At Last, A Way To Run Red Lights In Style Supersonic Concorde To Fly To Spokane

Superman isn’t the only one who travels faster than a speeding bullet.

Passengers aboard the venerable ol’ ahead-of-its-time Concorde supersonic jet routinely reach a velocity of around 1,350 mph - twice the speed of sound and, yes, faster than most bullets.

Unlike Superman, though, they can enjoy champagne and caviar while cruising 10 miles above the Earth.

This May, 100 Spokane area residents can fly aboard the distinctive needle-nosed aircraft, and thousands more may watch it land here for the first time.

Most Concorde flights are between New York and Europe. But since 1989, St. Louis-based Montclair Travel has promoted one-time flights to more remote U.S. cities.

Finally, it’s Spokane’s turn.

What company Vice President Diane Sommer calls “the trip of a lifetime” will begin May 11 with a conventional flight from Spokane to New York, followed by a six-day ocean crossing aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 luxury liner, then four nights in London.

The last leg of the journey - and presumably the highlight - will be the flight home aboard a British Airways Concorde.

For the trip to occur, though, Montclair must book 100 passengers - Concorde’s capacity - by late March.

About 40 people have called the travel agency since newspaper ads began running last week, but so far no one has signed up. “We don’t like to take reservations until they’ve read the brochure,” Sommer explained Wednesday.

The price of the 12-day adventure starts at $5,895 per person (not including lunches and dinners in London). But Sommer says two-thirds of her travelers usually opt to upgrade their stateroom and meals aboard the QE2, which can raise the cost to as much as $14,400.

For the sake of comparison, you already can sail the QE2 from New York to London, then fly the Concorde back to New York for $5,029. Toss in four nights in London ($600) and a round-trip Spokane-to-New York ticket ($452) and you could create your own “trip of a lifetime” for $6,081 and some change.

But saving a couple hundred bucks by booking with Montclair misses the point.

Since commercial flights began two decades ago, none of the sleek, delta-winged craft has visited Spokane.

A second trip seems even less likely. Not only do federal laws prevent the Concorde from flying at sonic boom-producing speeds over the continental United States, but its four Rolls Royce Olympus engines are so noisy during takeoff that the jet doesn’t meet current federal noise standards. Thus it operates under a “grandfather” clause, a humbling status for such a futuristic-looking craft.

When a Concorde landed in Dayton, Ohio, several years ago, 30,000 locals turned out to gawk. Sommer says Concorde’s more recent arrival in St. Louis drew 40,000.

It’s hard to say what may inspire people to ante up thousands of dollars to travel from London to Spokane in seven hours instead of the usual 10.

But a 97-year-old St. Louis man too arthritic to make the trip himself shelled out $24,600 so his two children and their spouses could experience the thrill in his place.

Sommer said the average age of her clients is 67 - those old enough to remember once being awed by the speed of V-8-powered roadsters, and now wealthy enough to experience Mach 2.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: The Concorde

MEMO: To learn more about the Concorde flight, contact a local travel agent or call Montclair Travel at (800) 433-3500.