concorde

British/French supersonic airliner, designed in the sixties and entered commercial service in 1976. A supreme technological success (and the only successful supersonic airliner), but catastrophic from a business point of view. Concorde was designed when fuel was cheap, and when it didn't seem like there would be any objection to generating sonic booms over populated areas. By the time it was ready to go into commercial service, environmental concerns and fuel costs eroded most of the potential market. In the end, Concorde served only with Air France and British Airways, mostly flying on the New York - Paris and New York - London routes. After the first fatal Concorde accident in 2000, the fleet was grounded for over a year. The decision was finally made to retire the two Concorde fleets in 2003, and the survivors were retired to museums in Germany, France, Britain, the United States, and Barbados. No supersonic successor appears likely