Virgin boss keen to keep Concorde in the air

Richard Branson today stepped up his battle to keep Concorde flying by raising his airline’s offer to British Airways to £1m (1.43m) a plane.

The Virgin Atlantic chairman is prepared to pay for BA’s five operational Concordes, which are due to go out of service at the end of October.

But Branson faces further disappointment as BA said its position on retiring the supersonic jets remained unchanged despite the increased offer.

The entrepreneur has also put forward an alternative proposal to set up a charitable heritage trust to keep at least two planes flying semi-commercially.

BA is still finalising its own retirement plans for BA and is working on the possibility of keeping one Concorde for airshows and other events.

But a spokeswoman said the planes were not for sale: “We are clear that Concorde will not be flying commercially beyond October 2003.”

That view has been backed Airbus, the plane’s manufacturer which supplies Concorde’s spare parts and keeps it airworthy. A spokeswoman told the Sunday Telegraph the costs of maintaining the aircraft would be “horrendous”.

BA blamed falling passenger revenues and rising maintenance costs for its decision in April to retire the fleet after 27 years service.

But Virgin said it was prepared to operate a commercial service on routes to New York, Barbados and Dubai.