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Concorde

Aérospatiale / BAC · Supersonic transport · Retired 2003

The supersonic airliner.

Length61.66 m
Wingspan25.6 m
Range7,222 km
MTOW185 t
Typical seats100
Built20
Our numbers

Derived metrics

Computed by aircraft.fyi from the core specification — see how we calculate these.

Seats per metre#30 of 35
1.62 seats/m typical seats ÷ fuselage length
Range per tonne#49 of 65
39.0 km/t maximum range ÷ MTOW in tonnes
Span-to-length ratio#68 of 68
0.42 wingspan ÷ fuselage length
Weight per metre#32 of 68
3.00 t/m MTOW ÷ fuselage length
Range in hours#46 of 65
3.3 h maximum range ÷ cruise speed
Weight per seat#1 of 35
1851 kg MTOW ÷ typical seats
Sense of scale

How big is it, really?

The Concorde's wingspan, against things you already know the size of.

Concorde25.6 m
Football pitch (width)68 m
Blue whale25 m
New Routemaster bus11.2 m
You (probably)1.75 m
Specification

The numbers

Length61.66 m
Wingspan25.60 m
Height12.20 m
MTOW185,070 kg
CruiseMach 2.04 (≈2,180 km/h)
Range7,222 km
Seats100
Engines4 × RR/Snecma Olympus 593
First flight2 March 1969
Built20 (14 production)

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Last verified: 2026-07-14 · Spot an error? business@luck.fyi

The story

What makes it different

Concorde cruised at Mach 2.04 — faster than a rifle bullet — at 60,000 feet, where passengers could see the curvature of the Earth. London to New York took under three and a half hours; the record was 2 hours 52 minutes. It flew faster than the sun moves: leave London at 10:30, land in New York at 9:20 the same morning.

It was an Anglo-French engineering triumph and a commercial failure — sonic booms banned it from land routes, the 1970s oil shock killed every order, and only the two national airlines ever flew the fourteen production aircraft. The airframe stretched 15–25 cm in flight from skin heating; the nose drooped for landing so pilots could see the runway.

The Paris crash of July 2000 broke the spell, and both fleets retired in October 2003. More than two decades on, nothing has replaced it: crossing the Atlantic takes twice as long today as it did in 1996. Every surviving Concorde is a museum piece, and they still draw the biggest crowds.

Common questions

Concorde — the short answers

How fast is the Concorde?
The Concorde cruises at about 2,179 km/h — roughly 1177 knots, or 1,354 mph.
How far can the Concorde fly?
The Concorde has a maximum range of about 7,222 km (3,900 nautical miles, 4,489 miles). At its cruise speed that is roughly 3.3 hours in the air.
How many people does the Concorde carry?
A typical Concorde carries 100 passengers. Exact figures vary with the operator's chosen configuration.
Is the Concorde still in production?
Status: Retired 2003. The Concorde first flew in 1969, and about 20 have been built.
How big is the Concorde?
The Concorde is 61.66 m long with a wingspan of 25.6 m and a height of 12.2 m. Its maximum takeoff weight is 185,070 kg.
Variants

The Concorde line

Prototypes & pre-production
Six development aircraft, 1969–1974.
Production Concorde
Fourteen aircraft — seven each for British Airways and Air France.
Operators

Who flies the Concorde

No current operators — this aircraft's flying days are over. The operators of record are below.

BABritish AirwaysSeven aircraft, London Heathrow to New York JFK and Barbados, 1976–2003.7 AFAir FranceSeven aircraft from Paris CDG, 1976–2003.7
For the collector

Build it yourself

Collector’s pick

LEGO Icons 10318 Concorde

The 2,083-piece LEGO Icons build of the most beautiful airliner ever made — droop nose, landing gear and display stand included.

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