"BMC Mini, the miniskirt, the Jaguar E-Type, the London Tube map and the Supermarine Spitfire. The type was retired in 2003, three years after the crash of Air France Flight 4590, in which all passengers and crew were killed. The general downturn in the commercial aviation industry after the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the end of maintenance support for Concorde by Airbus (the successor company of both Aérospatiale and BAC) also contributed. The origins of the Concorde project date to the early 1950s, when Arnold Hall, director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) asked Morien Morgan to form"
"restricted to the military after 1976. The introduction of the Concorde supersonic transport (SST) airliner to regular service in 1976 was expected to bring similar social changes, but the aircraft never found commercial success. After two and a half decades of service, a fatal crash near Paris in July 2000 and other factors eventually caused Concorde flights to be discontinued in 2003. This was the only loss of an SST in civilian service. Only one other SST design was used in a civilian capacity, the Soviet era Tu-144, but it was soon withdrawn due to high maintenance and other issues."
"Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde, and the world's first supersonic passenger service flew in January 1976 from London Heathrow to Bahrain. Services to the US began on 24 May 1976 with a flight to Washington Dulles airport, and flights to New York JFK airport followed on 22 September 1977. Service to Singapore was established in co-operation with Singapore Airlines as a continuation of the flight to Bahrain. Following the Air France Concorde crash in Paris and a slump in air travel following the 11 September attacks in New York in 2001, it was decided to cease Concorde operations in 2003 after 27 years"
"of service. The final commercial Concorde flight was BA002 from New York JFK to London Heathrow on 24 October 2003. In 1981 the airline was instructed to prepare for privatisation by the Conservative Thatcher government. Sir John King, later Lord King, was appointed chairman, charged with bringing the airline back into profitability. While many other large airlines struggled, King was credited with transforming British Airways into one of the most profitable air carriers in the world. The flag carrier was privatised and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 1987. British Airways effected the takeover of the UK's"
"of the length of the arrangement, there was no profit to be shared. After Concorde was privatized, cost reduction measures (notably the closing of the metallurgical wing testing site which had done enough temperature cycles to validate the aircraft through to 2010) and ticket price raises led to substantial profits. Since Concorde stopped flying, it has been revealed that over the life of Concorde, the plane did prove profitable, at least to British Airways. Concorde operating costs over nearly 28 years of operation were approximately £1 billion, with revenues of £1.75 billion. The last regular passenger flights landed at London"
"in air travel following the September 11 attacks, and rising maintenance costs. Although Concorde was technologically advanced when introduced in the 1970s, 30 years later, its analogue cockpit was outdated. There had been little commercial pressure to upgrade Concorde due to a lack of competing aircraft, unlike other airliners of the same era such as the Boeing 747. By its retirement, it was the last aircraft in the British Airways fleet that had a flight engineer; other aircraft, such as the modernised 747-400, had eliminated the role. On 11 April 2003, Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson announced that the"
"operated the following aircraft types: Air France also briefly operated Convair 990 and Douglas DC-8-61 jet aircraft. The five Air France Concordes were retired on 31 May 2003, as a result of insufficient demand following the 25 July 2000 crash of AF Concorde F-BTSC, at Gonesse (near Charles de Gaulle Airport), as well as higher fuel and maintenance costs. British Airways flew its last Concorde service on 24 October 2003. Concorde F-BVFA was transferred to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport. F-BVFB was given to the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum in Germany, F-BTSD to the"
"have been supersonic passenger aircraft, namely Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144. Both these passenger aircraft and some modern fighters are also capable of supercruise, a condition of sustained supersonic flight without the use of an afterburner. Due to its ability to supercruise for several hours and the relatively high frequency of flight over several decades, Concorde spent more time flying supersonically than all other aircraft combined by a considerable margin. Since Concorde's final retirement flight on November 26, 2003, there are no supersonic passenger aircraft left in service. Some large bombers, such as the Tupolev Tu-160 and Rockwell B-1 Lancer"
"to only 150p in September 2001, showing how heavily the company had been hit. With the crash of Air France Flight 4590 in 2000, 9/11, and escalating maintenance costs, the future of Concorde was limited, despite expensive safety modifications made after the Air France accident. It was announced on 10 April 2003 that in October that year BA would cease scheduled services with Concorde, due to depressed passenger numbers. The last commercial Concorde flight from New York to London was on 24 October 2003. The airline retained ownership of eight Concordes, which were placed on long-term loan to museums in"
"of service, a fatal crash near Paris in July 2000 and other factors eventually caused Concorde flights to be discontinued in 2003. This was the only loss of an SST in civilian service. Only one other SST design was used in a civilian capacity, the Soviet era Tu-144, but it was soon withdrawn due to high maintenance and other issues. McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed and Boeing were three U.S. manufacturers that had originally planned to develop various SST designs since the 1960s, but these projects were eventually abandoned for various developmental, cost, and other practical reasons. The years immediately following World"
"Concorde, made supersonic travel a reality. Concorde first flew in 1969 and operated through 2003. In 1972, Airbus began producing Europe's most commercially successful line of airliners to date. The added efficiencies for these aircraft were often not in speed, but in passenger capacity, payload, and range. Airbus also features modern electronic cockpits that were common across their aircraft to enable pilots to fly multiple models with minimal cross-training. The 1978 U.S. airline industry deregulation lowered federally controlled barriers for new airlines just as a downturn in the nation's economy occurred. New start-ups entered during the downturn, during which time"
"Bristol Commercial Vehicles. Filton played a key role in the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner project during the 1960s. The British Concorde prototype made its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford on 9 April 1969, five weeks after the French test flight. In 2003 British Airways and Air France decided to discontinue Concorde flights, retiring the aircraft to locations (primarily museums) worldwide. On 26 November 2003 Concorde 216 made the final Concorde flight, returning to Bristol Filton Airport as the centrepiece of a proposed air museum which is planned to include the existing Bristol Aero collection (including a Bristol Britannia)."
"led to soaring costs and the seven-year delay. On one occasion in 1974, Cochrane was flying Concorde 002 when one of its undercarriage legs would not lock in the down position whilst preparing for landing. He safely made an emergency landing and it led to another vital modification on the aircraft. In 1980 having helped to train the pilots he retired from BAe and flew commercially for ten years with Cyprus Airways as a Captain. The decision to ground Concorde in 2003 after the fatal Paris crash in 2000, saddened him and he insisted that Concorde could have flown commercially"
"during 1977 and 1978, and it was finally withdrawn following another crash in May 1978. The Tu-144's rival, the Concorde, went on to serve with British Airways and Air France for 30 years afterwards, being finally withdrawn from service in 2003 due to rising service costs and the slump in the aviation industry following 9/11. In 2000, Concorde Air France Flight 4590 crashed in Paris, France killing all 100 passengers & 9 crew as well as 4 people on the ground. The accident was investigated by the DTCE, part of the French Military, which was responsible for accidents involving prototype"
"United States Government, as it lacked its own competitor. The US, India, and Malaysia all ruled out Concorde supersonic flights over the noise concern, although some of these restrictions were later relaxed. Professor Douglas Ross characterised restrictions placed upon Concorde operations by President Jimmy Carter's administration as having been an act of protectionism of American aircraft manufacturers. Concorde flew to an altitude of 68,000 ft (20,700 m) during a test flight in June 1973. Concorde is an ogival delta winged aircraft with four Olympus engines based on those employed in the RAF's Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. It is one of"
"first woman to fly Concorde as a test pilot. By the time Concorde was withdrawn from service in October 2003, Harmer had served 10 years as a pilot flying regular scheduled services. In 2001, an Air France pilot, Béatrice Vialle, had become the second of only two women to fly Concorde on regular routes by making some 35 trips between Paris and New York before the service was withdrawn. After Concorde, Harmer converted to the Boeing 777 until taking voluntary redundancy in 2009. Harmer's interests were not all in the air as she was a qualified commercial yachtmaster, often taking"
"prior to Concorde entering passenger service. There were some differences between this aircraft and the final production aircraft, such as a thinner fuselage skin. The aircraft was painted in British Airways livery throughout her testing period. The aircraft flew a total of 1282 hrs 9 mins; its final flight was on the 24th of December 1981. After the final flight, she was stored at Filton in a state of semi-airworthiness throughout 1982, where she could be returned to flight in two weeks if required. However this was never required and the aircraft was eventually bought by British Airways as part"
"– but the 100-seat plane often flew with no more than 15 passengers. Meanwhile, Boeing 727s scheduled 5–10 minutes slower on the same route were filled routinely. Many postcards show a Braniff painted Concorde, but the Braniff livery was never applied to the left side of any Concorde, and the aircraft remained in the colors of British Airways and Air France. Braniff ended Concorde flights on June 30, 1980. Until 1980 Braniff was one of the fastest-growing and most-profitable airlines in the United States. However, deregulation of the airline industry was introduced in October 1978, and Braniff – as well"
"1970s, both were later retired without being replaced by similar designs. The last flight of a Concorde in service was in 2003. Although Concorde and the Tu-144 were the first aircraft to carry commercial passengers at supersonic speeds, they were not the first or only commercial airliners to break the sound barrier. On 21 August 1961, a Douglas DC-8 broke the sound barrier at Mach 1.012 or 1,240 km/h (776.2 mph) while in a controlled dive through 41,088 feet (12,510 m). The purpose of the flight was to collect data on a new design of leading-edge for the wing. A"
"City; passenger lists on initial flights were gossip-column material. The Concorde restored the term's cachet: ""From rock stars to royalty, the Concorde was the way to travel for the jet set,"" according to the Nova retrospective special ""Supersonic Dream"". However, the Concorde was doomed by its sonic boom, inability to achieve global fly-over rights because of the boom, its huge thirst for jet fuel, and a disastrous crash. The aircraft was retired in 2003. Meanwhile, the Boeing 747, densely packed with passengers, was the craft that took over and dominated air travel by reducing travel cost and increasing airport capacity,"
"designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. The only supersonic civilian aircraft to see service were the Soviet produced Tupolev Tu-144 which first flew in 1968 and was retired in 1997; and the Franco-British produced Concorde, which first flew in 1969 and remained in service until 2003. Since 2003, there have been no supersonic civilian aircraft in service. A key feature of these designs is the ability to maintain supersonic cruise for long periods, so low drag is essential to limit fuel consumption to a practical and economic level. As a consequence, these airframes are"
"to the Middle East in 1984 and to the United States in 1991. Pope John Paul II flew on Concorde in May 1989. Concorde sometimes made special flights for demonstrations, air shows (such as the Farnborough, Paris-LeBourget, Oshkosh AirVenture and MAKS air shows) as well as parades and celebrations (for example, of Zürich airport's anniversary in 1998). The aircraft were also used for private charters (including by the President of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko on multiple occasions), for advertising companies (including for the firm OKI), for Olympic torch relays (1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville) and for observing solar eclipses, including"
"was viewed as lucrative by British Airways and Air France. In 1997, British Airways held a promotional contest to mark the 10th anniversary of the airline's move into the private sector. The promotion was a lottery to fly to New York held for 190 tickets valued at £5,400 each, to be offered at £10. Contestants had to call a special hotline to compete with up to 20 million people. On 10 April 2003, Air France and British Airways simultaneously announced they would retire Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following the 25 July 2000 crash, the slump"
"Concorde mechanically (without using electricity and any control from the cockpit), the test was deemed a success and helped prove it was possible to activate the nose that hasn't been used for many years. On the 23rd of July 2016, G-BBDG had her nose lowered by Jodie Kidd independently for the first time since her retirement, it was watched by a huge crowd including former captains and crew of the aircraft. G-BBDG G-BBDG (manufacturer's serial number 202, known as Delta Golf) was the British development Concorde built for evaluation testing. Along with the French Concorde F-WTSB, the aircraft was used"
"protest over sonic booms, preventing launch on the coveted North Atlantic routes. The US Secretary of Transportation, William Coleman, gave permission for Concorde service to Washington Dulles International Airport, and Air France and British Airways simultaneously began a thrice-weekly service to Dulles on 24 May 1976. Due to low demand, Air France cancelled its Washington service in October 1982, while British Airways cancelled it in November 1994. When the US ban on JFK Concorde operations was lifted in February 1977, New York banned Concorde locally. The ban came to an end on 17 October 1977 when the Supreme Court of"
"Hawker Siddeley Trident, Vickers Super VC10 and Boeing 707 were quickly phased out of service, and planes such as the Boeing 737 were acquired in their place. In an effort to increase the use of the operational Concorde fleet, King allowed the planes to be chartered for special services. Concorde services to Singapore in cooperation with Singapore Airlines began, in addition to a service to Miami by 1984. In the 1980s, British Airways regarded Concorde as its flagship, both prestigious and profitable. The flag carrier was privatised and floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 1987 by the Conservative"
"Paul Patten (copilot), Joseph Tomich (flight engineer), and Richard H. Edwards (flight test engineer). This is the first supersonic flight by a civilian airliner. In total, 20 Concordes were built: two prototypes, two development aircraft and 16 production aircraft. Of the sixteen production aircraft, two did not enter commercial service and eight remained in service as of April 2003. All but two of these aircraft are preserved; the two that are not are F-BVFD (cn 211), parked as a spare-parts source in 1982 and scrapped in 1994, and F-BTSC (cn 203), which crashed outside Paris on July 25, 2000, killing"
"with rooftop portholes for use on the 1973 Solar Eclipse mission and equipped with observation instruments. It performed the longest observation of a solar eclipse to date, about 74 minutes. Scheduled flights began on 21 January 1976 on the London–Bahrain and Paris–Rio de Janeiro (via Dakar) routes, with BA flights using the ""Speedbird Concorde"" call sign to notify air traffic control of the aircraft's unique abilities and restrictions, but the French using their normal call signs. The Paris-Caracas route (via Azores) began on 10 April. The US Congress had just banned Concorde landings in the US, mainly due to citizen"
"of a Concorde support buy-out in 1984. The aircraft never entered service with British Airways; instead she was used as a major source of spare parts, allowing the airline to operate a fleet of seven aircraft. A hangar was constructed for her at Filton airfield in the late 1980s; her tail was removed prior to its being put in the hangar. In 1995, Concorde G-BOAF had her nose damaged in a handling accident at Heathrow Airport. British Airways swapped this nose with the nose of the Filton Concorde. As well as her nose and tail, other parts were taken, including"
"Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made. The Concorde aircraft used in the film first flew on January 31, 1975, and was registered as F-WTSC to the Aérospatiale aircraft company. It would be re-registered by Aérospatiale as F-BTSC and leased to Air France in 1976. In 1989, this Concorde carried Pope John Paul II. On July 25, 2000, F-BTSC, as Air France Flight 4590, crashed in the small French town of Gonesse, killing all 109 passengers and crew on board, as well as four on the ground. At the time of the accident, F-BTSC had logged 11,989 hours and 4,873 cycles. The"
"first visit by a Concorde aircraft to Barbados. The 'Alpha Echo' aircraft in which The Queen had travelled, was the last Concorde to fly supersonic to Barbados on 17 November 2003; a delivery flight to the Barbados Concorde Experience museum where it remains on display. In 1983, the RAF leased two BAe 146 aircraft to assess their suitability as replacements for The Queen's Flight's Andovers. The trial was a success and three VIP-configured BAe 146-100s entered service with The Queen's Flight (as BAe 146 CC.2s) from 1986 as the flight's first jet aircraft. In 2002 one of these BAe 146s"
"result, American Airlines replaced its fleet of Boeing 747-100 aircraft with DC-10 trijets after only four years. Within its own category in commercial aviation, the supersonic airliner Concorde began service in 1976. Its four Rolls Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 turbojets allowed it to cruise at twice the speed of sound. At the time of inception it was regarded as the future of air transportation. However, in large part due to high operating costs and noise issues, Concorde never achieved the predicted level of success.In the 1980s, the increased reliability of jet engines prompted the introduction of ETOPS ratings for twinjets, allowing"
"tanks, and specially developed, burst-resistant tyres. The crash of the Air France Concorde nonetheless proved to be the beginning of the end for the type. Just before service resumed, the 11 September attacks took place, resulting in a marked drop in passenger numbers, and contributing to the eventual end of Concorde flights. Air France stopped flights in , and British Airways ended its Concorde flights in . In June 2010, two groups attempted, unsuccessfully, to revive Concorde for ""Heritage"" flights in time for the 2012 Olympics. The British Save Concorde Group, SCG, and French group Olympus 593 were attempting to"