Change in Pitch

Ever since they got together on the project in 1962, British and French plane builders have been boasting that their 1,450-m.p.h. Concorde would open the era of supersonic air transport. Now the pitch has changed slightly. Last week, speaking at an aviation-writers convention in Manhattan, British Aircraft Corp. Chief Engineer William Strang scratched a line in his text that touted the Concorde as "the world's first supersonic transport," settled for a declaration that "the Concorde will not fail."

Why didn't he say that the Concorde will be first? Engineers from B.A.C.'s partner, Sud-Aviation of France, recently came back from a trip to the Soviet Union with word that Russia's 1,550-m.p.h. TU-144 transport probably will be in the air some time before the Concorde's maiden flight in February 1968.

Red-faced as they are at being No. 2, the B.A.C.-Sud combine's greater problems are in their own high-flying costs. Though the builders insist that the Concorde will be in service on schedule in May 1971, expensive engine and wing changes have had to be worked into the original design to guarantee a 4,000-mile range with ample fuel reserves, and thus quiet complaints that the plane was too short-legged for reliable, nonstop transatlantic flight. Those modifications, along with a "stretched" cabin which boosts passenger capacity from 118 to a more profitable 136, have helped send development costs soaring from the original estimate of $500 million to $1.1 billion. The tab for each plane, accordingly, has risen from $10 million to $16 million.

Even at that price, at least 70 must be sold to cover development costs, and the Concorde is already lagging in the sales race. So far, a dozen carriers have taken options on 52 Concordes, including 23 by TWA, Pan Am, Continental, Eastern and American Airlines. Though the U.S. SST does not yet have a builder--Washington will decide between Boeing and Lockheed by year's end--and will not be in service until 1974, 22 airlines have plunked down $9.6 million in deposits for 96 bigger (250 passengers) and faster (1,850 m.p.h.) American supersonics.

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