Record-breaking supersonic Concorde airplane floats down New York’s Hudson River

By CNN Newsource

Published March 14, 2024 7:16 AM

By Jeff Winter, CNN

(CNN) — Concorde, the world’s fastest commercial aircraft, has been making a rare journey – floating down New York’s Hudson River.

The British Airways Concorde, one of only 20 of the supersonic aircraft to ever fly, has been en route back to NYC’s Intrepid Museum after being sanded and recoated during several months of restoration.

The delta-wing jet, which has been a hallmark of the aviation and maritime museum since 2003, made its way along the river aboard a barge, with an overnight stop in Jersey City, New Jersey.

It was due to be unloaded by crane early on Thursday at the river’s Pier 86, with the event streamed live on the museum’s social media.

Intrepid says its Concorde holds the world speed record for a passenger aircraft, having reached 1,354 miles per hour – more than twice the speed of sound – flying New York to London in 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds in 1996.

The aircraft, call sign G-BOAD, first took to the skies in 1976 and once flew a service operated jointly by British Airways and Singapore Airlines, uniquely wearing the liveries of both carriers for a time, according to HeritageConcorde.com

It made its last flight in 2003, on its way to Intrepid. The fleet of Concordes was gradually phased out in the wake of an August 2000 incident in which a Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff in Paris, killing all 109 people on board.

The last ever flight by a Concorde was made on November 26, 2003. That aircraft, known as Delta Foxtrot, is now housed in Aerospace Bristol, an aviation museum in the west of England.

Tours of Intrepid’s Concorde will resume on April 4, the museum says.

CNN’s Barry Neild contributed to this story