Frost helps underline the message: supersonic flight is back in business

It was a journey, we were told, of enormous symbolic importance. And what could be more symbolic than the sight of Sir David Frost taking his seat on BA001 yesterday morning? Only now could we be sure: Concorde was back in business.

Sir David, one of the most frequent supersonic flyers, was among the 91 invitees, who also included two other knights, four members of the Government, a host of leading industry figures, representatives of the media and one pop star, who was named on the passenger list as "Mr Gordon Sumner (Sting)''. Sting is one of Concorde's greatest supporters, at odds though it may be with his reputation as a man who likes to do things slowly.

Travelling at twice the speed of sound, yesterday's journey took just 3hrs 10 mins, arriving at John F Kennedy airport 15 minutes ahead of schedule. The flight was met by the outgoing Mayor of New York, Rudolph Guiliani, who came on board to deliver a brief message that captured the mood of a city both defiant and troubled.

"Welcome to the capital of the world,'' he said, "and while you're here, make sure you spend lots of money.''

If it was important for New York to have Concorde back in active service, bringing its twice-daily cargo of movers and shakers, its significance for British Airways, a company currently losing £2m a day, and for an industry desperate to revive public confidence, was even greater.

BA certainly did not leave anything to chance yesterday. On the ground, staff outnumbered passengers by about three to one and, in the air, service was unimpeachable. The wines were fine (vintage Krug, Puligny-Montrachet and Pichon-Longueville) and the menu was, at 60,000ft, literally haute cuisine: smoked salmon and caviar followed by a choice of sea bass, steak or risotto.

Concorde has, of course, a place in aviation history and in BA's portfolio of interests that far outweighs its strategic value. That much was clear when Mike Bannister, the chief Concorde pilot, came back to talk to us. His eyes misted over when he said that as he was queuing up to take off at Heathrow, an American pilot on another plane came on the intercom to say: "Go, Concorde, go.'' At every air traffic control centre he passed through, Captain Bannister said, he received good wishes. And a stewardess who had worked Concorde's aisles for more than two decades was visibly emotional when the big bird landed at JFK.

Lines of Dayglo-suited workers had come out on to the apron at Heathrow to watch the plane taking off, and the landing was covered live on American television. This was indeed a big, symbolic day for BA and probably for the airline industry as a whole.

BA001 touched down in New York at 9:08 on a cloudless, warm, late autumn morning. Captain Bannister took the microphone to welcome us, his pride and emotional attachment palpable even through the announcement of the bare facts and figures of our trip. Earlier he had said: "There's something very special about this plane.'' No one was going to argue with him.