Why Concorde ended up failing despite cutting Atlantic journey times by around half

The Concorde project cut the Atlantic journey in half – but its own story was was over in a flash.

The joint British-French venture completely revolutionized the very concept of airplane travel itself.

After flying for 21 years, Concorde was ultimately scrapped in October of 2003.

So why did such a game-changing aircraft only enjoy such a brief existence?

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Concorde changes the landscape of air travel

Concorde completely changed the nature of air travel forever.

The 1950s were a very exciting time for the West – especially travelers.

Traveling across the world started to become much more feasible, thanks to the airplane.

Prior to that, sailing across the sea had always been the dominant passage of choice.

By the early 1950s, Britain and France had both been working on plans for supersonic travel.

France had already decided to buy a British engine for their design, so a partnership was inevitable.

The project was eventually signed as an international treaty, rather than a private agreement.

Both sides christened the project ‘Concorde’, meaning ‘peace/harmony’ in both English and French.

The first unit, designated “F-WTSS”, made its maiden voyage on March 2nd, 1969.

Taking off from its spiritual home, Toulouse, the Concorde stayed in the air for just 27 minutes.

The project managed to cut transatlantic journeys in half, completing the trip in just three hours.

During its lifetime, it was operated exclusively by both British Airways and Air France.

Why was Concorde shut down so soon?

Sadly, the revolutionary Concorde project was shuttered in October of 2003.

But why was such a game-changing, legendary creation killed off so soon?

Well, there were quite a few reasons – and they all contributed in different ways.

Firstly, the Concorde project was expensive – and we mean really expensive.

Development costs for the program are estimated to have been around the $1.5 billion range.

It requires a lot of maths and inflation adjustment, but it’s an eye-watering amount of money.

And a massive side-effect from the Concorde was the advent of sonic booms.

This phenomenon was an unfortunate off-shoot of the ability to do a three-hour transatlantic trip.

The last – and most tragic – reason for the project being shut down was an accident in 2000.

On July 25th 2000, an Air France flight from Paris to New York crashed in Gonesse, a suburb of Paris.

All 100 people onboard tragically lost their lives – and it led to the aircraft being grounded.

Of course, the aircraft would fly again – but the Air France accident permanently damaged its reputation.

It would be amazing to see the Concorde grace the skies once again in the future.