9 Years Later, Nobody Misses the Concorde

A British Airways plane, free of passengers, traveled from Heathrow to Bristol on November 26, 2003. It was a subsonic final flight for the supersonic Concorde, a quiet end to the life of a plane that once symbolized the future of aviation, only to end up as a niche service to wealthy transatlantic travelers for a mere 27 years.

When supersonic planes were first under development in Europe and Russia, American aviation officials were worried the U.S.-dominated global passenger airline industry would quickly lose market share to its modernizing rivals. Then-FAA director Najeeb Halaby told President John F. Kennedy that if the U.S. did not start its own supersonic transport (SST) program, the country would lose billions. That threat seemed verified after PanAm put in an order for a Concorde in 1963 (as it turned out, the airline never ended up flying one).