Concorde was the supersonic passenger airliner jointly operated by British Airways and Air France. It was developed through a British-French partnership and entered scheduled passenger service in 1976.
Concorde usually cruised at about twice the speed of sound, allowing transatlantic journeys to take roughly three and a half hours. Its delta-wing design, slender fuselage, and afterburning engines were built for high-speed flight at great altitude. Supersonic operation also caused a sonic boom, limiting where the aircraft could fly over land.
The aircraft’s speed came with major trade-offs, including high fuel consumption, limited passenger capacity, and expensive maintenance. A crash involving Air France Flight 4590 in 2000 severely damaged public confidence, and Concorde was retired in 2003. No supersonic airliner has replaced it in regular commercial passenger service.