The Demise of The Concorde
By Marco Mondragon
Imagine being able to fly from New York to London in 3 hours. Nowadays it sounds impossible, but the Concorde made it possible. The Concorde was made by manufacturers in France and the UK in the 1970s. It was a supersonic jet that would fly at immense speeds, cutting flight time nearly in half. Although the Concorde is what kick started this new era of supersonic flight, it was plagued with many problems such as operational costs and less passengers flying. Eventually, airlines ceased operations of the Concorde in the early 2000s, favoring the more traditional jet airliners.
The only airlines flying Concorde flights were British Airways and Air France. At the time, supersonic flights from New York to London would cost $8,000, or $13,000 today, but the price was justified by its amenities and flight time. Revolutionizing how people would travel, the Concorde had its first passenger flight on January 21, 1976. The Concorde flew at 60,000 feet, resulting in a much smoother flight. It would have to fly at this altitude to reach supersonic speeds up to 1,354 miles per hour, faster than a typical commercial jet, which can go 500-575 miles per hour. Along with high speeds, the in-flight service was comparable to a 5-star restaurant. Passengers would experience only the finest of food with the typical dinner service lasting nearly the entire length of the flight, as there wasn’t seat back entertainment.
This is the Concorde, it had a very unique design and was different from a typical jet
With all the Concorde had to offer, we would see that it would quickly become outdated. In order to maximize profits of the costly flights, British Airways and Air France needed to book as many passengers as possible in each flight. This already cramped plane had 128 seats, which were comparable to economy seats on any other commercial jet. If one were to pay a high price for a ticket, one would expect to get the best seat possible. At the time, first and business class seats were getting better than ever on other commercial jets. It would be more favorable to pay half the price of a Concorde ticket for a first class ticket on any other jet and face the 6-7 hour flight time. The Concorde was simply lagging behind.
This was the cabin of a British Airways Concorde. You'll notice that it looks like an economy cabin rather than a luxurious first class cabin
Another big problem with the Concorde was the sonic boom. A sonic boom is made by jets displacing so much air that it creates an explosion-like sound at 100-110 decibels. It would experience this sonic boom when it reached it’s cruising speed. Because of the sonic boom, the Concorde was only able to fly over the ocean, limiting the routes the Concorde would fly to London, Bahrain, Rio de Janeiro, Washington DC, and New York. Because of these limited routes, only 14 Concordes flew the skies. Raising operational costs were fewer passengers flying as airlines needed to make a profit from these Concorde flights, but they weren’t making much profit as only about half the cabin was full. The Concorde also consumed a lot of fuel because of its inefficient low bypass engines, which also raised costs. It would consume about 5650 gallons of fuel per hour, which is 6 gallons of fuel per mile compared to just 5 gallons of fuel per mile on a 747 plane. That doesn’t seem like much of a difference, but the costs add up quickly.
This was a picture taken by Andras Kisgergely
Further sealing the Concorde’s fate was the tragic crash of Air France flight 4590 on July 25, 2000 . It was a scheduled flight from Paris to New York City with 100 passengers and 9 crew members. As the Concorde was taking off the runway, both engines on the left wing caught fire. The plane was only able to climb about 200 feet and eventually stalled and crashed in a nearby hotel, killing all passengers, crew, and 4 others on the ground. It may seem that something was wrong with the plane, however, there was not. Prior to Air France 4590 taking off, a metal fragment from a thrust reverse was left behind on the runway from a Continental Airlines flight. When flight 4590 took off, it ran over the metal piece, rupturing a tire which lead to a rubber piece piercing a fuel tank and ultimately the engine caught fire. This crash gave a negative view of the Concorde, and it lost popularity. The final nail in the coffin for the Concorde was 9/11. After the horrific events of 9/11, there was a major drop in airline travel, which contributed to even less people flying the Concorde. Therefore, on November 25, 2003, the Concorde was retired, never to see passenger service again.
The Concorde made major innovations to airline travel, but faced many problems. Today we may never see the Concorde take to the skies, but it is still held in many people’s hearts. Although there is no future for the Concorde, we may see supersonic flight come back. In the next coming years Boom Supersonic may bring back supersonic flight. As one of the big four airlines in the U.S., United Airlines has made an agreement with Boom to purchase 15 of their planes. The first passenger flight by Boom is set to take place in 2029, which is just around the corner. The future of supersonic flight is hopeful, and we may see these flights come back without the drawbacks that the Concorde experienced.
Concept art of a United Boom Supersonic plane