Supersonic Travel​—Is It Here to Stay?

A NEW age in aviation began on January 21, 1976. Two sleek, beak-nosed planes, one in London, the other in Paris, raced down their runways for near-simultaneous takeoffs. Commercial supersonic air travel in the Western world was inaugurated!

The plane taking off from Paris was on its maiden flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by way of Dakar, Senegal. As the aerial speedometer (called a Machmeter), within view of passengers up front, reached the speed of sound, one of them reported: “There were gasps and cheers. Then came an announcement from the cockpit: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, you have just become the first 100 passengers in the history of the world to pass the speed of sound in a scheduled flight.’”

Actually, the Soviet Union began supersonic service first​—with its TU-144, in December 1975—​but it was for mail and cargo only. Not until November 1977 did the Soviets commence scheduled supersonic passenger service from Moscow to Alma-Ata in central Asia.

The plane that inaugurated supersonic passenger service is the Concorde, produced jointly by Britain and France. Sixteen Concordes either have been built or are under construction, and nine are now in service.

In their first year the Concordes had 45,000 fare-paying passengers. There would have been many more if it had not been for the great opposition to these planes. Regular flights into the Washington, D.C., area were not permitted until May 24, 1976. And it was another year and a half before scheduled flights were allowed into New York city late in 1977.

Why is there opposition to supersonic passenger jets? Is the continuance of their service really in jeopardy? What are the advantages of supersonic travel?

Faster than Sound

The obvious advantage is speed, getting places faster. Generally, flight in a subsonic jet from Paris to Washington, D.C., takes between seven and eight hours. However, a Concorde passenger observes: “Air France’s Concorde Flight 53 departed Charles de Gaulle Aeroport [Paris] at 8:00 P.M. and touched down at Dulles International Airport [near Washington, D.C.] at 5:55 P.M. . . . The trip had taken precisely 3 hours, 55 minutes.”

That’s right, passengers traveling westward on the Concorde actually reach their destinations at an earlier hour than when they departed. This is because the Concorde flies faster than the sun moves across the sky. Thus, one can leave Europe after watching a sunset and arrive in the United States during daylight and watch the sun set again that same day! Or one can leave Paris during the early morning of, say, January 22, and arrive in New York on the night of January 21.

In tests during the early 1960’s, a DC-8 became the first passenger liner to break the sound “barrier.” By that time supersonic passenger planes were already on drawing boards.

Development

The Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France were all interested in building such a plane. Due to the size of the undertaking, Britain and France signed an agreement on November 29, 1962, to coordinate their efforts. At the time it was anticipated that there would be a world market for up to 500 supersonic passenger planes. A British Aircraft Corporation sales manager was predicting sales of 225 Concordes by 1975.

In time, preproduction models of the Concorde were produced. The first one flew on March 2, 1969, and in 1970 supersonic speeds were first attained. But there were problems that kept running up production costs. At the same time, opposition to the whole idea of supersonic flight became very strong. Thus in the spring of 1971 the U.S. scrapped its plans for the project when, after spending nearly $1 billion, Congress cut off all further government funding.

The hoped-for sales of the Concorde did not materialize. The highest number of options to buy them was only 74. Then, on January 21, 1973, a major blow came when Pan American World Airways and Trans World Airlines canceled their options to buy 13 planes. Other carriers later also dropped options to buy. Thus, besides British Airways and Air France, which are the only airlines that have Concordes, only Red China and Iran National Airlines still have orders to buy them.

Another major blow fell in June 1973. It occurred during the Paris Air Show. The Soviets were demonstrating a preproduction TU-144 supersonic plane when it crashed and killed at least 13 persons. This worried those who still had options to buy Concordes; they wondered about its safety too. Also, the Soviet program was set back, so that the Soviets were eventually almost two years behind the British and French in initiating supersonic passenger service.

On December 6, 1973, the first production Concorde began flying. Flight tests took it all over the world. It visited over 40 countries and landed at 70 international airports. After over 5,000 flying hours the plane was given a certificate of airworthiness and, as already noted, began regular air service in January 1976.

Travel by Concorde means that a person is less than 12 hours away from practically any place on earth. It often cuts in half the time it takes other planes to get to places.