It’s the holiday season, and for those using a particular high street travel agent, they may well walk into the branch under an overlooked reminder of a lost glory of airline travel.

The Flight Centre logo still features one of the most unmistakable iconic airliner shapes, that of the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic machine.

Remember – the last ever flight by Concorde was in 2003, so the vast majority of younger travellers won’t have any memory of a Concorde in flight. I recall children in prams being brought to see the airliner fly into the airports it visited on the last tour of the UK (my article, from then, here updated). Those children themselves are now nearly 18 years old.

Concorde Twilight image: J Kightly. Flight Centre shop image: internet find.

From a branding point of view, the Flight Centre logo is probably archaic, but it’s telling that sixteen years after the last flight of this 1960s aircraft, it still looks futuristic.

The logo seems to have a couple of legitimate variations today, though I think there were earlier iterations as well, that I’ve not been able to find. Above is an illuminated neon version from Thomas Hawk here on Flickr. How long will it last? Flight Centre already use a number of Concordeless logos, and it can’t last for ever, but in the meantime let’s enjoy another future that’s in the past.

James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer.

PS: This story was one of the reasons I wanted to do this blog; another, ‘Back to the old drawing board’ is here.