§ Lord Diamondasked Her Majesty's Government:
What, at constant prices, were the first estimated and actual costs of Concorde.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Lucas of Chilworth)The information requested is not available on a constant price basis.
When authority was granted for the project in 1962 United Kingdom expenditure was estimated at between £75 and £85 million.
The costs incurred by Her Majesty's Government at current prices were as follows:
- A. Development costs to the completion of the airframe development programme on 31st December 1978, and of the engine development programme on 30th December 1980, were £574 million.
- B. Production costs to the end of 1979, when the production phase (including in-service support) is regarded as having been completed, amounted to a net of £221 million.
- C. Net costs arising from the support of Concorde aircraft and engines in airlines services in the financial years 1980–84 totalled £81.7 million. This amount also includes expenditure on residual development work and expenditure on post-certification structural testing totalling £19.4 million.