Concorde how long did it take

The aircraft reached a top speed on its flight of 1,mph. On that day, some 24 years ago, the Concorde tested the boundaries of what was then modern flight. Subsonic, or regular, aircraft had never come close to such a speedy flight. This year, British Airways was able to set the record for the fastest non-supersonic Atlantic crossing thanks to Storm Ciara. Before that, the record for the fastest subsonic Atlantic crossing was held by Norwegian.

It set its record in January with a Boeing Dreamliner on flight DY at a crossing time of five hours and 13 minutes. Subsonic jets simply do not compare to the speed of the Concorde. While they travel at an average speed of around mph, Concorde more than doubles that. It flies at 2. In comparison, one of the fastest modern subsonic jets, the Boeing , travels at just 0.

It has its meticulous design to thank for that. Fred Finn , a retired business executive whose flights on Concorde earned him a place in the Guiness Book of World Records , still remembers seeing Concorde for the first time from the passenger lounge before his flight from Washington, D.

It was rare to have a flight without at least one famous passenger, from royalty to rock stars to supermodels. Finn, whose flights were covered by his employer, eventually became a celebrity of sorts himself for his constant presence on Concorde. Concorde also enticed the wealthiest passengers with charters, both domestically and abroad, as well as several around-the-world trips.

The six cabin crew were in charge of executing multi-course meal service to odd passengers per flight. And pour Champagne they did. Dom Perignon was a popular choice onboard, and the Concorde Wine Cellar was curated especially for the fleet, with notable sparkling, red, and white wines, mainly French labels, paired to each course. Entertainment-wise, there were no cabin movies or back-of-seat screens—just the Mach display showing speed and altitude, and, of course, that astonishing view out the window.

The fleet was retired in - but the famous aircraft can now be seen at a number of museums in Britain and around the world. Air France made its final flight on June 27 while British Airways retired its fleet on October 24 after a farewell tour. Concorde had been in service for 27 years, having made its first commercial flight on January 21, Passenger numbers fell after an Air France Concorde crashed minutes after taking off from Paris in July , killing all people on board and four on the ground.

The plane ran over a piece of metal on the runway, bursting a tyre which caused the fuel tank to ignite as it was taking off. The operators also blamed rising maintenance costs. Although advanced when it was launched, 30 years on the planes were outdated and expensive to run.