Bull.
No, it really was noise.
Back then the environmentalists had a lot of power (and they still do) and even helped kill the US SST…concerns about contrails (the late 60s version of the current global warming hysteria…they were afraid that contrails would make global cooling) and sonic booms IN ADDITION to take off and landing noise. Remember, they flew into NYC and Wash DC…two particularly noise sensitive areas.
About your conspiracy theory…
Why would an airport give up landing fees because the plane wasn’t made in the US? Seattle is no where near New York or DC. They don’t give a rats a** about some assembly line worker in Renton.
I think your kind of argument would make more sense in Europe where Unions/Industry/government are more closely tied.
And the reason why US airlines didn’t operate Concorde was economics…Airlines don’t care who make the bloody machines as long as they do it at a profit. Commercial airlines (as opposed to European government-owned ones) are neither sentimental or nationalistic. Witness Airbus sales in the US and Boeing sales in the EU.
They look at the bottom line.
Environmentalists killed the Boeing SST? No, it was a poor design aswell. The hinges on the wings (swing wing design) were a huge weight and they couldn’t resolve the problem.
As for concorde, well, it had received over 70 orders around that time, including from US airlines I think. But the 144 crash and an oil crisis lead to cancellations. The Boeing SST also had plenty of orders, so your economics point isn’t valid as airlines clearly had some confidence in the aircraft.
Anyway, my original comment was tongue in cheek, hence the “:P”. So don’t get your knickers in a twist 🙂
And back to PIA…..
Does anyone know if the leased A310’s will be coming to GLA?
Gaz
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