A close-up view of the British Airways Concorde
The Concorde was the world's first supersonic passenger airplane. It was built through a partnership between British and French aircraft companies in the 1960s and 70s. This revolutionary plane could fly over twice the speed of sound, drastically reducing travel times. Flights between New York and London took only about 3.5 hours compared to 8 hours on regular planes.
The Concorde began commercial flights in 1976 with London to Bahrain and Paris to Rio. Over the next decades, it served other routes including New York and Washington D.C. It allowed people to fly anywhere in the world much faster than ever before. However, the Concorde was very expensive to operate. The noise and cost eventually led airlines to cancel most routes by the 2000s except for transatlantic flights to New York. After more than 25 years in service, remaining flights were ended in 2003.