Narrator: This is how the prototype
for the world's fastest commercial plane is built.
The company behind it, Boom, wants to transform
the aviation industry by flying passengers
at supersonic speeds from London to New York
in about three and a half hours.
But rewind 50 years. We've actually been here before.
Remember this? Concorde once combined speed with glamor.
It traveled twice as fast as the speed of sound.
Leslie: Takeoff was the most exciting part,
because the power of the engines in this airplane,
you would be accelerating while you accelerate.
Narrator: For more than 20 years, Concorde blazed a trail
that few could follow,
but it was also noisy and too expensive.
So what happened to supersonic travel?
And can it really return?
The dream of supersonic flight began more than 70 years ago,
when American pilot Chuck Yeager
first broke the sound barrier.
Announcer: Through the sound barrier.
The first time ever.
So the obvious extension of that
was to build a supersonic airplane.
Narrator: In the 1960s, a handful of nations
raced to develop the first supersonic passenger jet.
The UK and France joined forces in 1962
to work on a supersonic airliner.
Announcer: A hundred passengers
and all that baggage from London to New York in three hours.
That's the promise of the Concorde,
the giant Anglo-French supersonic aircraft.
Narrator: Their agreement, or "concorde" in French,
would shape supersonic flight for years to come.
Across the pond, President John F. Kennedy
proposed a similar project in 1963,
and the Soviets also began developing their own plane,
the Tupolev TU-144.
But take a look at this.
With its delta-wing shape and adjustable pointy nose,
it bore a striking similarity to the prototype Concorde.
The French accused the Soviets of spying
and stealing their designs.
It was so similar, the press even nicknamed it Concordski.
But all the while, Concorde was taking shape.
Announcer: The rear section, the fin, and the rudder
have been designed and built in Britain.
French factories of Toulouse
are working on the center section of the fuselage
and the delta-wing assembly.
Narrator: It was precisely these triangle-shaped wings
and the aerodynamic nose cone that would allow Concorde
to cruise at such high speeds.
Engineers added engines that were twice as powerful
as those in a standard passenger plane.
And then there were the afterburners.
That was the kick the Concorde needed to go supersonic.
In 1968, the Soviet Tupolev took off from Moscow,
becoming the first supersonic jetliner to fly.
Two months later, Concorde also began test flights.
The US withdrew from the race in 1971
because it was too expensive.
That left the Tupolev to go head to head with Concorde
at the 1973 Paris Air Show.
The Concorde flew flawlessly,
but what was supposed to be a triumphant demonstration
by the Tupolev ended in disaster.
Six Soviet crew members
and eight French civilians on the ground were killed.
Soon after the show, Concorde secured orders
from a dozen airlines from around the world,
while Tupolev disappeared from the international stage.
But Concorde didn't get off to a good start either.
The price for each aircraft tripled.
William: When it became clear what the operating costs of
the airplane were going to be, the future orders disappeared.
Narrator: In the end, only 14 planes were sold.
Finally on January 21, 1976,
two Concordes took off simultaneously
on their first commercial flights
to Rio de Janeiro and Bahrain.
Concorde effortlessly broke the sound barrier,
and the aviation industry was changed forever.
Intercom: This is the captain. As you notice,
we're coming up to twice the speed of sound.
Narrator: Concorde eventually flew
to more than 85 destinations,
including Caracas, Singapore, Toronto, Bali, and Sydney.
Passengers enjoyed a five-course meal
that included Champagne, foie gras, and salmon.
It was a sexy aircraft. Nothing like it since.
Narrator: There were only 100 passengers.
That's a quarter of the capacity of a 747.
You could even rub shoulders with rock stars.
Had a menu where I was collecting
my favorite rock stars' signatures.
Narrator: There were also soccer players, supermodels ...
Sally: Well, of course there was Elizabeth Taylor, who I always wanted to meet.
David Frost, Diana Ross.
Narrator: And of course, royalty.
But being a part of the club came at a cost.
In 1986, a one-way ticket across the Atlantic
cost more than $2,000.
That's more than 5,000 today.
Ten years later, the fare had doubled.
But it wasn't just costly for the passengers.
It required 22 hours of maintenance
for every hour it was in the air,
while a 747 only needed about eight hours.
And the oil crises of the '70s,
which greatly increased fuel costs, didn't help.
In 1977 alone, British Airways
reportedly lost more than $60 million in today's dollars,
and Air France more than $180 million.
And what made it so special would also be its kryptonite.
Concorde couldn't fly over land
because of the thunder-like noise it created
when it broke the sound barrier.
But it was also noisier than other planes
on takeoff and landing.
That's why it was originally banned
from landing in New York.
But finally, a Supreme Court ruling
allowed Concorde to fly to New York in November of 1977.
Eventually, Concorde cut a number of destinations
to focus on their more profitable New York route.
Flying at more than 1,000 miles per hour,
the Concorde slashed the journey time
from New York to London
from about eight hours to a little over three.
It's always exciting to get to New York
before you've left.
You're moving at 23 miles a minute.
You know, you do the length of Manhattan in 30 seconds.
Narrator: And finally Concorde became profitable.
By 1983, British Airways reportedly
made more than $10 million,
and Air France more than $3 million.
You'd be taxiing out to take off
and you'd see lines of people waiting to watch you.
We'd always draw a crowd.
Narrator: In '96, it earned another record --
the world's fastest commercial flights across the Atlantic.
It was Captain Scott himself who piloted that flight
on this same aircraft.
Another strategy that helped Concorde turn a profit
was special chartered flights.
Like the time passengers saw the last total solar eclipse
of the millennium for $2,400. That's about $4,000 today.
It was wonderful.
I've waited all my life to see this.
I'm really glad I didn't miss it.
William: The whole concept of it changed,
and we began to get more passengers.
Narrator: But despite the boost
from these chartered flights,
by the mid-'90s, it was getting harder
to fill the plane.
Fewer businesses could justify the cost
to fly their executives over to Europe for lunch,
and the rise of other airlines' first-class cabins
competed against Concorde.
Commercial: We've put a few noses just a tad out of joint.
It was simply going out of fashion.
And then, disaster.
Announcer: The mortuary vans
are still arriving here.
Narrator: On July 25, 2000, an Air France Concorde
caught fire upon takeoff
from the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
More than 100 passengers on board
and four other people on the ground were killed
as the plane crashed in a suburb of Paris.
Investigators found that the Concorde
had run over a piece of metal on takeoff.
And as one of its tires ruptured, it struck a fuel tank.
Sally: It was a massive, massive shock.
We could not just take it in.
And to see those pictures of it going down,
even now I feel shivery just thinking about it.
Narrator: Concorde fights were halted for months
and retrofitted with stronger fuel tanks.
Leslie: They decided to shut down the airplane altogether,
which was, we didn't feel was right.
We felt as though we could have carried on, but we didn't.
Narrator: Concorde did fly again --
a test flight on September 11, 2001.
But the plane landed in London
while the World Trade Center was under attack.
Flights resumed two months later,
but the Concorde's decline was unstoppable.
The 9/11 attacks caused the steepest decline
in air traffic in history.
So it never really got back, in my opinion,
into full operation again.
It was always doing too few flights.
Costs were still pretty much as high as they ever were.
Narrator: The airlines tried to power through,
but passenger numbers never recovered, nor profit margins.
In April 2003, executives announced
that supersonic travel would come to an end.
The last flights were seen as a farewell tour
for a plane that had become a celebrity in its own right.
Darcey: It's very weird to think
that it's not going to be in the skies anymore.
Narrator: Air France operated
its last commercial Concorde flight in May 2003,
flying from New York to Paris.
And British Airways followed five months later,
flying from New York to London.
This was a huge step in technology
and being able to travel at supersonic speeds.
And the fact that it is being phased out,
I think, is quite shocking and very saddening.
Narrator: And that's the moment
that supersonic air travel froze.
For 27 years, Concorde pilots
had flown almost 4 million passengers across the globe.
Producer: Does it bring back memories?
Leslie: Yeah, it does.
All of them -- even the bad ones are good.
The exciting ones when something goes wrong,
even they're good, too. Because I'm still here.
Narrator: For the past 18 years, wealthy transatlantic passengers
have had to put up with longer flight times.
But now, it looks like supersonic air travel
may make a comeback,
and the race to build the next supersonic airliner
is looking as competitive as the first one.
This is a demo for a plane
that promises to take passengers
from New York to London in about three and a half hours.
And the pitch from the CEO might sound familiar.
Blake: Overture will take 65 passengers across oceans
at twice the speed of any airliner flying today.
Narrator: The company behind it, Boom,
is hoping to fly its first passengers in 2029.
Boom is working with Rolls Royce to develop its engines.
We have a whole new generation of engines that are
significantly cleaner, quieter, more fuel-efficient.
So you can significantly drop the cost of high-speed flight --
75% more affordable than Concorde ever was.
Narrator: But costs remain a massive obstacle.
And in May 2021, Aerion, a front-runner
in the new supersonic race,
had to shut down its operations
because it couldn't raise enough funds.
But for now, it's that dream of turning back time
that is keeping the competition alive.