Concorde to end on a record

Devotees of supersonic travel will today have the opportunity to buy a seat on Concorde's final flight as tickets for the historic journey go on sale.

British Airways is hoping to break Concorde's seven-day passenger record by carrying the full capacity of 2,000 people on the 20 flights it makes between 18 October and 24 October, when its 27 years of service will come to an end.

Martin George, British Airways' director of marketing, said more than 1,000 competition winners and special guests would also be enjoying Concorde's last stand on the farewell tour of the UK.

"People have been calling us all summer about buying a seat for the final week and we are delighted that we can now begin offering them to those people on our waiting lists and several hundred other customers," he said.

"We have about 450 new seats on sale for her final week in commercial service which will go on sale from this morning.

"Given other Concorde seat sales have sold in a matter of hours we hope this will prove just as popular."

On the UK tour, Concorde will visit Birmingham, Belfast, Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh before finally making a series of three supersonic flights from New York, Edinburgh and round the Bay of Biscay on its final day.

The fares, for travel between London and New York, cost £4,350 for one-way on Concorde and return by World Traveller, and up to £8,292 for a return trip, both ways on Concorde.