Concorde may be the most famous supersonic aircraft in the world but according to British Airways, its passengers are not all super rich or famous.
In fact, every high-street travel agency could have a potential Concorde passenger among its clientele, be they business travellers looking for a fast flight to New York or holidaymakers planning a trip of a lifetime.
A typical Concorde passenger is a chief executive of a large corporation, such as a pharmaceutical company or a multinational bank, whose time is far more valuable than spending the 15% extra it costs to fly supersonic rather than first class on a regular aircraft.
Concorde brand manager Gideon Fielding said: “A lot of our clients are flying between The City and Wall Street and two hours of their time is worth an awful lot of money to them.
“We also have a lot of management consultants who often need to get to Wall Street in a hurry, as well as people from the media and from the fashion industry.”
Celebrities make up a high proportion of Concorde’s payload but sitting alongside them will be several holidaymakers who have saved up for years for a once-in-a-lifetime supersonic experience.
Fielding believes it is this market that is set to grow.
“There is a big opportunity for agents to sell Concorde to the premium leisure market,” he said.
“There are more and more retired people, aged 50-60, who have time and money to spend who will pay to travel in style.”
BA is planning to make the Concorde experience even better with a total overhaul of the product, which begins in May.
The £14m revamp includes new seats, washrooms, galleys, plus a new lounge at Heathrow and possibly a glass walkway to the aircraft.
Concorde was last refurbished in 1993 but Fielding said this would be the first complete revamp of the service since the first BA Concorde flight around 30 years ago.
“As well as changing the fundamentals, such as the seating, we are looking at other things such as the catering which has come a long way in the past few years,” he said.
BA operates two supersonic return flights a day to New York and weekly flights to Barbados in the winter but the airline is constantly evaluating other potential routes for the Concorde service.
At the moment, it is considering a relaunch of supersonic flights to Washington DC which were dropped five years ago, and it is looking at the possibility of flying to other islands in the Caribbean.
Concorde flights can be booked via a global distribution system where they appear alongside BA’s regular services, or they can be booked over the phone or on the Internet. There are no net deals for agents, however. Due to the higher cost of the air fares, BA pays a straight 9% commission for all Concorde bookings.
Although most business passengers book at the last minute, Fielding said holidaymakers are best advised to book two to three months in advance to make sure they secure a seat.
“Westbound flights are fuller than the return flights because business passengers like the fact that when they fly Concorde to New York they arrive in time for a full day’s work,” said Fielding.
“On the return leg the flights are not so full because they arrive in London late in the day.”