Concorde

The only supersonic airliner, which cruises at Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound, about 2,170 kph/1,350 mph. Concorde, the result of Anglo-French cooperation, made its first flight in 1969 and entered commercial service seven years later. It is 62 m/202 ft long and has a wing span of nearly 26 m/84 ft. Developing Concorde cost French and British taxpayers £2 billion. It was permanently grounded in October 2003, due to falling demand and safety issues.

A Concorde aircraft owned by Air France crashed on 25 July 2000, soon after taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris. All passengers and crew, totalling 109 people, were killed on board, as well as five people on the ground. It was later discovered that debris on the runway may have pierced a tyre which exploded and tore the fuel tank, which then caused a fire. Air France immediately grounded all Concorde aircraft; British Airways continued to fly until 15 August, when it was announced that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was about to revoke the aircraft's certificate of airworthiness. Concorde resumed commercial flights on 7 November 2001 after a year of intensive checks and improvements.