IATA SSCICAO CONC

Concorde

TravelerPulse profile

Supersonic icon that made transatlantic flight extraordinary.

First flight

1969

Category

Supersonic passenger jet

Seating

92–128 passengers

Range

7,250 km

Engines

Four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 afterburning turbojets

Status

Retired

The Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner developed jointly by France and the United Kingdom. It entered commercial service in 1976 and could cruise at Mach 2.04, roughly twice the speed of sound, cutting transatlantic crossing times to under three and a half hours. Concorde operated primarily on prestige transatlantic routes, most notably London and Paris to New York, serving a wealthy clientele willing to pay premium fares for unmatched speed. Its slender ogival delta wing and drooping nose were distinctive design features that became instantly recognizable worldwide. Following a fatal Air France crash in July 2000, a period of grounding, rising maintenance costs, and declining passenger numbers after 9/11, both Air France and British Airways retired Concorde in 2003. The aircraft remains a symbol of ambitious aviation engineering and Cold War-era technological prestige.

Notable operators

Air France and British Airways were the only two airlines to operate Concorde commercially, each receiving seven aircraft.

Notable facts

›Concorde cruised at Mach 2.04, approximately 2,180 km/h, at altitudes around 18,000 metres.
›Skin temperatures on the fuselage reached up to 127°C during supersonic cruise due to aerodynamic heating.
›The aircraft stretched by up to 25 cm in flight due to thermal expansion of the aluminium airframe.
›Only 20 Concordes were built in total, including prototypes and pre-production aircraft.
›The Air France Flight 4590 crash on 25 July 2000 killed all 109 on board and 4 on the ground, leading to a temporary fleet grounding.

Read more on Wikipedia

This profile is provided for general information only. Specifications may be inaccurate or vary by variant/operator — verify with the manufacturer before relying on them.

Encyclopaedia

Concorde is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies began in 1954 and a UK–France treaty followed in 1962, as the programme cost was estimated at £70 million . Construction of six prototypes began in February 1965, with the first flight from Toulouse on 2 March 1969. The market forecast was 350 aircraft, with manufacturers receiving up to 100 options from major airlines. On 9 October 1975, it received its French certificate of airworthiness, and was certified by the UK CAA on 5 December.

Read full article on Wikipedia