The airworthiness certificates of the airliners, now mostly sat in museums, have long been withdrawn, and none will ever fly again. It would also set a final speed record on its flight from New York to Seattle in the same month. The very last flight of Concorde would go ahead in November 2003, from Heathrow to Bristol. After all, the first-class travel experience was considerably inferior to that on offer from subsonic aircraft once one discounted the glamour of speed. Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson offered to snap up the retired aircraft, but without Airbus's support, it is difficult to see how long Concorde could have continued operating. Virgin Galactic pals up with Rolls-Royce to work on Mach 3 Concorde-style private jet that can carry up to 19 people.Japan assembles superteam of aircraft component manufacturers to build supersonic passenger plane.NASA 'quiet' supersonic jet is nearly ready for flight.Airbus, which had acquired the original manufacturer, also announced that spares would no longer be supplied. In April 2003, British Airways and Air France announced the aircraft would be retired, and 20 years ago today, the last commercial flight was flown. Normal commercial operations resumed later that year, yet the fate of Concorde was pretty much sealed.
