52 years since Concorde’s first flight: A look at the supersonic passenger jet

Turbojet-powered Concorde took off for the first time on March 2, 1969 from Toulouse, with a maximum speed of over twice the speed of sound, nearly 2,180 km per hour. Here’s a look at the supersonic passenger airliner 52 years after it first flew.

Concorde was first flown in 1969 but entered service on in January 21, 1976. It was in operation for nearly 28 years, retiring on October, 2003. Credit: Reuters Photo.

Concorde was a supersonic passenger plane with a capacity of 92-128 passengers. Its primary users were Air France and British Airways. It is one of the only two supersonic transporters to have been commercially operated. The other was Soviet-built Tupolev. Credit: iStock Images.

The reason behind Concorde’s retirement was cited as low passenger numbers by Air France and British Airways. This happened after an Air France Concorde crashed minutes after taking off from Paris in July 2000, killing all 109 people on board. Credit: iStock Images.

Even though the planes were very advanced when they launched, they had become outdated at the end of their service. In 2003, Concorde was the only BA flight which required a flight engineer. Credit: iStock Images.

14 Concordes were operated commercially. The last Concorde that was built was put on display at the Aerospace Bristol Museum in 2017. Others are on display at Heathrow Airport, Manchester Airport, Barbados Airport and in New York’s Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum (pictured). Credit: iStock Images.

In 2016, Sir Richard Branson had announced plans to revive the fleet with a new supersonic jet called Concorde II, which will be able to traverse from London to New York in just three and a half hours. Credit: iStock Images.