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The Time When Singapore Airlines Operated Concorde

The Time When Singapore Airlines Operated Concorde

In the Concorde story you always hear about British Airways and Air France who were the two main operators of the aircraft. Singapore Airlines also operated Concorde.

It is a small part of the aircraft’s history but an interesting one. I think it looks amazing in Singapore Airlines livery as well, I just wish there were more pictures of it.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES CONCORDE

Concorde services at British Airways were originally supposed to go to Australia, routing London-Bahrain-Singapore-Sydney. This is probably why the first scheduled service went to Bahrain as it is on the way.

SQ's Concorde | Airways Magazine.
SQ's Concorde | Airways Magazine.

 

The continuation to Singapore started on 9 December 1977 as a cooperative service between Singapore Airlines and British Airways. Flight crew were provided by British Airways while cabin crew were Singapore Airlines one way and British Airways the other way.

For the service, Concorde G-BOAD was painted in Singapore Airlines colours on one side. As a result, this aircraft usually operated the Singapore route.

Four days after the service started, it was withdrawn as the Malaysian Government complained about the sonic boom over the Straits of Malacca. How unfortunate!

POLITICAL PLAYING

Before services commenced, it was the Indian Government causing a headache as they refused permission for Concorde to fly over their territory. The airlines bargained but in the end had to route around the country adding 200 miles to the distance.

source : ConcordeSST.com
source : ConcordeSST.com

 

The Indian Government then tried to demand more access to London Heathrow for Air India in exchange for Concorde overflight rights. Governments have long used air service agreements in their game of political Chess.

When it comes to Malaysia, Singapore Airlines was a great competitor of Malaysian Airlines so that is one aspect. The other is that Malaysia was trying to use the carrot of Concorde access to gain fifth freedom rights out of Heathrow.

Eventually the airlines decided to avoid Malaysia as well, which added more complexity to the route. Services restarted on 24 January 1979 but were not to last.

THE END TO SINGAPORE AIRLINES’ CONCORDE VENTURE

Concorde finished serving Singapore on 1 November 1980 with flights being withdrawn due to low load factors. Apparently it lost £2 million each year.

Having to fly subsonic over various portions of the route as well as diverting around India and avoiding Malaysia did not help. Regular scheduled services on the rest of the route through to Australia never started as a result.

Source : The Travel Update

Akhyari Hananto

I began my career in the banking industry in 1997, and stayed approx 6 years in it. This industry boost his knowledge about the economic condition in Indonesia, both macro and micro, and how to More understand it. My banking career continued in Yogyakarta when I joined in a program funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB),as the coordinator for a program aimed to help improve the quality of learning and teaching process in private universities in Yogyakarta. When the earthquake stroke Yogyakarta, I chose to join an international NGO working in the area of ?disaster response and management, which allows me to help rebuild the city, as well as other disaster-stricken area in Indonesia. I went on to become the coordinator for emergency response in the Asia Pacific region. Then I was assigned for 1 year in Cambodia, as a country coordinator mostly to deliver developmental programs (water and sanitation, education, livelihood). In 2009, he continued his career as a protocol and HR officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Surabaya, and two years later I joined the Political and Economic Section until now, where i have to deal with extensive range of people and government officials, as well as private and government institution troughout eastern Indonesia. I am the founder and Editor-in-Chief in Good News From Indonesia (GNFI), a growing and influential social media movement, and was selected as one of The Most Influential Netizen 2011 by The Marketeers magazine. I also wrote a book on "Fundamentals of Disaster Management in 2007"?, "Good News From Indonesia : Beragam Prestasi Anak Bangsa di dunia"? which was luanched in August 2013, and "Indonesia Bersyukur"? which is launched in Sept 2013. In 2014, 3 books were released in which i was one of the writer; "Indonesia Pelangi Dunia"?, "Indonesia The Untold Stories"? and "Growing! Meretas Jalan Kejayaan" I give lectures to students in lectures nationwide, sharing on full range of issues, from economy, to diplomacy Less
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