The AƩrospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST) was the more successful of only two supersonic passenger airliners to have operated commercially (the Tupolev Tu-144 being the other).
First flown in 1969, Concorde service commenced in 1976 and continued for 27 years. It regularly flew transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (Air France) to New York JFK and Washington Dulles, flying these routes in under half the time of regular jet airliners. Concorde also set many records, including the official F.A.I. "Westbound Around The World" and "Eastbound Around the World" world air speed records. The former is discussed later in the text; the latter, which remains the current GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS world record, was set by Air France Concorde F-BTSD under charter to Concorde Spirit Tours (USA), on 15-16 August 1995. This special promotional flight circumnavigated the world from New York/JFK International Airport in a time of 31 hours 27 minutes 49 seconds, including six refuelling stops at Toulouse, Dubai, Bangkok, Andersen AFB (Guam), Honolulu and Acapulco.
The costly development phase represented a substantial economic loss for the British and French governments, and potential sales never materialized due to the 1973 oil crisis and competition from the Boeing 747. Only 20 aircraft were built and Air France and British Airways agreed to buy the aircraft after being subsidized by their respective governments. Nonetheless, Concorde made large operating profits for British Airways for much of its service life.
As a result of its only crash on 25 July 2000, plus world economic effects arising from the 9/11 attacks and other factors, operations ceased on 24 October 2003, with the last "retirement" flight on 26 November that year. Even in retirement, Concorde remains an icon of aviation history.