It’s been 22 years today since the last ever commercial Concorde flight touched down at Heathrow Airport on October 24, 2003. The jet was an engineering marvel renowned for its innovative design and supersonic speeds which transformed Atlantic air travel between London and New York.
The iconic droop snout nose still makes Concorde one of the most recognisable planes of the modern era and a true British great. High operating costs, declining passenger numbers and the 2000 Air France crash all led to the downfall of the airplane with an end to supersonic travel. But, in the 22 years since its end, no passenger plane has ever travelled as fast over the Atlantic as Concorde.
A Concorde jet could reach up to 1,354 miles per hour (2,179 km/h) or twice the speed of sound. It allowed Concorde to travel between London and New York in around just three and a half hours.
Famously, singer Phil Collins showed off the power of the plane during July 1985’s Live Aid concerts, performing at London’s Wembley Stadium before hopping on Concorde and playing a set in Philadelphia hours later.
Concorde achieved a new record on February 7, 1996, recording a crossing in an epic two hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds. It’s a stark contrast to today’s flights, with passengers usually in the air for anywhere between 7 and 10 hours.
The closest a passenger plane has ever come was back in 2020 when a British Airways flight achieved the fastest subsonic New York to London journey.
The trip took just four hours and 56 minutes, reaching a top speed of up to 825mph after being aided by winds from Storm Ciara. Much of the reason why Concorde’s records remain intact is that no one has tried to replicate supersonic passenger flight over the Atlantic since.
However, that could be about to change with a new plane, the Overture by Boom Supersonic, understood to be in testing. The new service could offer services between New York and London by 2029, with trips set to take just three hours and 40 minutes.
The plane could hold between 60 and 80 passengers, with Boom claiming they have already received 130 orders and pre-orders by major airlines. The path back looks closer than ever, with United States officials lifting a ban on supersonic travel over land back in June 2025.
