This morning, as my flight back from Philadelphia was taking off, so did the final flight of the Concorde, the world’s only supersonic airplane. With tickets costing upwards of $8,000, the airliner has long been considered a status symbol by celebrities and CEOs alike.
High operations and maintenance costs drove British Airways to stop scheduling flights — even though Virgin’s head, Richard Branson, offered to take over the business. Meanwhile, the decades-old B-52 Stratofortress is expected to keep aloft for another 40 years.