Jet-set glamour retires.

Byline: The Register-Guard

For nearly 30 years, the supersonic Concorde jets ferried passengers across the Atlantic. At the time of their inaugural flights, those airplanes represented the future of intercontinental travel. But now, due to the world's economic downturn, huge passenger fares - up to $12,800 for a round trip from New York to Europe - and understandably low ticket sales, the Concorde is grounded.

The final three flights of the British Airways and Air France Concordes landed at London's Heathrow Airport last Friday, ending an era of promise, disappointment and controversy.

The promise stemmed from the Concorde's ability to whisk passengers across the Atlantic in three-and-a-half hours. But high fares, limited routes and other factors did it in. Speed, after all, isn't everything. Except for people not quite rich enough to own their own places but so well-heeled that they'd pay an extra $10,000 to shave a few hours off an Atlantic crossing, the Concorde never found a market.

Indeed, in an era of mass air travel, the Concorde's main asset may have been its snob appeal. As jetliners became more like intercity buses, the Concorde gave off a whiff of glamor. Yet the French and British governments never had an easy time explaining why taxes collected from people who fly coach should subsidize superfast travel for the jet set.

Maybe someday, a manufacturer will find a way to build a supersonic commercial plane without the Concorde's limited passenger capacity, its enormous appetite for fuel and its deafening sonic booms. But the Concorde wasn't that airplane. As The New York Times noted, even in subsonic flight, the Concorde's engines set off car alarms and shook houses on the ground. That ruled out lucrative transcontinental routes.

One of the last three flights took off for Heathrow from Edinburgh, Scotland, carrying winners of a competition. Another left from Heathrow itself, carrying a guest list of passengers for a flight over the Bay of Biscay at twice the speed of sound. The third was a celebrity-laden flight from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, which touched down at Heathrow at 4:05 p.m. British time on Friday.

Part of the Concorde's economic problems stemmed from the decision 30 years ago by the United States not to develop its own supersonic commercial jet. That decision prompted U.S. airlines to forsake supersonic travel. That, in turn, led the United States to restrict routes, forced up prices and, over time, did in the Concorde.

But, in its day, the Concorde was a marvel. And one of the jets may yet fly one more time - from London to New York on Dec. 17 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered air flight. That would provide perfect bookends to the beginning of air flights and the end of an exceptionally forward-looking, but flawed, intercontinental jet.