Concorde

what is it?

Concorde ( KONG-kord, French: [kɔ̃kɔʁd] ) is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies began in 1954 and a UK–France treaty followed in 1962, as the programme cost was estimated at £70 million (£1.77 billion in 2025). Construction of six prototypes began in February 1965, with the first flight from Toulouse on 2 March 1969.

🔎How to recognise it: 4 jet engines · low wing · retractable tricycle gear · 25.6 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 2,179 km/htop speed
• range 7,223 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 120passengers
• size 185.1 tmax take-off weight
• built 20made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 57 years ago, in 1969.
• 🏎️Top speed is 16.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 1.8 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 25.6 m: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 31 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 7,223 km: Amsterdam to New York (≈5,850 km) without stopping.
• 🏔️Can fly 2.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1969-03-02

introduced

1976

retired

2003

status

retired

number built

20

role

supersonic airliner

origin

France and United Kingdom

makers

British Aircraft Corporation, Sud-Aviation

engines

4× Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 Mk 610 / Olympus 593

crew

3

passengers

120

length

61.7 m

wingspan

25.6 m

height

12.2 m

max take-off weight

185.1 t

top speed

2,179 km/h

cruise speed

2,158 km/h

range

7,223 km

ceiling

18,300 m

wings

low wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.