WI - AFR4590 Goes Uneventfully

On July 25th 2000, Air France Flight AFR4590, operated by an Aérospatiale (Sud-Aviation/BAC) Concorde, rolled over a metal piece, bursting a tyre, causing a fuel tank rupture in the left wing, eventually leading to a powerful fire. Two minutes later, the Concorde crashes on the Hôtelissimo-Les Relais Bleus Hotel, in Gonesse, a few kilometers from Charles de Gaulle Airport; killing all 109 people onboard and 4 on the ground.

So, what if Concorde never rolled over that metal piece (say the piece wasn't directly on the landing gear's path) and flew without any incident to destination? What would be the ramifications of this? Would it affect Concorde's lifespand?

N.B.: I might not respond directly since I am on holiday, going to Spain, but I'll spy on the thread.
 
IMVHO for Concorde to continue to flying on it would need Airbus to continue maintenance support. That seems to have been the final nail in the coffin of the aircraft. BA had spent a great deal of money adding protection to the fuel tanks so that a repeat of AFR4590 would never re-occur, so they were evidently wanting to continue to operate the 'plane. Air France don't seem to have been so keen; I remember that there were rumours that BA might acquire the Air France Concordes.

The overall downturn in air travel post-9/11 also seems to have hurt Concorde more than other services. However perhaps without the crash and if Airbus kept up the maintenance support then Concorde might have made it to the end of the decade.
 
It took at least 7 mistakes to down the last Concorde, but the writting was on the wall.
Concordia never were terribly profitable.
They were getting long in the tooth/expensive to maintain.
The global economy was hyper-inflated circa 2000. 9/11 attacks were merely the trip wire that tripped the entire global economy into a recession. During the recession, luxury goods - like Concordes - were among the first to retire.

The only scenario to continue Concords operations would be to lease them to the new oligarchs as business jets. Though travelling in SSTs makes it difficult to conceal your movements.
 

Archibald

Banned
I think Concordes would keep flying until 2010 but would eventually be retired due to old age. Plus the aforementioned 9-11-2001 crisis, closely followed by the 2008 recession...

Do you know that in 2003 as British Airways was on the brink to retire its Concordes, Richard Branson proposed to buy some of these aircrafts for Virgin Atlantic ? I can see a couple or trio of Concorde surviving on a niche market related to the aircraft aura among the public, plus rich people that can pay for the unique service - only 3 hours of flight time between Europe and N.Y.

And if not Branson, who knows, maybe some U.A.E naboob with deep pockets could buy a trio of Concorde as its private business jet, I can see them with a luxury cabin for 10 or 20 passengers only, and some extended range...
A Concorde in Emirates livery would be awesome.
 
So, what if Concorde never rolled over that metal piece (say the piece wasn't directly on the landing gear's path) and flew without any incident to destination? What would be the ramifications of this? Would it affect Concorde's lifespand?
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Seriously, the AF4590 disaster was a tiny piece in a big puzzle.
 
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