Service
In July 1972 Air France placed an order for four Concorde aircraft and a further five were ordered by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). In 1974 the BOAC organisation merged with British European Airways (BEA) to form British Airways.
By December 1975 and January 1976 Air France and British Airways respectively took delivery of their first Concorde. In all, only fourteen production aircraft were manufactured in addition to the two prototype, two pre-production and two production-test aircraft. No other airlines purchased Concorde, despite initial options for purchase by a number of airlines.
On 21 January 1976 Air France Concorde F-BVFA took off for Rio de Janeiro and British Airway Concorde G-BOAA for Bahrain and by the end of 1977 both airlines were flying to New York on the lucrative transatlantic run.
British Airways did operate a joint service with Singapore Airlines from 1977 to 1980 (the port side aircraft was painted in the colours of Singapore Airlines, the starboard side those of British Airways) and at the beginning of 1979 the US-based Braniff International Airways operated jointly with Air France and British Airways from Dallas to Paris and London respectively, via Washington Dulles Airport; though this service was terminated in 1980.
In September 1979 the five remaining Concorde aircraft constructed were designated to the Air France and British Airways fleets so that both airlines had seven aircraft each; Concorde construction had officially ceased.
Air France Concorde F-BVFD was the first Concorde to be retired following a reduction in routes flown by the French airline. She last flew in May 1982 and was withdrawn from service. She was scrapped in 1994.
On 8th November 1986 a British Airways Concorde flew round the world in 29 hours 59 minutes, while some ten years later on 7th February 1996 Concorde flew from New York to London in a record time of 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds.
During take-off from Charles de Gaulle airport on 25th July 2000, Air France Concorde F-BTSC suffered a tyre delamination following contact with a piece of metal on the runway. Debris ruptured port wing fuel tanks and a fire took hold. F-BTSC had already exceeded V1, the point at which take-off could be aborted and the aircraft struggled into the sky. Less than a minute later, unable to gain speed or height, her nose pitched up and the aircraft struck the ground.
Tragically all one-hundred passengers, her nine crew and four people on the ground, in the hotel l'Hôtelissimo de Gonesse struck by F-BTSC, were killed.
Following the accident Concorde was grounded until design changes were made, including fuel tank kevlar linings and stronger tyres. Four Air France and five British Airways Concorde returned to service, the remaining aircraft - without these changes and therefore a Certificate of Airworthiness - were withdrawn from service.
Until her retirement in 2003 the Air France and British Airways fleets carried in excess of 2.5 million passengers. On 24th October 2003, three British Airway Concorde aircraft landed in succession at London's Heathrow airport, marking the end of commercial supersonic air travel and the end of an era in aviation.
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