Concorde Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a British-French turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner that was operated from 1976 until 2003. It had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound at Mach 2.04 ( at cruise altitude), with seating for 92 to 128 passengers. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued flying for the next 27 years. It is one of only two supersonic transports to have been operated commercially; the other is the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, which operated in passenger service from 1977 to 1978. Concorde was jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later
History of British Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident, Vickers Super VC10 and Boeing 707 were quickly phased out of service, and planes such as the Boeing 737 were acquired in their place. In an effort to increase the use of the operational Concorde fleet, King allowed the planes to be chartered for special services. Concorde services to Singapore in cooperation with Singapore Airlines began, in addition to a service to Miami by 1984. In the 1980s, British Airways regarded Concorde as its flagship, both prestigious and profitable. The flag carrier was privatised and floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 1987 by the Conservative