Concorde

For other uses, see Concorde (disambiguation).

Concorde
Role	Supersonic airliner
Manufacturer	BAC (now BAE Systems) Sud-Aviation, Aérospatiale (now EADS)
First flight	2 March 1969
Introduction	21 January 1976
Retired	26 November 2003
Status	Retired from service
Primary users	British Airways Air France See Operators below for others
Number built	20 (including 6 non-airline aircraft)[1][2]
Program cost	£ 1.3 billion[3]
Unit cost	£ 23 million in 1977 (£ 107 million in 2013 pounds[4])

Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde (pron.: /ˈkɒŋkɔrd/) is a retired turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner or supersonic transport (SST). It is one of only two SSTs to have entered commercial service; the other was theTupolev Tu-144. Concorde was jointly developed and produced byAérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) under an Anglo-French treaty. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years.

Among other destinations, Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights fromLondon Heathrow and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to New York JFK andWashington Dulles; it profitably flew these routes in less than half the time of other airliners. With only 20 aircraft built, the development of Concorde was a substantial economic loss; Air France and British Airways also received considerable government subsidies to purchase them. Concorde was retired in 2003 due to a general downturn in the aviation industry after the type's only crash in 2000, the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and a decision by Airbus, the successor firm of Aerospatiale and BAC, to discontinue maintenance support.^[5]

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.^[6]

Contents   [hide]  1 Development 1.1 Concept 1.2 Naming 1.3 Testing 2 Design 2.1 General features 2.2 Engines 2.3 Heating issues 2.4 Structural issues 2.5 Range 2.6 Cabin pressurisation and radiation concerns 2.7 Flight characteristics 2.8 Brakes and undercarriage 2.9 Droop nose 3 Operational history 3.1 Scheduled flights 3.2 British Caledonian interest 3.3 British Airways buys its Concordes outright 3.4 Concorde Flight 4590 crash 3.5 Retirement 3.6 Restoration 4 Comparable aircraft 5 Impact 5.1 Environmental 5.2 Public perception 5.3 Records 5.4 Replacements in development 6 Operators 7 Specifications 8 Notable appearances in media 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

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