LONDON — Grounded by Air France and British Airways, the supersonic, money-losing Concorde will fly into the history books by year's end.

Air France president Jean-Cyril Spinetta announced Thursday that his airline's fleet of five supersonic jets were being grounded for good. The airline said its Concordes, which are now flying only 20 per cent full, will stop flying by May 31.

British Airways said its seven Concordes will stop flying from the end of October, but didn't give a date for the last scheduled flight.

Soaring on the edge of space at twice the speed of sound,

Conceived before most people had colour television, the Concorde was designed to be unlike any plane the world had seen.

Peter Duffey was one of the first to fly the Concorde and realize how unique it was.

"Here we were at 60,000 feet, the other aircraft were at 30,000. We were flying 1350 mph, and the other aircraft were flying at 550 or 600," Duffey told CTV News.

The speed, safety, sleek design and luxury service of the supersonic jet came with a price, however. Only the rich and famous could easily afford its astronomical ticket prices.

Concorde nonetheless conferred unmatched prestige on operators British Airways and Air France, and the glamour of a glitzy passenger lists which included the Queen, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and Madonna.

Celebrity antics on the supersonic jets were guaranteed to make headlines. Motown diva Diana Ross was led off a Concorde by police at London's Heathrow Airport in 1999 after an altercation with a security guard.

In 1985, singer Phil Collins performed for the Live Aid concert in London, then jumped on the Concorde and resumed his globally televised act in Philadelphia a few hours later.

Such spectacles served to strengthen the image of the Concorde as an untarnished symbol of glamour. But the image lost its luster with the plane's first crash on July 25, 2000.

An Air France Concorde, spewing flames, slammed into a hotel minutes after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle airport. All 100 passengers, along with nine crew and four people on the ground were killed.

Investigators concluded that a stray bit of metal on the runway punctured one of its tires, propelling pieces of rubber into the fuel tank and igniting a fire.

Although Air France and British Airways assured the public the planes were safe after being grounded for more than a year, confidence never returned.

With an average of 80 out of every 100 seats flying empty the Concorde is now losing its companies too much money.

Concorde thus goes the way of the gilded carriage, the Orient Express and the Bugatti Royale as emblems of the rich and mobile.

And it may be a long time before the world sees another commercial airliner like the Concorde. Instead of the supersonic, airlines are now demanding massive planes that carry eight times as many passengers at less than half the speed.

With its flight path to retirement set, this may be the last chance to experience the Concorde before it drops its landing gear for good.

For those curious about travel at twice the speed of sound, British Airways has promised cut rate fares for the planes' final journeys.