In the May 2015 issue of Aviation News, Stephen Skinner traced the highs and lows of Air France’s Concorde operations.
Captain Pierre Chanoine released the brakes of Air France Concorde F-BVFA and at the same moment Captain Brian Calvert did the same on British Airways G-BOAA. The choreographed event on January 21, 1976 marked the first Concorde passenger services with simultaneous departures from Paris and London.
Air France’s aircraft was flying to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar in Senegal and British Airways’ Concorde was heading to Bahrain. These unlikely destinations were the outcome of the United States’ decision to ban Concorde landing in the country, ostensibly bowing to public protest over potentially high noise levels.
The Rio service was flown twice-weekly. The airline opened its second Concorde route on April 9 with a weekly service between Paris and Caracas, Venezuela. A refuelling stop at Santa Maria in the Azores was required and the aircraft arrived in the Venezuelan capital on the inaugural flight 6hrs 12mins after leaving Charles de Gaulle (IATA code CDG). Caracas was not in the airline’s original plans, but while waiting for the US’ gateways to open it had to keep its Concordes flying. On …
