Why Don't People Fly With Supersonic Concordes Anymore?

Since March 2, 1969, Concorde aircraft were used for a while to make the dream of supersonic passenger planes a reality until the crash in 2000 during Air France Flight 4590. In addition to technological, operational, and economic issues, this crash had a huge impact on the cessation of Concorde operations by British Airways and Air France. Let’s examine how these issues obstructed the realization of the dream of flying in supersonic civil aircraft.

High operational costs of Concordes led airlines to move away from this aircraft. It consumed a huge amount of fuel during takeoff and while flying at Mach 2 speed, which is twice the speed of subsonic passenger aircraft. It had four Rolls-Royce turbojet engines to reach supersonic speed. These engines had expensive maintenance costs, and airlines could not afford that amount of money to operate these aircraft safely around the world.

Additionally, Concordes had high carbon emissions that made the world less healthy and suitable for life. Nowadays, we are trying to decrease carbon emissions to combat global warming. Ignoring and using such an aircraft with high carbon emissions would be ridiculous. Furthermore, its supersonic booms and high noise levels irritated wildlife and people on the ground. Due to these factors, air traffic controllers had to track Concordes during flight and restrict their actions, such as shutting down afterburners while flying over cities and populated areas. They were allowed to use afterburners only for 90 seconds during takeoff to reach the necessary speed. Once over the oceans, they could use afterburners, even though they were harmful to nature. In the end, the aviation industry couldn’t bear the protests and complaints from people, leading to a reduction and cessation of these aircraft operations.

There were restrictions not only for the environment but also for routes. Concordes were more expensive than common subsonic aircraft. Passengers had to pay almost $15,000 to travel from Europe to North America, an amount not affordable for everyone. Thus, passengers were not inclined to choose Concordes. Furthermore, Concordes could not use routes of their choice because they had to be restricted to avoid irritating people and wildlife. As a result, they sometimes had to use longer routes, even though they could have shortened travel time. This was another negative aspect of these aircraft.

This is not the end of the issues. There were also technological limitations and safety concerns with improving these supersonic aircraft because they had complex structures. When something was changed or improved, it could be dangerous during flight. While it’s true that all aircraft can have similar risks, they can be fixed quickly due to the common structure of widespread aircraft, whereas Concordes could not be easily repaired. Initially, Concordes were among the safest aircraft in the world, but they later became less safe due to crashes like Flight 4590 in 2000. These crashes occurred because of new features added by engineers. Although they should have been fixed quickly after these crashes, they became more dangerous. Engineers needed more time, but there were many Concordes operating, and the aviation industry does not tolerate basic issues.

Although time is important, we need safer aircraft to fly without issues or crashes. As a result, passengers and airlines demand more safety, efficiency, and sustainability over speed. This has become a more sensible approach for the future of the aviation industry. Thanks to these regulations, we can fly with fewer issues and crashes using subsonic aircraft. Even a car crash happens more frequently than an aircraft crash.

In conclusion, we can summarize why supersonic travel and the Concorde dream ended due to a lack of safety, sustainability, affordability, and environmental friendliness. Perhaps in the future, engineers will design safer and more sustainable supersonic planes that we can use widely around the world. In my opinion, thanks to advancing technology, humanity may be able to produce supersonic passenger aircraft that are more fascinating and safer than Concordes.