Concorde
|
Role
|
Supersonic airliner
|
|
Manufacturer
|
BAC (now BAE System), Sud-Aviation, Aérospatiale (now EADS)
|
|
First Flight
|
Marc 2, 1969
|
|
Introduction
|
January 21, 1976
|
|
Retired
|
November 26, 2003
|
|
Status
|
Retired from service
|
|
Number built
|
20
|
|
Primary users
|
British Airways, Air France
|
|
Program Cost
|
£1.3
billion
|
|
Unit Cost
|
£23
million (1977)
|
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde is a retired turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport (SST). It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years.
Among other destinations, Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Air France) to New York JFK and Washington Dulles, profitably flying these routes at record speeds, in less than half the time of other airliners.
With only 20 aircraft built, their development represented a substantial economic loss, in addition to which Air France and British Airways (BA) were subsidised by their governments to buy them. As a result of the type’s only crash on 25 July 2000 and other factors, its retirement flight was on 26 November 2003.
Concorde's name reflects the development agreement between the United Kingdom and France. In the UK, any or all of the type—unusual for an aircraft—are known simply as "Concorde", without an article. The aircraft is regarded by many people as an aviation icon and an engineering marvel.
