When Concorde Came To Lanzarote

Concorde

It was on 18th November 1999 when G-BOAC, a British Airways Concorde, landed at Arrecife airport. She was bringing in passengers who were due to embark on a luxury cruise setting out from the island.

Word went out, and the airport surroundings were filled with people to watch the aircraft as she landed and taxied to the gate. Work stopped on all the other aircraft on the apron as workers paused to see the supersonic jet.

We found this series of still images woven into a video:

And there is a very scratchy video of the event Here:

Update 28th February 2020. A very kind reader has sent us this video of Concorde landing and taking off from Lanzarote:

The passengers and baggage were unloaded and an hour later, engines roaring on afterburner, the aircraft returned to the UK. Just 7 months later, an Air France Concorde crashed and all the remaining aircraft were retired in 2003.

I can’t find any data to tell me how long the aircraft took to fly to the UK, but working it through on the basis that Concorde cruised at 1300MPH versus 560MPH for a Boeing 737, I’d guess it would have taken about 2 hours, allowing for the fact that the climb and descent would be at normal speeds. How I’d love a 2 hour flight time to London!

The aircraft that landed here in Lanzarote, G-BOAC was the flagship of British Airways fleet and is now on display at Manchester Airport.

Here are some tips to get better flight prices to Lanzarote.

  • Book Lanzarote Airport transfers