This day in History: Concorde retires its last commercial supersonic flight in 2003

On October 24, 2003, an era of supersonic commercial air travel came to an abrupt end as British Airways operated its last commercial Concorde service. British Airways plane, skinny, needle-sed 20th-century icon of international jet-setters, departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport on its final flight home.

Concorde was a joint project of British and French governments that began commercial service back in January 1976. techlogical wonder flew 11 miles above Earth at up to 1,350 mph, crossing Atlantic in about 3 1/2 hours. With five-hour time difference, passengers arrived in New York earlier than y h left London.

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Why did Concorde stop flying?

British Airways cited rising operating costs and reduced ticket sales.  Although vanced when it was launched, 30 years on planes were outdated and expensive to run. Following an Air France Concorde crash from Paris in July 2000 that killed all 109 people on board and four on ground, passenger numbers fell.  plane ran over a piece of metal on runway, bursting a tyre which caused fuel tank to ignite as it was taking off.

It is also said that  9/11 attacks in 2001 also h a severe impact on number of people choosing to fly. By time Concorde was retired, it was only aircraft in British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer.

However, allure of Concorde was so impactful that when airlines auctioned off spare parts from ir fleets,  many items sold for significantly more than ir suggested price. As per international media, a blanket valued at $100 sold for $2,000, a door sold for $33,000, and a needle se sold for $550,000.

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Future of supersonic flight?

Back in 2016,  Sir Richard Branson anunced plans to launch a new supersonic passenger jet dubbed Concorde II, which assured travel time of just three-and-a-half hours from London to New York. Branson was working with American startup Boom to develop  XB-1 supersonic aircraft, set to be 'fastest civil aircraft ever me'.

Later in September 2017 US ncy Nasa and aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin revealed y have ploughed £290million into developing QueSST jet, which could fly across Atlantic in three hours and be much quieter than Concorde. It is thought test flights could begin as early as 2021.

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