BA’s Concorde leaving Heathrow

The Evening Standard has a story about British Airways giving up one of the most visible advertisements in London, their mini Concorde on the roundabout where traffic enters and leaves the tunnel into Heathrow Airport’s terminals 1, 2 and 3.

According to the paper BA are withdrawing the Concorde, which has been there for 16 years, because they can no longer afford the £1.5million a year vig. Emirates Airline will take over the spot for the next six years with a version of one of their Airbus A380’s. Seeing as they also sponsor Arsenal, a A380 with the Emirates livery and Thierry Henry’s face would seem an appropriate image to welcome visitors to London.

British Airways seems to be having a hard time of it lately, with the news that the European Union has agreed an ‘Open Skies’ policy with the US allowing more American carriers into Heathrow and forcing BA to give up some routes, the threat of strikes this Easter and the bad publicity of their plan to charge passengers huge amounts for checking in more than one bag. With their shares taking a hit its not a moral booster to pull out of a prime spot at the country’s number one airport, but I guess the accountants are taking charge.