Did Concorde ever make money?

Concorde service was profitable by the late 1980s and if not for the economic downturn and Air France Concorde crash of 2000, may have survived to this day. Concorde earned £500 million for British Airways after tax profit, this was between a loss making 1982 and a highly profitable 2000 with just seven aircraft.



The financial history of the Concorde is a subject of much debate, but the short answer is that while the project as a whole was a massive loss for the British and French governments, British Airways (BA) eventually turned it into a profitable operation. The development costs, totaling over £1 billion in the 1960s and 70s, were entirely subsidized by the governments and were never recouped. However, after BA bought its fleet for a symbolic price and realized that their wealthy passengers actually didn't know how much they were paying for tickets, they drastically increased the fares. By the 1980s and 90s, the Concorde was generating an average of £30 million to £50 million in annual profit for British Airways. Air France struggled more to make a profit due to different market demographics and higher maintenance overhead. Ultimately, the high cost of fuel, the 2000 crash in Paris, and the general downturn in aviation after 9/11 made the aging fleet unsustainable. While it was a "prestige" project that failed as a mass-market business, it proved that a niche, ultra-premium service could be profitable under the right management.

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Surprisingly, Concorde pilots were paid the same salary as commercial line pilots at BA and Air France. Concorde pilots at BA have the same salary as any mainline pilots flying any other aircraft. There is a salary scale depending on length of service. Top salary is 120,700 sterling basic for captains.

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Such speed didn't come cheap, though: A transatlantic flight required the high-maintenance aircraft to gulp jet fuel at the rate of one ton per seat, and the average round-trip price was $12,000.

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Concorde Alpha Foxtrot, the last to be built and to fly, is the centerpiece of Aerospace Bristol in the UK. Small cabin: Space was tight inside Concorde. The seating configuration was only four across with about 100 seats available per flight. There was little to differentiate between Business and First Class.

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The Concorde's retirement was due to a number of factors. The supersonic aircraft was noisy and extremely expensive to operate, which restricted flight availability. The operating costs required fare pricing that was prohibitively high for many consumers.

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Supercharged: Concorde was the first -- and still only -- passenger aircraft that had turbojet engines with afterburners. Raw fuel was introduced into the exhaust of the plane's four engines, immediately increasing the engines' thrust by almost 20%.

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Concorde is sadly no longer flying, but it is still possible to visit some of the remaining 18 airframes, there are others not open to the public but you can still see them.

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But that hasn't stopped many aviation geeks from calling the new Boom supersonic aircraft Concorde 2.0, although the plane will officially be known under the name 'Overture'. Boom Supersonic's Overture plane is slated to roll out in 2025, fly in 2026 and expected to carry passengers by 2029.

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As a former Concorde pilot puts it, You don't actually hear anything on board. All we see is the pressure wave moving down the airplane – it indicates the instruments. And that's what we see around Mach 1. But we don't hear the sonic boom or anything like that.

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Of its final, celeb-studded passenger flight, CNN's Quest says: It didn't matter how famous you were, the star was the plane. Faster than a speeding bullet: 20 years after it last flew, Concorde remains unsurpassed in terms of speed in the world of commercial flight.

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It was expensive to operate. It could Barely make it from Paris to Washington DC without having to declare an emergency due to running low on fuel. It was Not allowed to fly across the USA due to its sonic boom. Other than that, it was good.

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The aircraft quickly proved itself unquestionably as it reached speeds of up to 1,354 mph. To put that into context, that is around 800 mph faster than a Boeing 747 and over 350 mph faster than the earth spins on its axis!

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Over the Irish sea and rapidly running out of fuel the Tornado had a hard time catching up with the mighty Concorde. Over more than a hundred miles or so, 5–10 minutes the Concord could outrun every fighter.

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Concorde's long, thin fuselage was a key to its supersonic abilities. Calvert says its spindly shape also allowed it to flex like a fly-fishing rod, one of its most unique aerodynamic qualities. Concorde's cruising altitude was the highest for a civilian aircraft at 60,000 feet.

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The toilets were at front and centre of the cabin, there was baggage space under forward cabin and aft of cabin. Passenger doors forward of cabin and amidships on port side, with service doors opposite. There was a baggage door aft of cabin on starboard side.

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Concorde was also popular with the Queen and celebrities. Joan Collins travelled with the aircraft so frequently that she became something of an ambassador for the service. Other notable passengers included Elton John, Mick Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor and Sean Connery.

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