Editing Concorde (section)

{{Short description|British–French supersonic airliner}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox aircraft
| name = Concorde
| image = British Airways Concorde G-BOAC 03.jpg
| image_caption = British Airways Concorde in flight in 1986
| alt = Concorde against a clear blue sky, seen from below. Its wheels are lowered.
| aircraft_type = [[Supersonic airliner]]
| manufacturer = {{plainlist|
* [[British Aircraft Corporation]] (later [[British Aerospace]] and [[BAE Systems]])
* [[Sud Aviation]] (later [[Aérospatiale]] and [[Airbus]])}}
| designer = 
| first_flight = 2 March 1969
| fate = Preserved in museums
| introduction = 21 January 1976
| national_origin = France and United Kingdom
| retired = {{ubl|{{Start date and age|2003|10|24|df=yes}} (last commercial flight)|{{Start date and age|2003|11|26|df=yes}} (final flight to [[Bristol Filton Airport]])<ref name="jlfin" />}}
| status = Retired
| primary_user = [[British Airways]] <!--Limit one (1) main user. Top 4 users listed in 'primary user' and 'more users' fields based on number of their fleets. -->
| more_users = [[Air France]]<br/>See ''[[#Operators|Operators]]'' below for others <!-- Limit is three (3) in 'more users' field, four (4) total users with primary user. Please separate with a list inside {{plainlist}}. -->
| produced = 1965–1979
| number_built = 20 (including 6 non-commercial aircraft){{sfn|Towey|2007|p=359}}<ref name=BBC_July2000>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/850899.stm |title=Ageing luxury jet |work=BBC News |date=25 July 2000 |access-date=13 November 2006 |archive-date=14 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314020636/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/850899.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>
| variants = 
}}
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Note: This article uses British English since it covers a Franco-British airliner. Please don't attempt to change it to another variety of English. For details on Wikipedia's policies on this subject, see: [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#National varieties of English]] or [[MOS:ENGVAR]]. Also by convention, the aircraft's name is simply "Concorde", without an article. The article adheres to this convention throughout. -->

'''Concorde''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɒ|ŋ|k|ɔr|d}}) is<!-- Use "is", NOT "was", as the aircraft still exists in museums. Read end of sentence for retired part. --> a retired Anglo-French [[supersonic airliner]] jointly developed and manufactured by [[Sud Aviation]] (later [[Aérospatiale]]) and the [[British Aircraft Corporation]] (BAC).
<!--development-->
Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a [[treaty]] establishing the development project on 29 November 1962, as the programme cost was estimated at £70&nbsp;million (£{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK-GDP|70000000|1962}}}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}).
Construction of the six [[prototype]]s began in February 1965, and the [[first flight]] took off from [[Toulouse]] on 2 March 1969.
<!--market-->
The [[Market (economics)|market]] was predicted for 350 aircraft, and the manufacturers received up to 100 option orders from many major [[airline]]s.
On 9 October 1975, it received its French [[certificate of airworthiness]], and from the [[Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom)|UK CAA]] on 5 December.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.flightglobal.com/concorde-special-concorde-timeline/51042.article |title= Concorde Special – Concorde timeline
|date= 21 October 2003 |work= FlightGlobal}}</ref> 

<!--design-->
Concorde is a [[tailless aircraft]] design with a narrow [[fuselage]] permitting four-abreast seating for 92 to 128 passengers, an [[ogival]] [[delta wing]], and a [[Droop nose (aeronautics)|droop nose]] for landing visibility.
It is powered by four [[Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593]] [[turbojet]]s with variable engine [[intake ramp]]s, and [[reheat]] for take-off and acceleration to supersonic speed.
Constructed out of [[aluminium]], it was the first airliner to have analogue [[fly-by-wire]] flight controls. 
<!--performance-->
The airliner had transatlantic range while [[supercruise|supercruising]] at twice the speed of sound for 75% of the distance.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.icas.org/ICAS_ARCHIVE/ICAS1976/1976.php |title=Operational Experience On Concorde |last1=McKinlay |first1=R. M. |last2=Heaton |first2=G. R. I. |last3=Franchi |first3=J. |journal=1976 ICAS Proceedings |editor-last1=Dexter |editor-first1=R. R. |editor-last2=Green |editor-first2=J. J. |publisher=International Council of Aeronautical Sciences |location=Ottawa, Ontario |date=1976 |page=Figure 5 'Typical flight profile'}}</ref>

<!--operational history-->
Delays and [[cost overrun]]s increased the programme cost to £1.5–2.1 billion in 1976, (£{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK-GDP|1.5|1976}}|0}}–{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK-GDP|2100000000|1976}}|1}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}).
Concorde entered service on 21 January 1976 with [[Air France]] from [[Paris-Roissy]] and [[British Airways]] from [[Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow]].
[[Transatlantic flight]]s were the main market, to [[Washington Dulles]] from 24 May, and to [[New York JFK]] from 17 October 1977.
Air France and British Airways remained the sole customers with [[Concorde aircraft histories|seven airframes each]], for a total production of 20.
[[Supersonic flight]] more than halved travel times, but [[sonic boom]]s over the ground limited it to transoceanic flights only.

<!--competition-->
Its only competitor was the [[Tupolev Tu-144]], carrying passengers from November 1977 until a [[1978 Yegoryevsk Tu-144 crash|May 1978 crash]], while a potential competitor, the [[Boeing 2707]], was cancelled in 1971 before any prototypes were built.

<!--Accidents-->
On 25 July 2000, [[Air France Flight 4590]] crashed shortly after take-off with all 109 occupants and four on the ground killed. This was the only fatal incident involving Concorde; commercial service was suspended until November 2001. The surviving aircraft were retired in 2003, 27 years after commercial operations had begun. All but two of the 20 aircraft built have been preserved and are on display across Europe and North America.