It is with pleasure that I send this message of congratulation and good wishes to everyone connected with Concorde's inaugural flight to Washington.
Great Britain has many links with the United States: links of tradition, of heritage, of custom, of language and of freedom. A relationship which will be greatly strengthened by faster travel between the two countries.
It is interesting to note in this Bicentenary Year of the United States of America that travel between Britain and the United States has been cut from approximately eight weeks in 1776 to just over four hours by Concorde in 1976! Even the first west-bound commercial airliner took over 15 hours to do this journey in 1937!
We can be justly proud of those who by their ingenuity and effort have produced such a magnificent aeroplane.