Concorde allow for "luxury" features of subsonic air travel such as moving space, reclining seats and overall comfort. In the words of "The Guardian"'s Dave Hall, "Concorde was an outdated notion of prestige that left sheer speed the only luxury of supersonic travel." Air France made its final commercial Concorde landing in the United States in New York City from Paris on 30 May 2003. Air France's final Concorde flight took place on 27 June 2003 when F-BVFC retired to Toulouse. An auction of Concorde parts and memorabilia for Air France was held at Christie's in Paris on 15 November 2003;
Concorde United States Government, as it lacked its own competitor. The US, India, and Malaysia all ruled out Concorde supersonic flights over the noise concern, although some of these restrictions were later relaxed. Professor Douglas Ross characterised restrictions placed upon Concorde operations by President Jimmy Carter's administration as having been an act of protectionism of American aircraft manufacturers. Concorde flew to an altitude of 68,000 ft (20,700 m) during a test flight in June 1973. Concorde is an ogival delta winged aircraft with four Olympus engines based on those employed in the RAF's Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. It is one of