Sorry to disagree but the great white pig lost money every time it took off. It made a paper profit because it was subsidized by the only two countries that ever flew it.

If it made money other airlines would have bought them. That is the one true fact about comerical flying.....make money!

Was it a tec marvel......yes. But a comerical disaster. That's what happens when goverment decides questions of profit and lost. The Brotish and French goverments decided that the public wanted a plane that would hold only a hand full of people that would be flown very fast and at high cost to were they wanted to go.

Boeing who had to worry about the bottom line thought diffrently. They reasoned the public wanted cheap air fares...to any were in the world.
So the 747 was born!

Private companies must face the real world. Goverment companies think they are the world!

Posted by: davids at July 29, 2006 11:00 AM

Dave, the Concorde was a financial success. People were paying the money. The reason it's no longer in use is because one crashed. Safety became a concern. It held a perfect safety record, which was then destroyed when they lost one. The super-rich won't spend the extra 10 grand to save two hours when there's a danger of dying added in.

Posted by: Brian at July 28, 2006 10:31 PM

If that great white elephant Concord taught the world anything it was that even the super rich will not spend an extra ten thousand dollars to save two hours crossing the atlantic!

Fighter Jets don't dog fight and super sonic speed. Bombers don't bomb at supersonic speed.

What can be so Important that a Private jet has to get a CEO to be in China five hours quicker then the norman corprote Jet?

Posted by: davids at July 28, 2006 12:13 PM

Civilian supersonic jets will probably not
return. Noise from the sonic boom was one of the factor, but there are also other disadvantages, especially the amount of fuel it eats. Cost performance must be considered if you want to get it flying. Instead, I would guess blended wing plane (Boeing 797) will have more chance to become reality.

Posted by: pedestrian at July 28, 2006 10:03 AM