Airport ditches Concorde for newer model

By Dave Harvey
BBC Points West Business Correspondent

Like the Concorde, the A380 is a massive Anglo-French collaboration

For decades holidaymakers and business travellers entered Heathrow Airport in London under the nose of the Concorde.

Now the supersonic jet has been replaced on the roundabout at the airport entrance by a model of the world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380.

"Filton (near Bristol) has had a close affinity with the roundabout site at Heathrow for many years", said Tom Williams, the UK's representative on the Airbus Board.

"Our flagship product from the last millennium was previously displayed there, so this new display by such a prestigious customer is especially pleasing."

It is a huge advertising stunt, but the change says more about the state of air travel than might have been intended.

Most obvious difference since Concorde's reign is the move from speed to size.

The world's fastest plane cruised at twice the speed of sound.

The world's biggest does not trouble the sound barrier, but carries five times as many people.

CONCORDE Top speed: 1450 mph/2333 km/h (mach 2.2) Wingspan: 25.6m (84ft) Fuel consumption (pp per 100km): 20 litres Max passengers: 128 (normally 100)

When Concorde was first tested at Filton, no-one measured its carbon footprint.

Now the Airbus sales team constantly extol the A380's ability to do "more for less".

"More passengers with less fuel," Airbus' chief operating officer John Leahy said.

"More comfort with less noise, and more travel with less environmental impact."
So is the A380 green?

Certainly the figures from Airbus are impressive.

The aeroplane uses three litres of fuel to carry each passenger 100km (62 miles), which is half that of the average European car.

Concorde used 20 litres per passenger for the same distance.

In fact, in the last 20 years Airbus has cut fuel consumption by 30% on all its aircraft.

But green campaigners say millions more people are flying, with aviation fuel emissions continuing to affect global warming.

AIRBUS A380 Top speed: 590 mph/949km/h (mach 0.89) Wingspan: 79.8m (262ft) Fuel consumption (pp per 100km): 3 litres Max passengers: 853 (normally 555)

The new Heathrow model also has new airline branding: British Airways is out, and Emirates is in.

It is a sign of the times that it is an Arab airline that has paid for the massive advertisement.

As the West feels the pinch of soaring oil prices, Arabs are buying aircraft like there is no tomorrow.

Emirates will take delivery of its first full size double-decker A380 in the last week of July.

By Christmas, the airline will have the biggest fleet of A380s at Heathrow.

And the Dubai leasing firm DAE recently bought $20bn worth of planes from Airbus in a single deal.

But what matters to those who work in the West Country aerospace firms that helped create the A380, is that airlines keep buying the planes, keeping their jobs secure.

Although accurate in one third scale and in detail, it is not constructed of aerospace materials or to aerospace standards Tom Williams, Airbus board

Thousands of people were involved creating landing gear in Gloucestershire, carbon fibre in Somerset, and wings designed at Filton.

And if they visit Heathrow, they will be able to point out the new model of their "claim to fame".

Just like the Concorde, the A380 is a massive Anglo-French collaboration.

But 40 years on, the Germans had a hand in creating the aircraft as well.

But the model itself? That was made in the US, by the Californian firm Penwal.

"Although accurate in one third scale and in detail, it is not constructed of aerospace materials or to aerospace standards," said Tom Williams.

In other words, the British may be the experts in making planes, but the US seems to have plane model-making sewn up.