>I very much doubt Sir Branson will get his hands on them,
>BA will be very reluctant to give up such a (ex) flagship
>of their fleet. I remember hearing somewhere that he was
>offering BA £1 for each one, apparently the amount BA
>bought them for, not sure how true that is thou. In recent months there's been intense debate over who actually owns BA's fleet of Concordes. The controversy stems from the fact that when BA's Concordes were first constructed BA was government-owned, at the height of nationalisation - along with things like British Rail, British Coal and British Gas. When the Thatcher revolution came along and numerous industries were opened to private competition BA ceased to be government-owned and I believe it was sold off to a few private firms, with the largest one adopting the BA name for marketing purposes. When BA was privatised the fleet of Concordes were 'just there' for the new owners to continue operating but arguably the fleet always belonged to the British government, who paid for them in the first place using taxpayers' money, and were simply on loan to the privately-owned BA because the government no longer operated its own airline firm. If proof existed that BA never bought the fleet of Concordes but merely by some loophole or other continued to maintain and operate aircraft still in the hands of the British government then whether or not BA wanted to sell the fleet would not enter the equation: It would be up to the government to decide whether or not to offer up the fleet to Branson.
The lack of information pertaining to this issue in recent weeks leads me to suspect that this really is the end of Concorde and that Branson will not be given the opportunity to continue operating the fleet under the Virgin brand although I have heard some very convincing arguments in favour of ensuring Concorde lives on - the most common seems to be that since so much taxpayers' money was ploughed into the project it is the government's duty to make an effort to recoup that money and the best way of doing that would be to allow someone with the financial power and brand-awareness of Branson to buy the fleet. I think whether or not the fleet are sold-on is now entirely dependent on determining the 'real' owner - and if the British government could prove that it owned the fleet I think they would be keen to sell to Branson: The government would get more money, there seems to be public support for a bid by Branson and the rebirth of Concorde could win the government much praise.
>On the otherhand it would be great to see them flying
>again under the Virgin Atlantic livery
Indeed it would be.
-Stephen.
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