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BRITISH Airways retired Concorde because it feared the aircraft was a target for terrorists or a ‘flying twin towers’, chief executive Rod Eddington has revealed.

He said the twice-daily service to New York was on average three-quarters full before the Paris air crash in 2000.

However, on the day BA announced it was retiring Concorde, the New York flight – which had been cut back to just one a day – was only 20% full.

Speaking at Travel Weekly sister publication Personnel Today’s HR Directors Club event, Eddington said a major reason for its change in fortunes was the threat of terrorism following the September 11 attacks.

"Many regular customers regarded it as a flying twin towers. It’s an obvious target, with Concorde being full of bankers, lawyers and rock stars," he said.

Eddington also predicted wholesale consolidation in the aviation sector but warned mismanaged integration could lead to BA-style staff problems throughout the industry.

He said the root cause of the carrier’s staffing problems – which resulted in wildcat strike action and a business-crippling absenteeism rate – is a lack of integration following a raft of mergers with airlines including British Caledonian, Dan Air and British South American Airlines.

Eddington admitted the carrier boobed by failing to recruit staff in time for the busy summer holiday period.

"We were 150 people short in August. We should have recruited them three to four months earlier."

The Former British Airways chairman Lord Marshall is to become the new chairman of VisitBritain in January, replacing Sir Michael Lickiss. The appointment was announced by culture secretary Tessa

Jowell who paid tribute to Lickiss. Marshall said he wants to work with the private and public sectors to highlight the diversity Britain can offer tourists.

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