was the economics went down, and then there was the problem of the environmental issues, the age of the aircraft, the cost of maintaining it.
What they decided to do at British Airways and Air France was give it a decent sendoff. Send it off into the blue yonder with style and dignity. And frankly, look, there is plenty of Champers (ph) to be drunk. Do I really have to stand here and talk to you forever?
COSTELLO: No, no, you're done. Go drink your champagne and cheers. Thank you, Richard Quest. We'll get back to you throughout the day here on CNN. Actually, he'll be in the air pretty soon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
|
