Concorde was a groundbreaking aircraft in many ways and offered great moments in aeronautics, but many of the arguments that led to it are no longer on the aviation scene.
Do you remember the Concorde? Perhaps younger people have a vague memory of the aeroplane that fascinated all children, and not-so-children, at the end of the 20th century. Personally, I still remember with excitement February 1999, when I had the opportunity to see it while it was undergoing tests at SVQ (Seville Airport).
In case the name does not ring a bell, the Concorde was an aeroplane capable of carrying out passenger flights at supersonic speeds.
And you may be wondering, what is supersonic speed? You've probably heard of it before, but you're not quite sure what it means. Well, it means exceeding the speed of sound, i.e. going faster than 1,235.52 km/h. It would be like travelling from Seville to Malaga and back almost three times in just one hour. Or travelling from Paris to London in about twenty minutes. In short, it's incredible!
To learn a little about the history of this type of travel, you would have to go back to 1947, when the first manned flight exceeding the speed of sound was made with the Bell X-1 model. Since then, humans have been able to create several aircraft that have surpassed this milestone, with the Lockheed SR-71, better known as the ‘Blackbird’, reigning supreme. It reached a speed of almost Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound. However, it is believed that it could have easily surpassed this, as information about this military project is still classified.
At the end of the 1950s, a global race began to develop a supersonic passenger aircraft, which even became a battle for national prestige. Not surprisingly, state subsidies for the projects were substantial. In the United States, they placed their trust in the developments of Lockheed Martin (with its L2000 model) and Boeing (model 2707). In Europe, France opted for the Caravelle model from the state-owned company Sud Aviation, while the United Kingdom focused on the Bristol Aeroplane Company's 233 model. Finally, the Soviet Union opted for the Tupolev TU144.
In the case of France and the UK, there was a strategic agreement to join forces in the development of "Concorde" (concord), for which a series of mergers took place in both countries as a result of state pressure. In the UK it was the British Aircraft Corporation (merger between English Electric, Vickers-Armstrong, Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft) and in France it was Aerospatiale (merger of Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation and the Société d'études et de réalisation d'engins balistiques, SÉREB).
While the US gave up and abandoned the project, the Soviet Union went ahead and even the TU144 made its first flight on 31 December 1968, a couple of months before Concorde. However, it lacked commercial success and its flights were very irregular due to its low range and high maintenance costs.
Focusing on passenger flights, and returning to our long-missed Concorde, it really was the only commercial aircraft with the ability to exceed the speed of sound that was actually able to do the job. Stopped operating in 2003 after a tragic accident during take-off three years earlier. But it was only this event that brought about the end of its operational life, as there were other reasons for the aircraft's termination.
The most relevant were the deafening noise produced by their engines, pollution and their high maintenance cost. Such is the case that it was vetoed in part of the United States on the grounds that the noise it produced during take-off was unbearable. Rumour has it that this harassment and demolition by the American giant only had the clear objective of dynamiting the project, as they did not have an aircraft with similar characteristics.
From a commercial point of view, one of the most obvious drawbacks was that only a small section of society could afford to pay for a return ticket worth ten thousand dollars at the time. Quite a bargain. However, the main advantage of flying Concorde was the speed with which it was able to reach its destination. Flying from London to New York in just over three hours was a blink of an eye compared to the slightly more than eight hours of a conventional flight. A luxury that only the wealthiest of the time could afford.
Would it make sense to see a supersonic airliner at an airport again?
Honestly, no, it's as simple as that. If we pay attention to the developments in air transport and the expectations of the aviation industryIn this context, we can clearly see that one of the most important constraints is the imposition of increasingly stringent environmental restrictions. In such a context, it is easily understandable that the use of these aircraft would be very limited.
On the other hand, a more conservative global economic policy currently clashes head-on with the extravagance that prevailed during the first supersonic aircraft boom. It was a time when everyone wanted to make significant technological leaps at almost any cost. Consequently, greater optimisation of air transport aimed at obtaining the highest profitability with the least possible environmental and economic impact makes its operation almost unfeasible.
Despite what has already been said, this type of aircraft is still being proposed and developed by a number of companies around the world. Unfortunately for them, for now their venture joins a long list of aircraft that did not go beyond the prototype in the 1960s.
Such is the case with the model that gives this article its title, the AS2. Unlike at the turn of the last century, this range of aircraft has focused on an even smaller niche market after the bitter fall of Concorde. That is to say, companies are focusing on the creation of a private plane rather than an airliner for commercial flights.
Aerion, the company involved in the development of the AS2, announced in mid-2021 the cancellation of the project due to lack of financial resources. It seems that neither its direct collaborations with NASA, which is very interested in relaunching supersonic flights, has been able to save the ambitious project.
The current priorities of the aeronautics industry are in improve the efficiency of aircraft, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, ultimately, to promote more sustainable aviation. Speed is currently not a challenge in itself, especially if it is not accompanied by adequate commercial expectations.
Indeed, if we are talking about supersonic passenger flights, it seems that the past was a better time.
Key topics related to this post: airport operations and aerospace systems.
