15 years since Concorde's final flight: A look at why the jet was grounded

The date October 24 will always be etched in the minds of aviation aficionados as it marks the day when the British Airways' Concorde - the world's last-ever commercial supersonic plane - ceased operations.

Manufactured by Airbus, and designed through a collaboration between British and French engineers during the Cold War era, the Concorde was the jewel in the crown of the British Airways fleet for 27 years.

The Concorde travelled at 2,146 km/hr (Mach 2 speeds) taking only 3.5 hours to complete the transatlantic journey.

Its famed route was the flight from New York City to London — a journey across the serpentine Atlantic Ocean that took an average airplane 7 hours to complete whereas Concorde took three hours and 30 minutes to complete the journey.

Its elegant design, accentuated by its unique wing structure, has captured the public's imagination for decades.

Despite the Concorde’s stellar safety record, a horrific accident that took place on July 25, 2000 left 113 people dead. The tyres of the Air France flight 4590, at the time of take-off from an airport in France, got damaged by an engine cowling. These damaged tyres grazed against the exposed wiring of the landing gear, that sparked a fire in the nearest engine.

A Vox video showed that due to bad press, the plane was grounded for close to a year, till November 2001. The 9/11 attacks saw airplane revenues dropping significantly. This made airlines take a hard look at the Concorde’s future.

For one, keeping a Concorde in the air was money guzzling exercise. Its design meant that it could only carry a maximum of 123 passengers, squeezed on to uncomfortable bucket seats. The supersonic speeds attained by the Concorde meant that it burned many more gallons of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) than regular planes.

ATF is one the largest input costs in the aviation business. Its prices are sensitive to geopolitical factors and government taxes. The extra fuel needed, and the fewer number of passengers it carried per flight reflected in its ticket prices. The video noted that the New York to London flight costed $11,700 in 2003, meaning that only the elite could afford a ticket to eke out profits.

Supersonic travel (SST) meant breaking the sound barrier, which involves engines booming at explosive decibels. Nicknamed the “sonic boom”, the sound was loud enough to shatter window panes. To avoid inconveniencing the people on ground, the Concorde could only travel over oceans, and at heights so high, that one can see that curvature of the earth from its window. These factors severely restricted the possible routes that the plane could travel over, further cutting off its avenues towards profitable operations.

A special plane required an expert crew to operate and maintain the Concorde, which further bloated overhead. Taking these factors into account along with the economy at the time, British Airways notified Airbus that they would be discontinuing the Concorde arrangement with the company.

One would only imagine that they did so with a heavy heart.

The video also noted that although companies such NASA have revived interest in SST, until the economics are not sorted out, commercial supersonic travel will continue to be relegated to the history books.