Forty years ago, the experience of air travel reached new levels of luxury and speed. The Concorde, the supersonic jet, entered into commercial service with Air France and British Airways, starting a career that lasted 27 years.
On January 21, 1976, the Concorde took passengers from Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar in an Air France operated flight, as well as from London Heathrow to Bahrain with British Airways. Initially, the Concorde was denied landing rights into the US due to environmental concerns and noise abatement protests.
Despite the protests, the Concorde finally made its way into the United States and on May 24, 1976, both carriers began their first scheduled service to Washington D.C. The ban to New York continued until November 1977, when the Supreme Court of the United States declined to overturn a lower court’s ruling rejecting efforts by the Port Authority and a campaign led by politician Carol Berman to continue the ban. First flight to JFK Airport took place on November 22.
According to British Airways a typical London to New York crossing would take a little less than three and a half hours as opposed to about eight hours for a subsonic flight. The record for the fastest supersonic flight across the Atlantic by a civil aircraft is hold by Captain Leslie Scott and his crew, who on February 7, 1996, set the record at 2:52:59.
Between 1979 and 1980, Braniff operated thru-plane service from Dallas/Ft. Worth to London and Paris using the Concordes belonging to Air France and British Airways. The aircraft would fly subsonic from DFW to Washington Dulles before continuing onto Europe at Mach 2. The service, largely a publicity gimmick, was discontinued in mid 1980 as Braniff’s fortunes began to crumble. The Concorde was never painted in Braniff colors, though it was operated by company cabin crews. Singapore Airlines also operated a similar service in conjunction with British Airways for a short time as well.
Nevertheless, only 20 Concordes were built after the British and French governments joined together to develop the plane in the 1960s. The airline industry began to experience economic woes, partly due to the cost of fuel, and the appeal of the Concorde began to fade. A tragic crash in 2000 and the turbulent post 9/11 environment prompted to both operatores to retire the aircraft.
On 24 October 2003, British Airways withdrew the Concorde, bringing to a close the world’s only supersonic passenger service. The final scheduled commercial flight was BA002 from JFK operated by G-BOAG. BA’s fleet of seven aircraft were subsequently dispersed for preservation at Barbados (AE), Edinburgh (AA), Filton (AF), Manchester (AC), New York (AD) and Seattle (AG) with one (AB) remaining at Heathrow. It is estimated that more than one million people have visited them over the past 12 years.
Ahead of the 40th anniversary of Concorde’s first commercial flight, Captain Leslie Scott, former pilot of the world’s most iconic passenger jet, visited the New York-based British Airways Concorde at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum with some former colleagues.
Following his walk-around, Captain Scott said: “I was delighted to visit Concorde again and share stories with the guys, all of whom I worked with at JFK. The Intrepid Museum is maintaining her really well, she’s looking good, even after 40 years! I’m really pleased customers still visit her and discover what a remarkable aircraft Concorde is”.
While the retirement of Concorde was a sad day for all aviation enthusiasts, the aircraft has left a lasting legacy. Not only can she still be visited, and admired, but the many advances that first allowed Concorde to fly have since found their way onto today’s aircraft. Concorde pioneered the use the use of composite materials, which now are the standard in modern airliners such as the Boein 787 or the Airbus A350, and high-pressure hydraulics, designed for Concorde, have been adapted for use in the world’s largest aircraft: the Airbus A380.
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