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 (1,354 mph or 2,180 km/h 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 Aérospatiale) and the British AircraftCorporation (BAC) under an Anglo-French treaty. Twenty aircraft were built, including six prototypes and developmentaircraft. Air France (AF) and British Airways (BA) were the only airlines to purchase and fly Concorde. The aircraft was used mainly by wealthy passengers who could afford to pay a high price in exchange for Concorde's speed and luxury service. For example, in 1997, the round-trip ticket price from New York to London was $7,995, more than 30 times the cost of the cheapest option to fly this route.
The original program cost estimate of £70 million met huge overruns and delays, with the program eventually costing £1.3 billion.
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