Ageing icon whose cost was sky-high

From the start, the Concorde project was rooted firmly in the past. It was akin to building a Formula One racing car from the combined resources of the Morris Minor and Citroën 2CV production lines; you could do it, but the result might not be pretty.

From the start, the Concorde project was rooted firmly in the past. It was akin to building a Formula One racing car from the combined resources of the Morris Minor and Citroën 2CV production lines; you could do it, but the result might not be pretty.

Aesthetically Concorde is unequalled. It is one aircraft that turns heads, as the slender craft floats past with a roar that belies her beauty.

The iconic delta is a motif for the final quarter of the 20th century, and marks the conclusion of man's quest for speed. But tougher security checks and increased congestion mean that flying almost anywhere in the world is slower and more stressful than when the first commercial Concorde flight took off in 1976.

"Commercial" is stretching things a bit. The elitist symbol of Anglo-French esteem has been a financial disaster for taxpayers. Once the real world of aviation showed it was not interested in such a thirsty, noisy brute, the governments simply gave the jets to their national airlines. Each passenger who has flown on the jet has, in effect, been subsidised by about £3,000 per trip. The first destinations were Bahrain and Dakar. The North Atlantic routes upon which Concorde's success was believed to depend were closed to the new jet. After much diplomacy, Washington relented, but the US capital is one of many cities where Concorde came and, after losing a few million, went.

Concorde is as unsustainable economically as it is environmentally. The timing of yesterday's announcement is the culmination of events that began in 1999, just before the dot.com bubble burst.

The disastrous crash in Paris in 2000 made the aircraft statistically the most lethal and, while millions was poured into restoring safety, the increased cost of maintaining the relic proved too much to bear.

With some previous customers unwilling to fly between the UK and US on what they consider a high-profile target, and with business between France and America plummeting, Concorde has been killed off by geopolitical realities.