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   Thursday it was exactly 45 years ago that the Concorde was put into service.   
   On January 21, 1976, both British Airways and Air France made the first   
   commercial flights with the supersonic passenger jet.   
       
   Flying supersonic (faster than sound) was seen as the future in the 1960s. The   
   Concorde, developed jointly by British BAC and French Sud Aviation, could fly   
   over 2,000 kilometers per hour and took only 3.5 hours to travel from London   
   to New York, twice as fast as a "normal" plane.   
       
   From the first flight in 1969, it took until 1976 until the first Concordes   
   were put into service. The time saved did not seem to outweigh the high fuel   
   and maintenance costs of the Concorde. The aircraft consumed three times as   
   much kerosene per passenger as the Boeing 747, which also first flew in 1969.   
       
   Sixteen airlines placed orders for the Concorde, but ultimately only Air   
   France and British Airways put the plane into service. They called it quits in   
   2003, when the aviation industry deteriorated as a result of 9/11 and Airbus   
   discontinued maintenance support.   
       
   From July 2000 to November 2001, the fleet was grounded due to the crash of an   
   Air France Concorde shortly after departure from Paris Charles de Gaulle.   
      
   --- DB4 - Dec.21 2020   
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