On this day…in 2003 The supersonic Concorde jet makes its last
commercial passenger flight, traveling at twice the speed of
sound from New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport
to London’s Heathrow Airport on this day in 2003. The British
Airways jet carried 100 passengers, including actress Joan
Collins, model Christie Brinkley, and an Ohio couple who
reportedly paid $60,000 on eBay for two tickets (a roundtrip
trans-Atlantic fare typically cost about $9,000). A large crowd
of spectators greeted the plane’s arrival in London, which
coincided with two other final Concorde flights from Edinburgh
and the Bay of Biscay. The Concorde, which was developed jointly
by the British and French governments, began commercial service
in January 1976. A significant achievement in aviation
technology and design, the sleek, delta-winged planes could make
the trip from New York to London in around three and a half
hours, traveling at 1,350 miles per hour. The Concorde became a
symbol of speed and luxury, although