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give a date for the last scheduled flight. Air France, with five Concordes, announced its supersonic fred

Last week, Sir Richard offered to buy the supersonic planes from British Airways for £1 after BA said it would be retiring the planes later this year.

Passenger numbers have never recovered since Concorde's crash near Paris in 2000 and the aircraft is unprofitable.

But Sir Richard said Virgin Atlantic would be able to operate the plane because the carrier is more efficient than BA.

Supersonic plea

"We would very much like to fly Concorde," Sir Richard told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"Since Concorde was built by the British taxpayer at the cost of some billions of pounds and given to British Airways for one pound, if there is a carrier such as Virgin Atlantic with a lower cost base and willing to operate it, we believe British Airways... ought to hand the planes over to Virgin Atlantic."

Sir Richard said BA should not be mothballing the planes when they still had several years flying life left in them.

"I've written to British Airways and asked them if they will give us the planes rather than giving the planes to a museum.

"At the moment I've had a negative response and so I think our next move will be to go to the government... and ask them if they can intervene on our behalf



LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) - Virgin Atlantic Airways said on Thursday it was studying the possibility of buying all of British Airways Plc's Concorde supersonic aircraft, which the UK airline has said it will retire later this year.

Virgin Atlantic said it would ask for British Airways' operational figures and, if Virgin could make a success of the Concorde, it would ask to buy the fleet for the price of one pound.

"Having examined the figures, Virgin Atlantic, with its lower cost base, believes it can make a success of it. We will be asking British Airways to give us the planes for the same price that they were given them for -- one pound," Chairman Richard Branson said in a statement.

French afternoon newspaper Le Monde reported that several years ago, Branson had tried to negotiate the purchase of a few of Air France's Concorde planes.

British Airways have said it would rather retire its Concordes and donate them to museums.


 
04/10/03 11:53 ET
   
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PHOTO: A British Airways Concorde jet taxi's after landing at Kennedy International Airport from London's Heathrow Airport, Thursday, April 10, 2003, in New York. British Airways said its seven Concordes would stop flying at the end of October, but didn't give a date for the last scheduled flight. Air France, with five Concordes, announced its supersonic fred