Air France Concorde makes final landing

Air France’s streamlined white Concorde swooped into a Paris airport on its final commercial flight home today, an emotional end to years of supersonic travel between New York and Paris.

The plane touched down at Charles de Gaulle Airport at 5.44 pm local time (3.44 Irish time) after cruising over the Atlantic Ocean at twice the speed of sound. Hundreds of Concorde fans gathered to watch.

The plane and the rest of the Air France Concorde aircraft will be retired - one to an exhibit at Charles de Gaulle Airport and the other four to museums.

“It’s the end of an era in aviation,” said Dominique Bussereau, France’s transport secretary, before the flight took off from John F Kennedy International Airport.

British Airways, the only other airline that flies the Concorde, plans to retire its fleet at the end of October. Both companies say they can no longer afford the plane’s costly maintenance.