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Aviation History
1972
1972 - 2014.PDF
FLIGHT International, 10 August 1972 177 AIR TRANSPORT MM; : «.'l i?fi J5.S* I L' mrnit W*—* «•*• • "" •a I •-• V '*** • i.!» ; ini • -'...If*!.-. . V ? r ^'<\..' p _•» First Concorde orders placed CONTRACTS for the purchase of a total of nine Concordes were signed by Air France and BOAC in Paris and London on July 28. The BOAC order was for five and the Air France order was for four. They came soon after the signature by the Chinese Government of a preliminary contract which will lead to orders for two Concordes for CAAC; in addition the manufacturers hold a letter of intent for three for Iran Air. Signing the firm orders in London were Keith Granville, BOAC chairman, and Sir George Edwards, chairman of BAC (see picture overleaf). In Paris later the same day Air France's chairman, Georges Galichon, and Gen Henri Ziegler, president of Aerospatiale, signed the parallel document. Mr Granville said that it was the most significant single contract undertaken by BOAC since its purchase of the world's first jet transport some 20 years ago. He added: "We have complete faith that Concorde will make it pos sible for BOAC to lead the world successfully into the supersonic age. "BOAC, BAC and Rolls-Royce have consistently led the world in their particular fields. The Comet (sic) and the VC10 were outstanding examples. We three will do it again with Concorde. The difficulties that face us may seem formidable, viewed at this moment in time. But I am absolutely confident that, as so often in the past, our total energy, enthusiasm, flair and experience will be more than enough to overcome them. The Airbus Industrie A300B was rolled out of the assembly hall at Toulouse on August I. First taxi trials followed on August 4. The prototype will make its first flight later this year, and the type is due in service in 1974. First and second buys stand at 31; they have been placed by Air France, Iberia and Sterling "With this signature BOAC becomes the first airline in the world to back its faith in the potential for supersonic passenger flight with hard cash." Sir George Edwards, in reply, said: "The importance of this first airline contract for Concorde cannot be over stated. It represents the successful outcome of 11 years of collaboration with our French colleagues and we can now say that we have reached the end of the beginning. There has never been any doubt in my mind that Concorde would enter service and would reduce world journey times by half. This it will now do, starting in the spring of 1975. It is comforting to have one's beliefs justified and I am delighted that this first sale is to our old friends and colleagues of BOAC." In Paris on August 2 the new Transport Minister, M Robert Galley, promised an aggressive international sales campaign for Concorde. He added that negotiations for the sale of three each to Japan Air Lines and Iran Air were progressing satisfactorily. • In Zurich last week Swissair officials again said that Concorde's payload/range performance was inadequate for the airline's needs, although they emphasised that techni cally they had a high regard for the aircraft. They said that a 25 per cent payload reduction would be incurred on a typical Zurich-New York flight.
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