Why supersonic passenger jets like Concorde disappeared—and if they’ll return

At its peak, Concorde could fly at Mach 2.04 (about 2,100 kilometers per hour) at altitudes up to 60,000 feet—well above typical airline cruising levels. The plane’s design resulted from a joint French-British effort that began in 1962 and later contributed to the creation of Airbus.

Routes included London, New York, Paris, Washington D.C., Miami, Barbados, Mexico City, Caracas, Singapore, Bahrain, Australia, New Zealand, and Lapland. However, noise restrictions significantly limited expansion.

Maintaining Concorde required four times more man-hours than servicing a Boeing 747. Specialized training was necessary for engineers due to unique technical demands; British Airways estimated that every hour of flight required about 57 hours of maintenance on the ground. High fuel consumption during taxiing and takeoff further increased costs.

On July 25th, 2000, Air France Flight 4590 crashed shortly after takeoff due to tire failure caused by runway debris. Fuel leakage led to a fire that disabled the engines; all passengers aboard were killed along with four people on the ground. This accident ended what had previously been an excellent safety record for Concorde.

Despite upgrades following this incident—including improved fuel tank protection—public confidence waned. “Until this horrible accident,” notes one source in the report,“Concorde had actually boasted the best safety record of any commercial aircraft in the world.” Following Flight 4590’s crash,“the entire fleet was grounded after.”

Today there are ongoing efforts by organizations such as NASA and companies like Lockheed Martin and Boom Supersonic to develop quieter supersonic airliners with better economics than those seen with Concorde.Boom Supersonic is working alongside United Airlines on plans for future SST operations using data gathered from NASA’s X-59 Quesst test flights.NASA’s program aims to make findings available publicly so industry can benefit from advancements in performance and noise reduction technology.