BAC Concorde

The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde (/ˈkɒŋkɔːrd/) is a British–French turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner that was operated from 1976 until 2003. It had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound, at Mach 2.04 (1,354 mph or 2,180 km/h at cruise altitude), with seating for 92 to 128 passengers. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and operated for 27 years. It is one of only two supersonic jetliner models to operate commercially; the other is the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, which operated in the late 1970s.[4][5] Concorde was jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation under an Anglo-French treaty. Twenty aircraft were built, including six prototypes and development aircraft. Air France and British Airways were the only airlines to purchase and fly Concorde. The aircraft was used mainly by wealthy passengers who could afford to pay a high price for the aircraft's speed and luxury service. In 1997, the round-trip ticket price from New York to London was $7,995 (equivalent to $12,900 in 2020),[6] more than 30 times the cost of the least expensive scheduled flight for this route.[7][page needed] The original programme cost estimate was £70 million before 1962,[8] (£1.39 billion in 2020).[9] The programme experienced huge cost overruns and delays, with the programme eventually costing between £1.5 and £2.1 billion in 1976,[10] (£9.44 billion-13.2 billion in 2020).[9] This extreme cost was the main reason the production run was much smaller than expected.[11] Another factor that affected the viability of all supersonic transport programmes was that supersonic flight could be used only on ocean-crossing routes, to prevent sonic boom disturbance over populated areas. With only seven airframes each being operated by the British and French, the per-unit cost was impossible to recoup, so the French and British governments absorbed the development costs. British Airways and Air France wer