Club Concorde, as the group is called, is comprised of former pilots and frequent Concorde fliers and charterers that have kept the spirit of the plane alive over the years.
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The Concorde’s final flight took place on October 23rd, 2003 – almost 12 years ago.
A report by British newspaper The Telegraph reveals that with all the money, Club Concorde has chalked out a plan to purchase a Concorde aircraft and put it on display in Central London.
While the Club Concorde project is focused on preserving a symbol of the golden age of air travel, commercial airlines have been progressing in their plans to launch contemporary supersonic jets.
“We have been overwhelmed by the amount of enthusiasm and people wanting to invest”, Mr James said. Once operational, the club plans to use this craft for fly-pasts at airshows as well as corporate and special events. Perhaps it was due to the price of a concorde flight that put customers off, or maybe it was Airbus’ decision to stop maintaining the plane, but either way it’s safe to say that many assumed that was it.
The aim is to recommence flights in 2019, which will coincide with the 50th anniversary of Concorde’s first flight.
However, the Concorde Club’s “phase two” plans are substantially more ambitious: to buy “Concorde 001”, now a prize exhibit at The Museum of Air and Space near Le Bourget, France, and restore it to airworthy condition. It hopes to place one of the aircraft on a purpose-built platform positioned above the Thames, near the London Eye. Recently, Airbus filed patents for an aircraft that would be capable of traversing the distance between New York and London in just an hour – while travelling at four times the speed of sound, or twice the speed of the Concorde.
A spokeswoman for BA said the company had “no plans to return Concorde to the sky”.
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A British businessman has provided a £40m investment for the displays, which Club Concorde hopes will be completed by late 2016.
